The Northolt/SODAM Charity Challenge Trophy 24 April 2010

It is hoped the Charity Challange trophy will after a years absense due to a mix up on dates will be run again this coming April for the first time at the Post Office Club.

The Northolt/SODAM Charity Challenge Trophy 17 May 2008

SODAM won the third annual Northolt/SODAM trophy on Saturday with some great performances starting with a hard fought game against the much bigger pack of Northolt who we beat 7-0 in the opening group match followed by wins over Ealing Exiles 38-00 and Old Vaughanians 19-00 in match marred by lots of unnecessary niggling and far too much verbal from the opo who seemed to think they might talk themselves a victory but they were never in with a shout from the start. 

The only try we conceded was in the opening minute of our semi final against the London Japanese but this only served as a wake up call and we went on to win comfortably running in 4 tries.

In the final we played the Sudbury Springboks who were clearly the best team in the other half of the draw but the final seemed to be one match to far as we were reasonably untroubled in either the backs or forwards and should probably have converted more opportunities than the 3 unconverted tries and 2 drop goals from Bobby Goulding we did take.  Surely it easier to covert place kicks than take drop kicks. 

To all those players who helped out the CSSC Baabaas, Ealing Exiles etc without complaint many thanks.  Some we did manage to get on the field for SODAM in the semi final and Final.  

Unfortunately we were I believe the only team to have players carted off to hospital with first Flannan O'Mally dislocating his wrist on his debut for SODAM in the first minute of the opening game and Hamish having his fingernail stood on and crushed inwards in what was maybe his last game for us as he is returning to Cheltenham in July.  It was great to see Paddy back in a SODAM shirt again and to have Tim Glover take to the field again (and score a try) only the second time he has turned out this season but the misses says he should play more next season so we may have to negotiate at a higher level than Tim.  

Tournament Top try scorer: Alex O'Rourke of SODAM with 7 tries

Squad.

Forwards: Rob Langham, Ian Wells, James Salter-Duke, Steve Barham, Tim Glover, Hamish Adamson, Paddy Stock, Tim Prail, Mark Jackson, Matt Harris, Duncan Threadgould, John Sykes

Backs: Chris Moore, James Keary, Bobby Goulding, Nathan Alliston, Alex O'Rourke, Quincy Allen, Rich Burgess, Raph Diguesto, Flannan O'Mally,, Alex Ferguson, Garvin Troussiant (CSSC Baabaas guest)

SODAM squad players who played for other teams - Stuart Frost, Pat George, Wayne Meek.
Failed to show - Gary Winstanley, Chris Cockle, Nick, Gareth Coady, Paul Allen

The Northolt/SODAM Charity Challenge Trophy 28 April 2007 

The 2nd Northolt/SODAM Charity Challenge Trophy sponsored by Waverley TSB formerly Beersellers, was held at Northolt RFC on Saturday 28 April.  Six teams took part, SODAM, Northolt, West London, Ealing Exiles, Old Isleworth and London Japanese!  The tournament, held annually is about having fun but equally important it is to raise funds for a different charity each year.  Last year the tournament raised £350 for the Booths Children’s Hospital Burns Unit in Cheshire which operated on one of SODAMs former Captains more times than he cares to remember and almost a further £100 for equipment for the Northolt minis section.  This year the charity chosen to receive support was the Friends of Rwanda Rugby whose aim is to support school and community participation in the game of rugby, promote reconciliation and encourage a healthy and active lifestyle amongst the Rwandan people. (see www.friendsofrwandarugby.org )
 
It was a glorious day which coupled with the hard uneven pitches meant a tough day ahead for the competitors.  But before the competition could even start a work party from Northolt, consisting of Colin, John, Pete (who managed to get sun stroke) and Steve needed to erect the new posts which had only been delivered for the second pitch the afternoon before.  Talk about cutting it fine.  When Ian from SODAM and Tony Cannings one of the referees arrived they were quickly added to the work party clearing the football goals out of the way and helping to erect the posts.    
 
The tournament was again to be played in a round robin format with each team expected to play 5 x 30 min games!  Something, which, proved hard going for several teams, particularly those with the smaller squads.  

