Jersey Reds v Caldy

The main event is Saturday at 3pm, but we'll also have a gentle warm-up in our own wooden shack, a.k.a. the Pavilion, on Friday - bar open 5- 7.30pm offering the chance for visiting supporters to check out the lie of the land and compare notes with the home guard over a beer and some free nibbles.

I'm aware the official visiting party won't be available for this as they land at 8.15, but understand various others will already be here, so hope they can join, and that we'll get a decent number of Reds along as well.

They won't be disappointed, be twice and thoroughly enjoyed the trips, great hospitality.

Caldy's hierarchy has moved quickly to issue a list of hopefully accurate responses to the most Frequently Asked Questions. I have jotted down some of the most important questions and the official Caldy response below:

1. Wikipedia says they speak Jerisais in Jersey......will Caldy RFC be issuing a phrase book?

Graham has advised that the Jerisais phrase book won't be ready until next season. Graham's suggested work around is to only use Scouse sparingly and inject a few words of French in every other sentence.......if you don't know any French other foreign words will probably suffice as long as they are delivered confidently

2. Which side of the road is it best to drive on in Jersey ?

Graham is sure that everyone in Jersey drives on the left hand side of the road but he has also advised that people in Jersey are generally so wealthy that they all have chauffers so if you don't want to look like a tourist best get chauffered up. Graham has a special hat that Barrie Pilgrim asks him to wear when Graham does the odd driving job for him and this will be available on a first come basis first served basis.

3. Can we get Pot Noodle in Jersey or will we have to take our own?

Graham thinks Pot Noodle is available in Jersey but it is very expensive. Caldy RFC is bringing its own supply of Bombay Bad Boy as an International Saturday breakfast for the players and the official party. Graham has suggested that those who want to take a few pots in their hand luggage should speak to Lynn Ridgway. Lynn still has 120 packs of the 2018 Pot Noodle Christmas Dinner Special available from the club shop. (5% discount for a purchase of 4 or more! ......although only one commorative Pot Noodle 2018 Noel Mug per person)

Graham has been assured by Jersey RFC that although Jersey have probably the biggest set of forwards in World Rugby there are people of more average size on the island.......it is considered unlikely there is anyone as small as Graham or Roger

Bob Cooke is trying to organise this but in case Robbie can't make it he will be arranging for another mystery Caldy star supporter to stand in. Bob cannot promise that the mystery Caldy star supporter will also come from the red side of Merseyside but he is confident that he will also wow the Jersey players.

 

to be honest you may have saved Graham a trip to the Post Office.........after we told him that neither pesetas nor francs are used in Jersey he was very keen to change his £ sterling for Euros. His other concern was whether he would get a better rate at Liverpool Airport or West Kirby Post Office........... Barrie Pilgrim suggested that the difference on £24.50 was unlikely to move the needle either way.

Thank you for starting this thread. Our forthcoming visit to Jersey is eagerly anticipated by everyone at Caldy. Graham is giddy with excitement. To get on a plane or a ferry to watch Caldy play a league fixture is momentous ......it has happened before though.

At level 6 or level 7 Caldy were in the same league as the Vagabonds club from the Isle of Man. The aeroplane trip to and from Douglas from Liverpool's then Speke Airport was an event in itself:

One of the party repeatedly set off the security scanner.... it wasn't his phone or his watch.  A brisk frisk gave the all clear. On Friday the Caldy official will be reminded to remove his impressively large and intimate jewellry and place it along with his loose change into the security tray lest he delay the flight.

The game which Caldy won narrowly was characterized by the performance of the Vagabond's tighthead who consistently drove the Caldy scrum backwards at a rate of knots. When post match the Caldy DOR admonished Caldy's freakishly strong loose head Charlie Barwood for not (illegally) dropping the scrum to halt the advance ....Chariie's reply was illuminating "Tony, I would have done so but I never had my feet on the ground"

The return flight was made memorable by the appearance of a sign heralding the homecoming of Caldy tighthead prop Kev Green held aloft by his larger than life and irrepressable brother Maffa Green who (for some reason known only to Maffa) was fabulously dressed as a gigantic emerald green leprechaun !

I suspect the trip to Jersey will be equally enjoyable and will result in more Caldy fables

Thanks Old Gold for the recommendations I think we will visit all of those