Broccoli Ultimate

Broc @ Machu Picchu

2009-02-21T13:44:00.002Z

Ultimate in the snow!

2009-02-09T11:40:00.004Z

Well, not quite Ultimate but a throw, some layouts and a good run around despite the track being frozen.

Joint Training

2009-01-27T17:19:00.002Z

In a bid to pool numbers Broccoli and Johnny Chimpo have decided to train together for a few sessions. The first such training took place last Sunday in Herbert Park and saw 28 players partake in a gruelling 2 hour affair that was well received across the board. We will be doing this again next weekend so keep Sunday morning free.

See you then,
Marko

Trinity Table Quiz

2009-01-22T10:21:00.002Z

So, in two weeks time we get to test our brains against the cream of Irish Ultimate. If you feel you can hack it, sign up for a place on the Broccoli team.

Here's the details:

Trinity Table Quiz
MacTurcails on February 3rd at 7:30pm
€3 pints

Get involved.
Marko

Pre-Pick Up Skills Clinics

2009-01-15T10:47:00.002Z

Just a quick note to say that as mentioned on emails recently the IFDA Coaching staff are running free clinics on various different skills that we might be familiar with but don't have mastered. There's a full list of what's being covered on the IFDA website in the Coaching section.

See you there!
Marko

Discs have arrived!

2009-01-14T08:38:00.005Z

Broccoli's first ever club disc has arrived and is on sale now. Get yours from me in person or email me on earley.mark(AT)gmail.com and I'll try to get it to you.

Price:
Broccoli team member: €10
Everyone else: €12
Buy 5 or more: €10

Marko

The season ahead

2009-01-13T15:41:00.003Z

So after a long discussion about where we'd play, what our aims are and what we want from the season we decided on the following:

The Seige of Limerick (February 14/15) - http://ul-ultimate.110mb.com/

Tour Zero (April 25/26) - www.ukultimate.com/story/calendar_2009_announcement

Toms Tourney (May 1/2/3) - www.tomstourney.be

Windmill Windup (June 12/13/14) - www.windmillwindup.com

Given this is quite a short, but intense, season we are looking into a couple of more relaxed options in the summer and in the autumn. I'll keep you posted.

Marko

Broccoli Committee 2008-2009

2009-01-13T15:36:00.002Z

After the meeting 2 months back the following club members were voted on to the first Broccoli Ultimate club Committee. As the club grows it's important to have a clear structure and to have basic roles and tasked shared amongst many opposed to dealt with by few.

Chairperson: Mark Earley
Secretary: Mark Canning
Treasurer: Robin Giller
P.R.O.: Luan McKenna
Childrens Officer: Sinéad O'Shiel-Flemming
Webmaster: Peter Forde

Congratulations to those voted in and here's to a big year ahead.

It's been a while...

2009-01-13T15:20:00.003Z

Well! Since November there's been a lot on everyone's plate, from Christmas dinner to exams and skiing/snowboarding trips (with or without broken legs). I guess the most important thing, club-wise, was the team meeting we had in late November when we elected a committee and planned the season ahead. More details about to follow.

In December we held the inaugral Bubblegum Club Hat Tournament in Herbie which saw 70 or more come out on a frosty day and play. It was a huge success, earning over €900 for the charity and suppying 60 people with lovely white t-shirts with our logo on the back. McCloskeys showed their usual generosity and we had guest appearances from both Al and Fi! The night out that followed was impressively wild with many storiesto be told. Photos of the days play are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/earley.mark/BubblegumClubHat2009

January sees the beginning of the New Year (surprisingly enough) and with it a packed calendar of fitness, training, tournaments and much, much more. Keep an eye on this blog and on the soon(ish)-to-be-launched website www.broccoliultimate.com for more news.

Movember!

2008-11-25T10:19:00.002Z

Tomorrows the last day to put our green and orange differences aside and help Steve-o out with a truly worthy cause - fighting Cancer by growing moustaches. Here's his details, get involved!
Marko

======

Howya's,

so during this Movember (the month formerly known as November) I've been getting the mo on representing the ginger 'tache..

For those of you who don't know Movemeber's about raising awareness, and cash, for the Irish Cancer Society and in my case, growing a ginger mustache.

Nice one folks, the business end of stuff follows..
Thanks,
Steve

to donate you can either:

Click this link https://www.movember.com/ie/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink®o=1971696&country=ie and donate online using your credit card
Write a cheque payable to 'Irish Cancer Society Movember Donations Account', referencing my Registration Number 1971696 and mailing it to:
Irish Cancer Society
43/45 Northumberland Road
Dublin 4 Ireland

Remember, all donations are tax deductible.

The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to Action Prostate Cancer (APC), an initiative of the Irish Cancer Society. APC will use the funds to raise vital awareness, educate men on risk factors for developing prostate cancer, and help to make a real difference in the lives of people affected by the disease.

