History
Provided courtesy of Richard Isaacs ...
Once upon a time in an Australian-themed bar in the seaside resort that is Southsea, three drunken gentlemen were musing one Saturday night. British-born Aussie convert Paul Cannon, the owner of “The Owtback Bar” and Portsmouth Rugby Club legends John Garratt and Paul Gandy were pondering whether it would be feasible to pull together the local resources of rugby players from the surrounding areas and take them away to a remote Eastern European land where rugby union was in its infancy to play the game and to preach it’s teachings.
Surely, this was just a pie-in-the-sky drunken conversation which would be forgotten by morning? But, no! From that cold November evening in 2000 sprung the roots of an idea – to combine Portsmouth RFC, Gosport & Fareham RFC, Havant RFC and Fareham Heathens RFC in the main - and create the Hampshire Barbarians.
Approximately 30 men, fair and true (and debatable in certain quarters) were recruited and, wearing the garishly bright red, blue, green and yellow quartered shirts (the red and blue in honour of Hampshire and the green and yellow in honour of Australia), coupled with the red, white and green on the sleeve of the Bulgarian flag flew out of Gatwick en route to Sofia for the first ever tour.
This tour, in May 2001, featured just one game but the legend of this inaugural Barbarians tour was set within hours of arriving in the country. Cannon, wearing his ‘Crocodile Dundee’ hat at all times, knew of people in Bulgaria and these people – dodgy in the extreme – were to be our hosts on their house on a lake some four hours drive out of the capital deep within the Rhodopa Mountains.
On our way to this ‘mafia bolt-hole’, we stopped in a town just short of the mountain road for ‘light’ refreshment. Kritchim would never forget the day when the colourfully bedecked men of England arrived en masse upon their local establishment.
Within minutes, the quiet town square was awash with the residents all wanting a glimpse of these strangers. Within minutes, a rugby ball was produced from our bus and the children of this remote town were lifted high into the afternoon sky as we taught them to catch this odd-shaped missile they had never seen before! They loved it and, like the true celebrities that we had become, we signed it and left it to the bar as a memento ….
With our tour guide, the delightful Stefka Nedevska, on board, our needs were met and we spent an enjoyable few days in and around the area, including the beautiful city of Plovdiv – Bulgaria’s second city - before heading back to Sofia for the match on the Saturday early evening.
Lokomotiv Sofia was to be our opponents and the game was due to be played at the National Stadium. However, rennovation work on the ground meant that we were redirected to the Railway Sidings Ground instead, just a little further out of town. To say this was an once-in-a-lifetime experience is something of an understatement! On arrival, we were not sure if this was the rugby pitch or just a farmer’s field as the grass stood, in places, over two feet tall. We knew it was the ground because the posts were up … and the pitch had been marked!
A splattering of supporters watched this match – which the Hampshire Barbarians won at a canter by 64 points to 5. But it was the friendships that were made on that trip that were to be the base for the future tours.
Locomotiv Sofia 5 Hampshire Barbarians 64
The Railways Sports Ground, Sofia – Saturday 28 April 2001
The match itself was a one-sided affair, as the English visitors treated their weakened hosts to a rugby lesson, coasting in ten tries in a comfortable 64-5 victory.
Moved from its original venue of the National Stadium in Sofia to the nearby Railway Sports Ground, the team received something of a shock to the system on their arrival, finding the grass had not been shorn for a considerable time, being knee high in places.
However, in the early evening warm sunshine, Locomotiv, without eight first-choice players, away with the Bulgarian national side in World Cup qualification action in Hungary, struggled to keep pace with the well-drilled Barbarians.
Petr Petrov missed an early opportunity to put Locomotiv ahead, but Portsmouth winger Neil Styles ran in a hat-trick in the space of six minutes to surge Hampshire 17-0 ahead. Pete Wylie, who had difficulties with his place kicking crossed for the visitors fourth, which he converted in front on the posts, but the home team, cheered on by around 50 spectators hit back and Petrov again was unfortunate with his penalty attempt from half-way that went narrowly wide.