It came as no surprise to see the London Japanese arrive first with plenty of time to spare but with other teams struggling for numbers the start was delayed for 30 mins but even then SODAM who were not involved in the opening games had to lend two of its squad to Ealing to get things going.  
 
The tournament started with two competitive matches between West London and Ealing Exiles and the London Japanese and Northolt with West London just edging out Ealing and the team play and organisation of the London Japanese proving too much for Northolt who went down 19-00.  The next round saw the two strongest teams as it turned out playing what effectively decided the trophy with SODAM narrowly beating Old Isleworth 14-10 after taking an early 14 nil lead.  This also proved to be the only game in which a yellow card was issued.  Dom it is all yours!  Both teams went on to record 3 further wins with SODAM recording 19 unanswered tries and Old Isleworth scoring another 13 although but neither had to play their final games which were forfeited as 15-00 defeats by West London and Northolt who were feeling the effects of the days efforts.   

The top try scorer was Trevor of Old Isleworth who ran in 8 tries closely followed by the SODAM half backs Rob (6) and Dom (5)   

The raffle raised £177 and the total raised for the afternoon was £527.

Squad: Ian Wells, Rob Langham, Joe Sanders, Jim Maun, Tim Glover, Steve Barham, Tim Prail, Duncan Threadgould, Matt Harris, Alex Lee, Rob Robinson, Dom Wilson, Bobby Goulding, Duncan Rutherford, Fergie, Raphael Diguesto,
Mark Efange, Chris Moore, Marcus Tronnberg, Brian Green, Neil O’Driscoll,
 
Man of the tournament:  Rob Robinson

Overall Positions
 
Teams              W  D  L  Tries Pts F & A    Pts  Bonus Pts Total Pts Position

SODAM            5    0   0   24     144-10    30      3-1           32              1
Old Isleworth   4    0   1   18      102-53    24        3            27             2
Lon Japanese   2    0   3   10      58-89     12        0            12             3
West London    3    0   3   5       33-79     12        0            12             4
Ealing Exiles     1    1   3   8       44-88       9        1            10             5
Northolt          0    1   4   3       17-74      3         0             3             6

The Northolt/SODAM Charity Challenge Trophy 13 May 2006

A competition to raise money for charity was held at Northolt RFC on Saturday 13 May with five teams taking part from SODAM, Northolt, Old Abbotstonians, Ealing and Belsize Park!  

The tournament raised nearly £450 in all for the Booths Hall Children’s Hospital Burns Unit £350 with the remainder going to Northolt to kit out their mini section.
 
The tournament was a planned with each team playing each other in a round robin format!  Each game was 30 mins and from the first game you could see it was going to be a very competitive competition despite the intention of it being meant to be just a bit of fun!!  Old Abbotstonians and SODAM played some good open running rugby to record wins over Northolt 17-03 and Belsize Park 26-05 and quickly established themselves in the opening games as the clear favourites.  Seeing this the referees who were in charge of the running order decided to set up the SODAM v Old Abbotstonians game as the final match!  A decision which seemed prudent after SODAM notched up further wins over Ealing Exiles 26-05 and Northolt 36-00 and Old Abbotstonians beaten Ealing 24-07 and Belsize Park 22-00.  In the other games Ealing beat Northolt and Belsize Park and Northolt recorded their only victory with a solitary tie over Belsize!

With SODAM scoring 14 tries and Old Abbots 11, three from Tournament top scorer Neil George a fast running game was anticipated.  And so the final game came and with great expectation the teams took the field but perhaps with the trophy at stake and after a long days rugby, tempers were short and began to fray as the match failed to live up to the expected billing and became rather niggly.  The ref had made a few decisions which didn’t best please the players and the game was going in a downward spiral and at halftime the ref and players abandoned the game with the game poised interestingly at 0-0. 

With both teams having won three and drawn one the refs needed to check what bonus points and penalties had been awarded before declaring SODAM to be the winners.  SODAM had acquired 3 bonus points for scoring 4 or more tries in each game and had no yellow cards against them and Old Abbots had just two but had also had a point deducted for receiving a yellow card!   

Despite the unusual end all five teams enjoyed some good rugby and the £350, raised, through the raffle and through player donations will be well received by the Booths Children’s Hospital Burns Unit.  A further, almost £100 was also raised for equipment for Northolt Mini Rugby section!