Did you know:

Cancer of the prostate was the most common cancer diagnosed in Ireland in 2005.
More men die of prostate cancer per head of population in Ireland than do in England, Scotland and Wales.
Movember culminates at the end of month Gala Partés. If you would like to be part of this great night you'll need to purchase a [ Gala Parté Ticket ].

Thanks for your support Steve.

More information is available at http://www.movember.com/.

Movemebr is proudly grown by Finlandia Vodka and Wilkinson Sword.

Movember is proud to partner the Irish Cancer Society.

Busy Sunday ruined!

2008-11-20T09:41:00.003Z

Unfortunately Sunday last saw training cancelled as the Skills Clinic and Trinity's late pulling out caused us to have little or no time on the field. Big thanks to the Brocs who made it down to Herbie - obviously these Skills Clinics wont work very well if people dont attend them. There's nobody on the squad who cant do with pracice so we'll continue to be at these in numbers in the fututre. Also, fair play to Podge and to Shimbo who ran the session with guile and enthusiasm! The less said about the game that followed the better - nasty conditions, loads of drops and thst sums it up really.

Meeting on Wednesday at 7.30pm, dont forget.

Marko

Happy Birthday Dman

2008-11-12T11:52:00.002Z

While he's obviously not in our club, the more photos of Doyler with cake on his face and the more publicity of his birthday (NOVEMBER 3RD), the better.

Happy 30th auldfella.

Cork Open 2008

2008-11-12T10:23:00.004Z

Some tournaments you come home from, you dump the bags on the floor and over one last cheeky beer you wonder ‘Was that worth it? I spent a rake of cash and all I’ve got is a bruised body, a sore head and loads of dirty clothes…’ Cork Open’s a bit different. Sure there’s the physical pain (and lately that’s been coupled with a strong taste of disappointment) and a bit of wallet damage but it’s easily ignored when you think back…Thirsty Scholar mayhem with the Belgians, MaC’s jerseys, sunshine all weekend, durka durka Harry Redknapp durka durka, Luan’s drop in the final and so on. Sure, the final result wasn’t what we went down for but what we learned along the way will stand to every one of us come the next time out.

I guess I’ll start with the trip down. A gang of us aimed to get the train down but this was whittled down to two by the time 6pm Friday came around – me and Luan. We ran in to Tommy, (well, he hobbled into us) who was pretty gutted not to be playing (‘Have a beer mate’) and later met Blonde who was B&B-ing it. Brave man. 4 beers and loads of wheelchair borrowing later we arrived in Cork and headed to the pub. A jammed Thirsty Scholar was the venue for many shenanigans, cheap booze, funny costumes and sweaty dancing. Soon it was last orders and 6 of us headed off to Ger Canning’s summer residence. We piled into Langball’s wee car, locked as you like, lead by ringleader and sessioner-in-chief, Darron – that guy knows how to put a few jars away. On the way back we had our first of two excellent chipper visits – KCs in Douglas. Even though they covered my chips in mushy peas (apparently, that’s a supper, boy) KCs was an inexpensive and very fancy take away – highly recommended!

Sun shining and very little wind was the weather for our Saturday morning start. In our pool we had top seeds Chimpo, Ultimate de Lux, and DCU 1. First up were Ultimate de Lux – a mix of assured handlers, hard cutters and athletes who were keen to improve on a good outing last year. This year they had brought more of their regular players and were quietly confident of causing some upsets. Unfortunately, for them, they didn’t adapt well to our aggressive zone and soon the turns were becoming frequent. Despite an equal start (trading to 2s), the Luxembourg heads dropped after conceding a run of points and the game proved to be one-sided from there onwards. Final score: 10 – 2 to Broccoli.

Game 2 of the day saw us play a very spirited game against DCU 1. We didn’t warm up well and found it hard to get motivated knowing the big game of the day was the Chimpo match two hours later. DCU were quick out of the blocks though, and worked the disc simply and calmly up the pitch to take a 1-0 lead. That woke us up and got us motivated pretty quickly. We wanted to focus on taking away the in cuts and on point-marking aggressively, and both worked well against a team who turned over a little too much. Despite Fiona’s impressive cutting (mentioned by everyone who had to mark her!) and Dave’s throws, DCU couldn’t register another score and the result was 13-1 in the greens favour.

That brought us to the big match of the Saturday, what both teams were hoping was a dress rehearsal for the Final the following afternoon. Two strong teams, with nearly two lines each, on a decent pitch and in the sunshine: perfect. It was a fast game, both teams eager to keep the disc moving and to put as much pressure on the throwers as possible. While we used a lot of zone Chimpo were poaching in towards the disc, looking to draw us into the deep shots. With Mavis and Hag mopping up what we put, along with a few drops and some bad overthrows, they quickly gained the upper hand. Try as we might, our defence wasn’t getting as many turns as we wanted, and unfortunately, when we did get them, we were guilty of trying to force the issue a little too much. A tough game felt tight but ended 13-6 in favour of JC, another big margin despite what seemed like a close battle. Frustrating didn’t quite cover what we felt. That said, the game meant little and we walked away knowing we could play better against them.

