The main international touch tourney this year is the Mainland cup.  This year the tournament will be held in Vienna – Austria and will involve the international sides from countries all over mainland Europe.  This is a great chance to play at an international level, without the big names like England and Wales, so the competition is very even!!

We are currently working out how many, and which divisions for the Netherlands representative teams to enter, and to do so we need to know how many people are keen and available for selection.  The divisions considered are:

• Mens Open
• Mixed Open
• Womens Open
• Senior Mens (over 30)

Last year we sent a mixed open team to Euros in Italy, and we’d really like to be able to send more than one team this year!

To participate in the tournament, each of our players will need to meet the following requirements:

• Available for some trainings in the 2 months leading up to the event
• Available for the duration of the tournament 13-14 July in Vienna (games only on the Saturday/Sunday, time off work maybe required depending on flights)
• Able to meet the costs of the tournament – likely approx EUR260 plus flights.  (includes accommodation, fees and some kit).  In previous years we have been able to reduce this for some through sponsorship, but this can never be guaranteed
• Players need to meet the eligibility requirements (either Dutch passport or lived here for the last 3 years).  In some cases we are able to apply for exemptions for this rule

So, given the above criteria, can you please let me know by either by filling in the spreadsheet (link below) or emailing anita@touchrugby.nl if you would like to be considered for Netherlands selection for this year’s Mainland Cup.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ap8Kk54X5VMkdHZLTU95ZkZzSkxFcWFXMnQyTWZnVmc#gid=2

and if you’d like any further details etc. please let us know

Hopefully see you on March 9th at our new grounds!

Thanks,

• – This year has seen great development at the two biggest touch clubs, Amsterdam and Den Haag.  Both have increased their numbers and conducted successful leagues as well as competing at outside tournaments, with Den Haag also securing a regular ground and formalizing a superb structure around their club.  Groningen has also continued to successfully operate a park touch group up in the north of the country

• - 2011’s Amsterdam spring touch league was run at the normal location of AFC and involved 8 teams with the main prize being scooped by the Batavian Bulldogs and Mental Stunts taking the little clog.
• - The 2011 Amsterdam autumn touch league operated from a new location at Riekerhaven and also featured our first all-female team with the newly professional dutch national womens sevens rugby team entering the competition.  Here the main prize was won by Mental Stunts, with the Dam’d United taking the little clog.
• - In Den Haag we saw their first ever leagues run, with their spring league being won by a dominant Team Lau, and the autumn league going the way of The Copperheads

World Cup Overview

• - One of the highlights of 2011 was the first participation of the Netherlands national teams in a Touch World Cup.  The tournament was held in Europe for the first time with Edinburgh Scotland being the hosts.  The Netherlands sent a Mens Open and a Mixed Open team and were up against teams from 28 nations from around the world, including the powerhouses of New Zealand and Australia.  As always for these international tournaments, players needed to fulfil eligibility criteria to play for NL, and we were very proud to have a squad that was over 50% dutch.
• - The highlights of the tournament were our Mens team coming up against World champs Australia, and also the Mixed team beating Ireland on the 3rd attempt to make the 9-12 playoffs.  Final placings were Mixed 12th, Mens 14th with an overall playing of 15th
• - MVPs of the tournament were Vinnie van Neuren for the Mixed and Paul Black for the Mens
• - See the full report here: http://www.touchrugby.nl/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/110711-Report-Touch-World-Cup-2011.pdf

Netherlands National Championships

• - 2011 saw the first time that a national touch championships has been held in Netherlands, and the comp saw entries from touch clubs as well as rugby with the top rugby club in NL, Hilversum entering their first team.  It also saw an entry from the national womens 7s team.  The competition was fierce as expected with The Islanders club from Den Haag winning in a drop-off final

Other Tournaments

• - 2011 saw another successful edition of the Rotterdam touch tournament which was organised and run by the Rotterdam Rugby Club.  This saw around 10 teams from outside of normal touch circles compete for a prize which was won by the Amsterdam touch club
• - The annual GIF Paris touch tournament again continued to be a highlight in the touch calendar with 2 dutch teams competing from the Amsterdam and Den Haag clubs.  This competition is probably the toughest in Europe with top teams from the UK and continent always present.  Amsterdam improved on the previous year finishing an outstanding 6th out of 24 teams.  Den Haag came away with a memorable victory over arch rivals Brussels
• - The annual Benelux cup between the national teams of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg was again hosted by the Brussels club this year combined with a coaching course from the head of fit Dennis Coffey.  The result was again a dominant display from Netherlands, going through unbeaten to raise the trophy
• - A combined Amsterdam/Den Haag team travelled to the Budapest touch tourney and achieved a superb fourth place losing to London Galaxy in the semi despite having the smallest squad (team of in blistering 30+ degrees heat (and Anna, Marianne and Masayo played every single minute of every single game).
• - 2011 marked the first time that a full womens tournament has been held in the region with Brussels playing host.  It featured womens teams from Belgium, Germany and the first ever from Netherlands, and the result was amazing with the dutch women taking our first place without conceding a score!!
• - This was also the first year of the Den Haag touch tournament which was a superbly run event by the Den Haag club with XXX Amsterdam team running out eventual winners

Referees and Coaches

• - This year was very successful for Referee development with Referees Director Vinnie swelling the numbers of referees to 12 qualified level 1, 8 (almost qualified) level 2 and 1 level 3 refs throughout the country.  It also marked the first time a level 2 referees course has been run in NL.
• - 2011 also marked the first year that a coaching course has been run in the region with 9 NL candidates receiving their Level 1 qualification in Brussels.
• - Elite coaching was also assisted this year by the addition to the group of Chris Lim, who together with Brad Lang guided the elite teams

Sponsors and Partnerships

• - This year the NTRB was proudly supported by BHP Billiton and Philips.  Their generous contributions enabled much development of the sport this year and was much appreciated
• - We also this year had some very productive meetings with the Nederlandse Rugby Bond, which will ensure that the two oval ball forms continue to positively work together here in NL.  One major result of this for touch is the possibility for us to get some tournament dates entered in the NRB calendar, thus providing us with greater reach

NTRB Executive

• - 2011 saw the stepping down from the President’s role of Brad Lang.  Brad has been here from the very beginning of the Amsterdam park touch scene and was instrumental in setting up the NTRB back in 2008.  He has been a superb leader of the NTRB and has overseen a great period in it’s development in this country, whilst continuing to be involved as our top coach, referee and elite player.  Thanks Brad!
• - And it’s our great pleasure to announce that NL player and Den Haag representative Wema Wuyts will be joining the NTRB in 2012
• - The NTRB and Amsterdam club are also looking for interested members of the touch community to be involved with the running of the club and the bond.  Anyone at all interested should email mike@touchrugby.nl
  

Stay tuned for a mail in the coming week or so detailing what’s upcoming for Touch in NL in 2012.  In the meantime keep up to date by checking:

• www.touchrugby.nl
• www.denhaagtouch.com
• www.twitter.com/NL_touch

Cheers,

Mike, Willem, Anita, Vinnie, Wema (and for the last time *sniff*…Brad)

NTRB