Leading 24-0 at the break, coach Ian Chandler was far from happy with his charges, who had spurned a handful of chances to extend their advantage.
After the break, Locomotiv, who resembled a side from mid-table Hampshire One in this country were no match for the flowing passing and movement of the Barbarians. Brit Pearce scored a fifth, a quick penalty set up Chris Goldsmith and Royal Navy centre Rob Packer scored the pick of the tries after a mazy run.
Styles grabbed his personal fourth on the three-quarter mark, before Havant’s Craig Alford made good use of Mark Davies’ break through midfield. Styles posted three conversions and John Garrett, on his farewell rugby appearance, kicked one himself.
However, there was time for a consolation score from the hosts as Togar benefited from some poor defending and weak tackling to burst through with five minutes remaining.
It was a hard-fought game, especially up front where the big Bulgarian pack was neither intimidated nor overawed by the solid Barbarians pack, featuring players with mammoth experience.
Team captain John Garrett thoroughly enjoyed the clash. “They had some big lads in their team,” he said. “They were missing a few players but they came well at us and fair play to them, stuck at it right the way through.”
In the interim 12 months, the tourists were forced to change their name. The Hampshire Rugby Football Union had taken some issue with the fact that we had used the name ‘Hampshire’ in a rugby context without their permission, nor had we registered with them that we were a rugby club by name or even a touring side that were visiting far off lands – and this was against the RFU regulations, meaning we travelled without any kind of rugby insurance.
All of these issues were addressed by ‘employing’ a man who knew what he was talking about, the then Gosport & Fareham RFC secretary Iain Rackham. And the name was changed to reflect the area we were representing … so the Solent Barbarians were born.
The 2002 tour, once again to Bulgaria, was by far the most successful but it was also the most controversial and the name of the Solent Barbarians was mud in certain sections of Portsmouth Rugby Club.
Having entered the Sofia Sevens tournament, which was to take place over the weekend of Saturday 27 April 2002, no-one had thought to consider that it clashed with the London Division Two South/North play-off – which Portsmouth would reach by finishing second in the league.
Eleven of the first team squad were on the Solent Barbarians tour – and off they went, leaving the city club to play Southend with a selection of second XV, veterans and those not travelling! It went down like a lead balloon at Rugby Camp but not even a request to switch the date was enough and there was little those on tour could have done. Portsmouth lost, for the record!
Meanwhile, over in Sofia, the Solent Barbarians had arrived on the Tuesday afternoon and were to take on the National Sports Academy rugby side on Thursday evening before participating in the sevens tournament over the weekend. This long-running tournament featured clubs from the host country, Romania, the USA, Lithuania and national ‘A’ side from Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece, plus the hosts from the National Sports Academy and a selection of Bulgarian Students.
As part of our arrangement to stay at the National Sports Academy, Beano led a training session with some budding youngsters and with support from the RFU, who had provided balls, t-shirts and badges, it was a huge success with the Bulgarian sport authorities, who took great pleasure in what we were giving to these kids. We were not just a bunch of drunken Englishmen here on a jolly – this was part and parcel of the ‘Solent Barbarians Mission’, created two years previously.
What the tourists didn’t expect on that Thursday afternoon in pre-match training warm-up session was the feel the earth move! But that is what happened as Sofia was hit by a small earthquake at 2.30pm on the scale of around three, which started near the Macedonia border some 80 miles away but still shook the city. It didn’t last long but certainly proved a talking point. Johnny Garratt was relieved that it wasn’t him causing the tremor when he went down at the ruck!!
Another treat on this second trip was a visit, on the Tuesday evening, to watch a Bulgarian Football League match between deadly rivals Levski Sofia and neighbours CSKA at the Vassil Levski Stadium. Hostile would not be a word used too lightly on this occasion! Just think Saints v Pompey and times the intensity by ten fold at least!