If that was a low of the weekend what followed was ridiculous. So, we all trekked back to Douglas having showered (apart from Donal who prefers ‘smelling of man’ apparently) and were ready, and pretty damn eager to get to the pub. Instead we spent about 45mins standing outside Langballs house. Now there’s lows and then there’s just ripping the piss. Apparently Wysey had decided to take a short cut using his Sat Nav. – he’ll be a long time waiting for forgiveness. Anyway, we eventually got to the pub after a lot of excitement at finally moving to see Hull nearly catch United then Spurs absolutely skank Liverpool. Durka durka Harry Redknapp durka durka. Nialler and Luan got involved in some old school handbags, peanuts were put in every drink going and poor Jim did his best to keep up with us but just couldn’t hack the ferocious pace. Booze, pizza and back to Ger Canning’s summer residence for costumes and Wysey’s favourite – the Kings of Leon.

I like fancy dress, especially when it’s in some way offensive, takes a little time to prepare and falls into place despite a lack of preparation. Dressing as Team America terrorists ticked all these boxes – an afro wig cut to bits, a toy rifle, any plain clothing that could pass as ‘desert wear’, a silly amount of face paint/bronzer and repeated shouting of ‘durka durka’, ‘Mohammed Jihad’, ‘sherpa sherpa bakala’ and so on. Jagerbombs and into town to follow ‘Pete the DJ’ who’d left early to make sure he had his best records with him.

Cypress Avenue was a much fun as last year with the finger food, the stage, the seating area and a somewhat liberal bouncer approach to those found up to no good outside (‘we’re not causing any trouble, don’t tell your boss and we’ll keep the noise down’ ‘no, no, we wont throw any more toy guns across the street I promise’). FUF managed to get in this year, due to their Euro-homme good looks coupled with pink t-shirts, but were soon shown the door after one of them was ill about 3 feet from the head bouncer. MaC were dressed to the nines as an English Hen Party and owned the stage for the night. Chimpo had diplomatic immunity, sharp suits and kept a close eye on the bomb threats and shots fired, directed at the birthday boy Doyler. Trinity were as obscure as always, while BUG arrived as bobsleigh teams and stole the Best Costumes/Party Award as a result. There were two gripes with the party – sorry Pete – but the music was rubbish. There’s only so many time La Macarena can people happy, apart from Luan that is. The late no-show DJ may be responsible for that one, still, no need to deck Pixie! And then there was the ‘No Doubles’ rule at the bar…bizarre behaviour… ‘Howeya. Double Jager and red bull please’, ‘No Jagermeister’, ‘Oh, okay, double whiskey and coke’ ‘I can serve you two singles but no doubles’. ‘Can you put them in the same glass?’ ‘No’ ‘Why not?’ ‘I can’t, sorry’. Don’t mention this to Donal, he was especially upset.

Naturally enough the night ended with the biggest Hillbillies feed we could afford and a taxi back to the ranch where Luan attempted to keep going. I was out for the count within minutes. Big quarterfinal the next morning, especially given our loss at the same stage last year!, this time against Jerk Factory – sure they don’t drink much at all…

Sunday morning and we were at the pitch first. This was a new, and welcome, experience. We had a chat, a throw and did a quick warm up before playing the Jerks. It was an open enough game to start but the combination of a strong zone and us having the handlers to work around their zone meant the score ticked away until we were 4 or 5 ahead. Factory came back into the game late on with Gary taking a couple of nice catches, and promptly retiring, but it was too little, too late. Aids, Seamus and Ciara all played very well too. 12-5 (I think). A fun Sunday morning game against a spirited team looking to play enjoyable Ultimate, surrounded by a sideline of drunks.

That meant we won through to play 9-man FUF, while Chimpo took on the Ultimate de Lux team, who’d been improving all weekend, in the other semi-final. We warmed up well, spoke about what the game meant to us and started brightly. It was a fast game with FUF relying on strong throwers to break the mark and us exploiting tired legs with our long game. The teams were relatively evenly matched despite us having a numerical advantage and we traded until 4s I think. We were getting turns on the mark and from marking hard under, but giving them the disc back with a few simple mistakes, not to mention a delightful dropped pull from yours truly. It started with an inner monologue - ‘This is the first pull I’ve caught all weekend. Wouldn’t it be gas if I dropped it. Shut up and concentrate…’ *drop* Despite this setback, we battled on and as the game continued we began to stretch away. There was a 3 point swing at 6-5 that saw us go 8-6 up. Time was called at 9-8 with us receiving and a patient score for Oisin on the break side saw us win by 2. The Belgians were probably the friendliest, most relaxed team we played and with another 3 players we would’ve had a much tougher game on our hands. Special mentions go to Jim, Oisin and Nialler who wee particularily strong throughout. After the game the FUF players proved a dab hand at the catapult, hitting the target area with 4 of 6 shots!

