From the Boundary Edge

It is an honour for me to be writing this piece to you for the second year as chairman of this wonderful event. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to players, officials, sponsors and spectators to the AMEC-Cape East 2008 Manila 10’s at Nomad Sports Club.

This is the third year that AMEC-Cape East has been our title sponsor and I am extremely grateful for their unwavering support. There are many other companies, groups and individuals who support this tournament, without which it could not even start. Thank you to each and every one of you.

First of all I would like to explain the rationale behind our change of dates for the festival this year. Traditionally we have always run the Manila 10’s the weekend before the Hong Kong 7’s – this has become a standing fixture in many club and individual calendars around the world. The issue is the Easter holiday period and the not entirely understandable movements in the Jewish Lunar Calendar as opposed to the more familiar Solar Gregorian Calendar… to cut a long story short, Easter Sunday falls on 23 March this year – the Sunday before the Hong Kong 7’s. The Easter Holy Week is one of the most important family and religious holidays in the Philippines and, for a variety of reasons, it is simply not logistically possible to run an event on this scale during that time. Easter moves back to 27 April next year and we shall return to our more traditional time slot.

The change in dates caused some consternation with a number of our regular teams; however, every cloud has a silver lining, and the later schedule has allowed a number of new teams to attend that would otherwise have been engaged elsewhere. It is my pleasure to welcome the Brisbane Vulgarians, Warringah Rats, Arabian Potbellies, Emirates Flying Muppets and Manila Japons to our tournament for the first time.

There are many old faces returning (I am not sure if any of them actually ever leave between annual events!) including, of course, the legendary Pot Bellied Pigs whose support of rugby development and charitable causes in the Philippines has been nothing short of outstanding. For the first time ever in 2007, the Pigs won one of the major Manila 10’s trophies and it was a pleasure for all of us to see them achieve this success – to Mike, Alun, Anson and the rest of the guys; a very big “thank you”.

I must pay tribute to three groups of people, without whom this tournament would not happen. Firstly to Bert Gopez and all his staff at Nomad Sports Club – these are a great bunch of people who make things work, sometimes against the odds and regularly against the elements. Secondly to the Board of Directors at Nomads who, under the Presidency of Jonathan Thorp, have continued to support this event and accommodate the many requirements that we always conjure up. Last, but most certainly not least, is the Manila 10’s Committee – a dedicated group of people who give up significant portions of their time, free of charge, in the run up to this event.

I am writing this piece having just returned from running our inaugural cricket 6’s competition in Clark, Pampanga – the event was a huge success and will, I am certain become as important a fixture as the Manila 10’s in time. I can say with some conviction that sports not necessarily linked with the Philippines are flourishing here and that Nomad Sports Club has an awful lot to do with that.

I look forward to meeting up with you at some point over the weekend.

Yours in Sport
William D Bailey
Chairman – Manila 10’s 2008