On the rugby field, the Barbarians won the pre-tournament clash with the combative students by ?? points to ??, which was certainly a work out for the tourists against the big and bulky hosts.
And onto the tournament, spread over two days, saw two Solent Barbarians teams – the reds and the blues. The Blues contained what would be described as the main sevens specialists – featuring Sumner, Wylie, Clunie, Vine, McLaughlan, Orchard, Needham, Davies, Pearce and Spencer. The Reds were much more of a mixed bunch with a few prop forwards making up the team list …. Foxwell, Martin and captain Goldsmith amongst the second side.
2001 Hampshire Barbarians Team v Locomotiv Sofia – Neil Styles, Simon Moorcroft, Craig Alford, Rob Packer, Steve Clunie, Pete Wylie, Jamie McLaughlan, John Garrett, Dave Thomas, Keith Foxwell, Ed Spencer, James Pearce, Paul Gandy, Mark Davies, Steve Bell. Replacements: Brit Pearce, Tony Fazakerley, Nick Nikora, Chris Goldsmith, Mick Rees, Jon Mills. Also on tour – Richard Isaacs (media officer), Paul Cannon (patron)
2002 Solent Barbarians Squad list – Ian Chandler (coach), Brit Pearce (tour captain), John Garratt, Paul Cannon (Patron), Richard Isaacs (media officer), Craig Alford, Ray Bunton, Steve Clunue, Martin Cullinan, Mark Davies, Keith Foxwell, Christian Goldsmith, Ryan Goodyear, James Martin, Jamie McLaughlan, David Needham, Ben Nightingale, Jim Pearce, Andrew Saunders, Ed Spencer, Tom Sumner, David Thomas, Mike Vine, Pete Wylie, Mick Higham (physio), Rob Matthews (physio), Lee Morton, Nick Nikora, Wayne Simmonds, Mitchell Tett.
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/rugby-champions-arrive/id_7255/catid_70
http://archive.thisishampshire.net/2002/4/16/65634.html
http://archive.dailyecho.co.uk/2002/4/26/65257.html
Once upon a time in an Australian-themed bar in the seaside resort that is Southsea, three drunken gentlemen were musing one Saturday night. British-born Aussie convert Paul Cannon, the owner of “The Owtback Bar” and Portsmouth Rugby Club legends John Garratt and Paul Gandy were pondering whether it would be feasible to pull together the local resources of rugby players from the surrounding areas and take them away to a remote Eastern European land where rugby union was in its infancy to play the game and to preach it’s teachings.
Surely, this was just a pie-in-the-sky drunken conversation which would be forgotten by morning? But, no! From that cold November evening in 2000 sprung the roots of an idea – to combine Portsmouth RFC, Gosport & Fareham RFC, Havant RFC and Fareham Heathens RFC in the main - and create the Hampshire Barbarians.
Approximately 30 men, fair and true (and debatable in certain quarters) were recruited and, wearing the garishly bright red, blue, green and yellow quartered shirts (the red and blue in honour of Hampshire and the green and yellow in honour of Australia), coupled with the red, white and green on the sleeve of the Bulgarian flag flew out of Gatwick en route to Sofia for the first ever tour.
This tour, in May 2001, featured just one game but the legend of this inaugural Barbarians tour was set within hours of arriving in the country. Cannon, wearing his ‘Crocodile Dundee’ hat at all times, knew of people in Bulgaria and these people – dodgy in the extreme – were to be our hosts on their house on a lake some four hours drive out of the capital deep within the Rhodopa Mountains.
On our way to this ‘mafia bolt-hole’, we stopped in a town just short of the mountain road for ‘light’ refreshment. Kritchim would never forget the day when the colourfully bedecked men of England arrived en masse upon their local establishment.
Within minutes, the quiet town square was awash with the residents all wanting a glimpse of these strangers. Within minutes, a rugby ball was produced from our bus and the children of this remote town were lifted high into the afternoon sky as we taught them to catch this odd-shaped missile they had never seen before! They loved it and, like the true celebrities that we had become, we signed it and left it to the bar as a memento ….
