PHUKET NETBALL TOUR / TIGERS HIT KSR

The Phuket Bees flew into Bangkok in the early hours of a Saturday morning to join two Tigers teams for a tournament.  

In game 1, Tigers 2 vs Phuket, excellent shooting from Joey and Nuch saw the Tigers take an early lead. The Phuket girls fought hard and it was a tough match, but they could not match the Tigers defense, Caroline and Hinda, who kept them scoreless in the last quarter. A great win to Tigers 2 to commence the day.  

Tigers 1 then took the court in the second match against Phuket. Great shooting from our girls kept the game close, however after a tight battle, Phuket came out victors. It was a great effort from the Tigers 1 team with with all players performing well and demonstrating good team skills. 

In a friendly match, the two Tigers team then met on court for game 3. Great shooting again from Joey and Nuch saw Tigers 2 take out a comfortable win. 

After refueling with fruit and gatorade, Tigers 2 and Phuket met to battle it out in the final. Phuket put up a valiant fight but were no match for Tigers 2's superior fitness and ball skills. Congratulations to Tigers 2 - victors of the day. Well done!!

A huge thank you to Joey for organising the tournament so well. 

The final scores for the games were:

Tigers 2 (26) def. Phuket Bees (10)
Phuket Bees (18) def. Tigers 1 (10)
Tigers 2 (28) def Tigers 1 (3)
FINAL: Tigers 2 (16) def. Phuket Bees (8)

 

What happens when you mix a tiger, st patty's day, rehydrating ales, a tuktuk, khao san road and glitter............... turns out a lot of fun!!!

After such a successful day, the Tigers ladies regrouped that evening for warm up St Patty's Day drinks at Lub'd Bangkok. After a few drinks to 'rehydrate' after a tough day on court, the ladies were in fine form and ventured to Khao San Road to join the Southerners KSR Backpackers' Tour. The Tiger ladies certainly looked the part in their absolute backpacker best and were easily identifiable, wearing "same same" green tiger singlets. When a pot of glitter appeared, the night hit new highs with many were caught unawares as they received this 'beautification'! Whilst the ending of the evening may be a little hazy for some, loads of fun was had and some of life's bigger questions were answered (for example, how many Tigers can you fit into a tuk-tuk??). In the aftermath, as remnants of glitter continue to appear despite frustrating desperate attempts to cleanse,  there is one Irish Tiger that will go hungry on Thursday after failing to come home with her hat and win the bet!! 

A huge thank you to Clare Bell for coordinating the evenings activities and organising the outfits. 

PHUKET 2011

Our biggest tour yet! 20 or so netballers plus various groupies, supporters, photographers, umpires & scorers descended on Phuket to stamp the Tigers ethos on an unsuspecting community. After checking into our lush accommodation at Manathai Resort, Surin Beach, and a restful night with hardly any antics (no tv's in the pool!), the netballers headed to the British International School to take on the Phuket Bees.

The netball competition was ferocious. Fortunately the Tigers had paid no attention to the Bees' claims of lacking fitness, and were ready. We fielded two full teams, had a combined team with girls both Bangkok & Phuket, and faced one full team from Phuket. After several tough games, by time the finals came around the Phuket Bees were undefeated, and our Tigers Margaritas team had only been beaten by the Bees.

The final was a tough, even match, but the Tigers got up to win by the narrowest of margins - ONE GOAL!!! Thanks so much to the Phuket Bees for putting on such an awesome tourney, Bumrungrad International Hospital for being tour sponsors, and special props to the Bee with the brainwave of freezing quarters of orange for a delightful refreshing snack!
After the games we went back to the hotel for the REAL business of the tour: sunbaking by the pool & on the beach.
The group festivities continued into the night with a gorgeous sunset dinner on the beach.
After which the girls who were determined to keep the party going headed to Patong, and while what happened there now remains a source of speculation and rumor, rest assured that what goes on tour, stays on tour!

Indochina Cup November 2010!

Hey Netballers & Socialites!
The next tour to jot down in your diary is the INDOCHINA CUP in Saigon, November 26-28. This will be an opportunity to see if the country has recovered from the last combined Thailand Tigers Football & Netball Tour to Vietnam. Recovered maybe, forgotten never!

So join the boys and the girls of Thailand Tigers by shooting Marta an email ASAP at thailandtigersnetball@gmail.com , subject line: I WANNA GO ON TOUR. Partners, kids (byo nanny!), social members & cheerleaders welcome!

