Dutch National Sevens and Heineken Amsterdam Sevens

[jboulet4648]

May 10 I leave for Amsterdam, where I have been invited to referee at the Dutch National Sevens Championships and the Heineken Amsterdam sevens.

 

[Jaycee]

I did the Heineken 7s in ’99. Best refs tour I’ve been on. The Dutch hosts are excellent and look after you well; the matches vary from the scarily bad to internationals. You won’t get many games a day, 4 or so, so it can be a bit long but the nights are excellent, don’t worry about smelling of alcohol on the Sunday one bunch of New Zealanders I did early on the Sunday were barely able to stand and laughed every time they dropped the ball, they probably would have failed a drugs test as well. I strongly recommend bringing a gift to give to the hosts, we all brought a bottle and they were very pleased.

 

[Robert Burns]

I was in Amsterdam during the H7's last year, great atmosphere.

I recomend having a good look around, just for the sake of it. Beware in the red light district at night though, don't walk around looking like a tourist on your own, you'll be targetted, also don't take pictures of the young ladies, it ends up with a nice gentlemen about 10 times your size asking you nicely to move away whilst dangling you over the edge of the canal by your ankle (witness, not personal experience).

Also don't be surprised that on every street corner there will be a guy offering you every class A drug you can think of, it's normal.

And get a good beer in Suzies Saloon, a great place (one of many) for a beer.

 

[jboulet4648]

I have reffed Suzie's Saloon 7's side at the NY 7's a few years back.

We actually were just asked to ref the Warriors Cup, military 10's tournament on the Friday we arrive, as well as everything else, so what I am looking at is:

Fri May 11 Arrive at 8 AM, go to hotel if time, go to Rugby Stadium, and ref the Warrior 10's

Sun May 13 Dutch National 7's

Midweek Fingers crossed for a Mid week?

Fri May 18-Sun May 20 Heinekin 7's

In between that going to try to take in as much as possible, and I am not referring to second hand smoke!

 

[ExHookah]

In between that going to try to take in as much as possible, and I am not referring to second hand smoke!

You should visit some of the historic windmills, you can probably get out to see a tulip farm, and there is a museum on the history of canal building. You could also take a train over to Belgium to visit the European Parliament.

Doesn't that all sound great?

 

[Dixie]

In between that going to try to take in as much as possible, and I am not referring to second hand smoke!

Way to go! Nothing like the first hand stuff in Amsterdam!

 

[Bryan]

The Dutch are very tolerant. However, exception that proves the rule is when you tell them you're from Newfoundland, Canada. "You mean, zee place where zey club the seals?". An affirmative response will generate a tirade of abuse.

Judah, if you're tanned enough and scruffy enough by May, tell them you're a Portuguese sailor who hunts whales (literally, this time- not the way you spend every Friday night at the bar).

Bring back some brownies for Nick, Chris, and any Assessor in New England. It might make your refereeing look sound, and all those cards you issue will turn into a kaleidescope of colours to those baked-out on the touchline watching you.

Worse comes to worse, make sure to stamp your entitlement by demanding at least one free lunch. When questioned, reply with "Remember the Marshall Plan? It's time to collect". That will go down a treat.

 

[jboulet4648]

You should visit some of the historic windmills, you can probably get out to see a tulip farm, and there is a museum on the history of canal building. You could also take a train over to Belgium to visit the European Parliament.

Doesn't that all sound great?

Nick
Good thing your accent hides the underlying ignorance.....

Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, etc....

 

[SimonSmith]

Sounds to be in line with all the hill running that is so crucial to fitness in Holland.

 

[ExHookah]

Nick
Good thing your accent hides the underlying ignorance.....

Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, etc....

Judah,

I think you just tumbled into the Chasm of Sar.





(Robbie, any chance you could add a smiley icon for sarcasm?)

 

[FlipFlop]

Can recommend the Heineken museum as well. For a donation to charity, then show you round, then give you lots of free beer (down side is you have to get there at 9am, and the beers stops at about noon).

 

[jboulet4648]

So you are saying we should make the Heinekin museum our stop for last call?

 

[Robert Burns]

There is also a sex museum, you have little chance of getting a midweek game that week I would say, as all the players are in the tournaments, so will not want to play midweek too.

I realised too that a man 10 times your size as I described before may not scare you very much as according to Nick that equates to 75% of the worlds population for you, so think 100 times. <- Is this good enough for sarcasm? what about this one ->

 

[jboulet4648]

Back from my trip to Holland. Quite a long week.

The first weekend there I refereed the Dutch U19 championships, and did some prelim matches and the final, and the following day, reffed the Mens Club Championships preliminary and did the final. Needless to say, by the time the final came along, I had done 170 minutes of sevens rugby in 30 hours, so I was a bit fatigued. Nonetheless, it was a good match.

Here is the refs for the final. One of my TJ's was Joop, who also is a member of this forum. He is the big guy who looks like Drago from Rocky IV.

The following Thursday I reffed a 4 halves of a sevens scrimmage between the Dutch National Women and Canadian Women.

The Amsterdam Sevens was a good time. The level of rugby was great from quarterfinals on, however, the prelims were all blowouts. I did a round of 16 match of the Corso Marauders, who had Ollie Brown on their side. I also had the only red card of the tourney on Sunday AM when some ****** decided to cold cock the attacker he just tackled for no reason.
Also had the chance to meet a bunch of refs from the London Society....

 

[FlipFlop]

Poor guy - you had to put up with Rich Kelly for the weekend. :biggrin:

 

[jboulet4648]

This pic was Sunday night......if the picture was taken Saturday night, that would be a rough one.....The young lads and myself stayed out too late and drank way too much to keep the liver healthy.

 

[jboulet4648]

Some more photos from Amsterdam

Nick's Birthplace

Never leave home without them!

In Action

Championship Kickoff

Dutch National Rugby Center

 

[Simon Thomas]

Judah

Looks like you had a great time. I have very happy memories of that stadium - do they still have the changing room tiles in bright orange ?

When I did the Dutch Premier League match Amsterdam Univ (home club) v Amsterleeven there a couple of seasons ago, I had two Dutch TJs and we had our own dedicated warm up physio. It was the best my hamstrings felt for years !

And the good crowd was swelled by 40 colleagues from our two Dutch subsidiaries, who were press ganged to attend by the local management.
It cost me a fortune in the bar afterwards, not all of which was reclaimed as valid business expenses. But it did change their view of that miserable Brit who keeps giving us a hard time about revenue and profit performance ! And the later visits we made elsewhere in Amsterdam were definitely not reclaimable - even though I did get a receipt from the "Banana Bar" (caution - adult content)

 

[Jacko]

Looks like a classy joint...

 

[Simon Thomas]

Never eaten a banana without smiling since !