With our tour guide, the delightful Stefka Nedevska, on board, our needs were met and we spent an enjoyable few days in and around the area, including the beautiful city of Plovdiv – Bulgaria’s second city - before heading back to Sofia for the match on the Saturday early evening.
Lokomotiv Sofia was to be our opponents and the game was due to be played at the National Stadium. However, rennovation work on the ground meant that we were redirected to the Railway Sidings Ground instead, just a little further out of town. To say this was an once-in-a-lifetime experience is something of an understatement! On arrival, we were not sure if this was the rugby pitch or just a farmer’s field as the grass stood, in places, over two feet tall. We knew it was the ground because the posts were up … and the pitch had been marked!
A splattering of supporters watched this match – which the Hampshire Barbarians won at a canter by 64 points to 5. But it was the friendships that were made on that trip that were to be the base for the future tours.
Locomotiv Sofia 5 Hampshire Barbarians 64
The Railways Sports Ground, Sofia – Saturday 28 April 2001
The match itself was a one-sided affair, as the English visitors treated their weakened hosts to a rugby lesson, coasting in ten tries in a comfortable 64-5 victory.
Moved from its original venue of the National Stadium in Sofia to the nearby Railway Sports Ground, the team received something of a shock to the system on their arrival, finding the grass had not been shorn for a considerable time, being knee high in places.
However, in the early evening warm sunshine, Locomotiv, without eight first-choice players, away with the Bulgarian national side in World Cup qualification action in Hungary, struggled to keep pace with the well-drilled Barbarians.
Petr Petrov missed an early opportunity to put Locomotiv ahead, but Portsmouth winger Neil Styles ran in a hat-trick in the space of six minutes to surge Hampshire 17-0 ahead. Pete Wylie, who had difficulties with his place kicking crossed for the visitors fourth, which he converted in front on the posts, but the home team, cheered on by around 50 spectators hit back and Petrov again was unfortunate with his penalty attempt from half-way that went narrowly wide.
Leading 24-0 at the break, coach Ian Chandler was far from happy with his charges, who had spurned a handful of chances to extend their advantage.
After the break, Locomotiv, who resembled a side from mid-table Hampshire One in this country were no match for the flowing passing and movement of the Barbarians. Brit Pearce scored a fifth, a quick penalty set up Chris Goldsmith and Royal Navy centre Rob Packer scored the pick of the tries after a mazy run.
Styles grabbed his personal fourth on the three-quarter mark, before Havant’s Craig Alford made good use of Mark Davies’ break through midfield. Styles posted three conversions and John Garrett, on his farewell rugby appearance, kicked one himself.
However, there was time for a consolation score from the hosts as Togar benefited from some poor defending and weak tackling to burst through with five minutes remaining.
It was a hard-fought game, especially up front where the big Bulgarian pack was neither intimidated nor overawed by the solid Barbarians pack, featuring players with mammoth experience.
Team captain John Garrett thoroughly enjoyed the clash. “They had some big lads in their team,” he said. “They were missing a few players but they came well at us and fair play to them, stuck at it right the way through.”
In the interim 12 months, the tourists were forced to change their name. The Hampshire Rugby Football Union had taken some issue with the fact that we had used the name ‘Hampshire’ in a rugby context without their permission, nor had we registered with them that we were a rugby club by name or even a touring side that were visiting far off lands – and this was against the RFU regulations, meaning we travelled without any kind of rugby insurance.
All of these issues were addressed by ‘employing’ a man who knew what he was talking about, the then Gosport & Fareham RFC secretary Iain Rackham. And the name was changed to reflect the area we were representing … so the Solent Barbarians were born.
The 2002 tour, once again to Bulgaria, was by far the most successful but it was also the most controversial and the name of the Solent Barbarians was mud in certain sections of Portsmouth Rugby Club.