Sensational Saigon 2010

Tigers Netball have returned from another fantastic tour, this time to the beautiful city of Saigon. Saigon Shooters netball team did a great job hosting Thailand and the Laos Mahouts for the inaugural Tri-Nations Tournament. They put on a fabulous bbq (tended by our own ex-Tiger Kevin Hornblower) and supplied beers after the game.

With 5 teams playing, Tigers Gold came equal third with Laos, and Tigers Black brought up the rear but strategically used the earlier exit to get a head-start on the beers. The two Saigon teams were very impressive and took out the top spots.

The Tigers team faired no better in the boat-race, and a certain member will be excluded from future boat-racing events after firstly complaining about having to put an upturned beer-mug in her hair, then taking a break during said boat-race.

Memorable moments included Marta Newport’s having to travel through Pakistan and Borneo, with a brief stopover at McMurdo Sound to get to the game after her flight from Phuket was cancelled, and several Tigers Football WAGs spending way too much money snapping up artwork, clothing, linen & lacquer-ware. Best quotes from Marta “But I’m just a poor backpacker, I can’t afford to pay XXX dollars for these 3 tablecloths and 2 duvets…” and Nuch Cox “I’m Thai so you will give me a discount”.

This tour was the last for Tigers superstars Cookie & Tash – we’ll really miss you girls!!

Tigers Netball triumph in Laos!

Tigers Netball returned victorious from Laos and what a great tour it was!

Loaded up with snacks, drinks and our Fab Charley Browns Tour Ts, we boarded the 8pm overnight train to the Laos border. The champers was cracked, the bruschetta appetisers, cheese & dips were plated and the Tour began!! An hour and a half later the train still hadn't left the station but who cared.....we were having a great time!

We finally left Bangkok in our luxurious first-class party-sleepers (and thank goodness we decide to go first, having checked out the rest of train) and the tour began in earnest!! We were told off for being way too noisy & having too much fun by all & sundry, not least a grumpy old bag who accused us of behaving like 16-year-old school girls on their first train trip. We took that as compliment and didn’t let it slow us down.

Many, many, many hours, much champagne, not a bad night's sleep, 2 trains and a van later we finally arrived in Vientiane!

Despite arriving late for the game (not all our fault, blame the dodgy Songtaew driver), we were warmly welcomed by the Laos Mahouts, who were all geared up with loads of players, spectators, water and even a fruit plate!

The game itself was a lot of fun and we were quite evenly matched. At one stage in the fourth quarter the two teams were only 1 point apart, but more experience and games as a team behind them saw the Tigers pull ahead in the last minutes to a sound victory.

Final score 23 - 15 TIGERS VICTORIOUS!!

That night the Laos Mahoots took us out for a fab traditional meal and lots and lots of wine and beer! We can't go into too many details, of course, because WHAT GOES ON TOUR STAYS ON TOUR. Hey Cookie!

Overall impression on Vientiane: very quiet but warm, welcoming people and great food. And it's cheap!

Southerners BKK International Tournament

International Clubs Converge on Bangkok for Southerners Netball Tournament

From as far and wide as Singapore and Vietnam, eight clubs will battle it out in an international melee at NIST on Saturday, 24th May 2008 organised by the Southerners Netball Club. In a gruelling round robin, each team will play no less than five half-hour games as they vie for the coveted number one place.

Come along and support your favourite team as you marvel in the athleticism and skill of Asia's finest netballers and hold your breath in nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat suspense. Tour t-shirts will be on sale on the day and food and drink is available at the canteen. All the teams would greatly appreciate your cheers throughout the day!

And of course, what is an International Netball Tournament without a party or two? The tour's main sponsor, The Londoner Brew Pub & Restaurant (http://www.the-londoner.com/) will be holding welcome drinks for all the teams and their supporters and a post-tournament party will be held at Coyote Mexican Bar and Restaurant in Silom.

For more details see http://www.southerners-bangkok.com/ or email thailandtigersnetball@gmail.com

Hope to see you there!

Tigers Bombard Bali for the 2008 International Netball Tour

After a fitting send off at tour sponsor Charley Brown’s (where the international contenders showed off the super-cool tour t-shirt while drinking margaritas by the jug) the Tigers set off to Bali, travelling in two groups. The first group, comprising Captain “Lotus” Liv, Pocket Rocket Kath & Lizzy the Librarian, arrived on the Friday morning had a smooth trip. The second group, comprising Marta “Go-Low” Newport, Jumping Joey, Vron “V-Ron” and Chelsey (babe, we’re gonna need a nickname) were not so lucky….

Poor Vron (like many before her) hadn't known that she needed 6 months on her passport to travel to Indonesia, and she only had three months left before expiry. She was pulled up at Jakarta airport for a water stain on the passport, but when Immigration saw the expiry date you could hear the cash-register sound reverberating through the terminal and dollar signs lighting up their eyes. Cha-Ching!!They had taken her into a room on account of the water stain, but when she hadn't come out in 20 minutes Marta went to investigate. The interrogation hadn't gotten very far because the gorilla they had sent in didn't actually speak any English. But then they put their good cop/bad cop routine into play, and made some progress.

Fortunately Marta was savvy in such things (she used to live in Jakarta), so she asked if they could pay the 'fee' for travelling on the nearly-expired passport. After lots of to-ing & fro-ing, negotiations began. Starting price was US$200 (fortunately the girls had a pool of USD on account of visas needing to be purchased in that currency.) By this point all the girls were in the room, turning on maximum charm, leaning over the desk to expose cleavage, flirting outrageously, promising to hook up the immigration guys with their cute friends, basically doing anything to get the negotiations over the line!! Finally they settled on a reasonable amount; Vron was given a manual visa, and the girls were on their way to Bali!

Game Day

Bali brought two teams on the day (http://www.balinetball.com/), with all of the players looking ominously tall. Our first game was against the Bali Flames, and at half time we were all square, having played a tightly contested game. However, the Flames managed to analyse our play and came back with a vengeance to win 19-10. We took a rest while the two Bali teams played each other, this time the Flames beating the Dragons. Feeling inspired by watching them lose, and also changing into our lucky red bibs, we took to the Dragons and played an awesome match, winning by one goal.

The third game was an optional grand final, and once we’d bargained the umpire down to 8 minute halves (hey, we’re from Thailand, we can’t help haggling!) we set out to play the Flames again. It was a fantastic match with all the girls playing at their best. At half time we didn’t even want to know the score, preferring to focus on our game, and also having a great time. When the final whistle blew we had lost by 1 goal, but we were really happy with our performance, having recovered from the thrashing they gave us in the first match.

Game highlights included Lizzy in her first outing as GK impressing her opponents and spectators alike with a seamless blend of defense and Riverdance, the likes of which had not been seen since Kath & Kim (hey, I was told to keep my arms at my sides!) - and Marta herding the opposition away with her seagull-like squawks so that Liv could take a shot. We Tigers are nothing if not innovative! All the girls played really well and we were mega impressed by V-Ron’s stamina and Joey’s ability to be everywhere at once. Chelsey did brilliantly in a position she’s rarely played (WD) and Kath was pulling out all the moves (namely tapping the ball back into play while flying mid air). The umpiring was excellent (provided by a lady who used to play in Australia at the State level) and there were no injuries - a big thanks to Seksan and Bangkok Hospital (http://www.bangkokhospital.com/) for the first aid kit.

The Bali girls showed great form by providing a big esky filled with Bintangs for after the game, and also gave us a voucher each for a manicure. Three cheers for Bali!

Post Match Antics

After the game we headed back to our gorgeous resort (well done Marta!) and while the sensible girls Kath, Vron & Chelsey headed back to get changed for dinner, Liv, Joey, Marta & Lizzy took their post-game enthusiasm to the pool and celebrated by jumping in, uniforms and all!

We had dinner with the Bali girls at Rumours in Seminyak, where we presented the best players from each Bali team with Tigers t-shirts. After that we hit a club in Kuta, which had an outside bar & swimming pool, where copious jugs of margaritas were consumed. We finished the night at the Circle K convenience store for hotdogs & burgers at 3am. Yum!

Sunday started with a lovely team brunch at a beachfront bar/restaurant. Only one of the Bali girls (the captain) made it, but that was good in a way, because the lot of us hadn't really spent much time just relaxing as a group. Chelsey was off to the airport after that, Marta, Kath & Lizzy went shopping, while Liv, V-Ron and Joey went back to the resort for some pool time.

Later in the afternoon SOME girls hit the pool for happy hour, and proceeded to get drunk on half price Blue Lagoons, Pina Coladas & Bintangs, while OTHER girls went for pedicures. SOME girls got quite trashed in the pool, and were seen to be bumming cigarettes off fat German men at the pool bar, much to the disapproval of their fat German wives. You can rest assured that the night only degenerated from that point onwards, so at this point we will enact the “whatever happens on tour, stays on tour” credo, and leave it at that!

So to wrap it up, the Tigers had an awesome time in Bali without actually stepping foot on the beach!