Having entered the Sofia Sevens tournament, which was to take place over the weekend of Saturday 27 April 2002, no-one had thought to consider that it clashed with the London Division Two South/North play-off – which Portsmouth would reach by finishing second in the league.
Eleven of the first team squad were on the Solent Barbarians tour – and off they went, leaving the city club to play Southend with a selection of second XV, veterans and those not travelling! It went down like a lead balloon at Rugby Camp but not even a request to switch the date was enough and there was little those on tour could have done. Portsmouth lost, for the record!
Meanwhile, over in Sofia, the Solent Barbarians had arrived on the Tuesday afternoon and were to take on the National Sports Academy rugby side on Thursday evening before participating in the sevens tournament over the weekend. This long-running tournament featured clubs from the host country, Romania, the USA, Lithuania and national ‘A’ side from Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece, plus the hosts from the National Sports Academy and a selection of Bulgarian Students.
As part of our arrangement to stay at the National Sports Academy, Beano led a training session with some budding youngsters and with support from the RFU, who had provided balls, t-shirts and badges, it was a huge success with the Bulgarian sport authorities, who took great pleasure in what we were giving to these kids. We were not just a bunch of drunken Englishmen here on a jolly – this was part and parcel of the ‘Solent Barbarians Mission’, created two years previously.
What the tourists didn’t expect on that Thursday afternoon in pre-match training warm-up session was the feel the earth move! But that is what happened as Sofia was hit by a small earthquake at 2.30pm on the scale of around three, which started near the Macedonia border some 80 miles away but still shook the city. It didn’t last long but certainly proved a talking point. Johnny Garratt was relieved that it wasn’t him causing the tremor when he went down at the ruck!!
Another treat on this second trip was a visit, on the Tuesday evening, to watch a Bulgarian Football League match between deadly rivals Levski Sofia and neighbours CSKA at the Vassil Levski Stadium. Hostile would not be a word used too lightly on this occasion! Just think Saints v Pompey and times the intensity by ten fold at least!
On the rugby field, the Barbarians won the pre-tournament clash with the combative students by ?? points to ??, which was certainly a work out for the tourists against the big and bulky hosts.
And onto the tournament, spread over two days, saw two Solent Barbarians teams – the reds and the blues. The Blues contained what would be described as the main sevens specialists – featuring Sumner, Wylie, Clunie, Vine, McLaughlan, Orchard, Needham, Davies, Pearce and Spencer. The Reds were much more of a mixed bunch with a few prop forwards making up the team list …. Foxwell, Martin and captain Goldsmith amongst the second side.
2001 Hampshire Barbarians Team v Locomotiv Sofia – Neil Styles, Simon Moorcroft, Craig Alford, Rob Packer, Steve Clunie, Pete Wylie, Jamie McLaughlan, John Garrett, Dave Thomas, Keith Foxwell, Ed Spencer, James Pearce, Paul Gandy, Mark Davies, Steve Bell. Replacements: Brit Pearce, Tony Fazakerley, Nick Nikora, Chris Goldsmith, Mick Rees, Jon Mills. Also on tour – Richard Isaacs (media officer), Paul Cannon (patron)
2002 Solent Barbarians Squad list – Ian Chandler (coach), Brit Pearce (tour captain), John Garratt, Paul Cannon (Patron), Richard Isaacs (media officer), Craig Alford, Ray Bunton, Steve Clunue, Martin Cullinan, Mark Davies, Keith Foxwell, Christian Goldsmith, Ryan Goodyear, James Martin, Jamie McLaughlan, David Needham, Ben Nightingale, Jim Pearce, Andrew Saunders, Ed Spencer, Tom Sumner, David Thomas, Mike Vine, Pete Wylie, Mick Higham (physio), Rob Matthews (physio), Lee Morton, Nick Nikora, Wayne Simmonds, Mitchell Tett.
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/rugby-champions-arrive/id_7255/catid_70
http://archive.thisishampshire.net/2002/4/16/65634.html
http://archive.dailyecho.co.uk/2002/4/26/65257.html
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