A 2 hour break gave us time to get some food on board before the much anticipated final against JC. Since last February’s farce of a final in Limerick and given recent friendly losses we were particularily motivated to perform. We knew who we had to pressurise, what game we wanted to play and what the opposition would be looking to focus on. We warmed up, spoke and started. Before we knew it we were 4 points down and forced to call a time out. We hadn’t done too much wrong – a couple of long shots were overcooked, and one or two bad drops. We were getting turns but being turned too easily. The break did us good and we traded to half – which was taken by a ‘turn over time out’. Still 8-4 was a big ask against a team who you can’t let get ahead. We came out much stronger after the break and soon we were converting our Ds. The crowd was loud and naturally cheering the underdogs. Still, the drops kept coming and Chimpo took every advantage of them. 10-7 was the final score and we were gutted. We’d built up to that game since a couple of weeks before it took place, we’d focused on it all weekend and in the end a sloppy start cost us badly. In fairness to them, they retained the disc well, were very fluent on offence and got turns when they needed them, especially at the very beginning of the game.

* I forgot to mention a quite memorable moment in the final... Broccoli were working the disc up the pitch, close to the sideline near the raucous MaC support. The disc found it's way to Donal who was handling, and having a solid game. He looked up field, weighed up his options and took on the 'up the line flick', a tricky throw, but one he has down to a tee. What he didn't take into account was getting pointblosked by Emer, the only girl on the pitch. Bang! Point Block. Cue wild screaming from the girls on the sideline and much snarling and fist pumping from Emer - fair play!

Finally, a big thanks to UCC for yet another great event, to everyone on the sidelines who made the final a special memory, to the Broccoli players who were exceptional all weekend and especially to those who were away – texts from Ghana & Guatemala no less! As Dman put it (before he confessed his undying man love for his team):‘This is the best tournament in Ireland – thanks a lot to Cork – and keep coming back’. I don’t think many people will ignore that advice…

MVP of the Final: Peter Forde (Broccoli)
Broccoli MVP: JD
Broccoli MSP: Luan

Broccoli Squad: Marko, Oisin, JD, Langer, Luan, Wysey, Jim, Nialler, Pete, Robin, Donal, Rickard, Darron (Sat only), Padraig (Sat only), Softy (injured/head cheerleader) & Col (injured/emotional drunk).

Cork Open 2008!

2008-10-25T14:33:00.003+01:00

Only a week to go to the recently voted 'Best Tournament of the Year 2007' and I am excited.

Here's Darrons video to get the memories going!

And an UltiVillage highlight reel for a bit of compare and contrast ;)

Thanks to Darron! See you all in LangerVille...
Marko

Welcome!

2008-10-23T15:46:00.004+01:00

After the last two trials Broccoli have taken on 6 new players. We are delighted to add the following to our squad:

Jim Elliott

Steve Kehoe

Sinead O'Shiel Flemming

Jan Schmoldt

Ben Sweeney

Stephen Wyse

Looking forward to playing with you all! :)

Marko

Second Friendly Loss

2008-10-23T15:08:00.002+01:00

Sunday last saw two large squads turn out for the second Broccoli vs Chimpo friendly of the season. We trained beforehand, working on a zone given the ridiculpus wind. 6 new trial players came out too and coupled with a decent showing from the current squad we had around 16 present - enough for two lines a few extras.

The game began wih a time out, much to our surprise, but then burst into lif with the first point throwing up a few turns and lots of hard running. the Chimps scored it and then came out in a zone. This was to be a feature of both teams D (or a poachy number) given the windy weather on the day. We traded until 2s maybe then a few unforced errors let JC get away a little. There were tunrs in every point, both from the weather and decent Ds but only one team was converting them. Chimpo took half 9-4.

The second half continued in the same vein with Broccoli unable to get out of a rut of drops and throwing errors. With the Chimps growing in confidence and our heads dropping the scoreboard kept ticking over until it was 17-6.

A disappointing day to say the least but, as friendlies are meant to, it proved we have a lot to work on and with the numbers continuing to be high it showed we have the player pool to do so.

Next stop: Cork Open.
Marko

Bologna 2008

2008-10-13T09:21:00.008+01:00

Last weekend saw 14 Broccoli players travel to compete against some of Europe's biggest clubs in the return of the once annual tournament in Bologna. 7 players flew out first thing Friday for a days acclimatisation which involved drinking by 1pm, bottles of Jagermeister for €10, picking up and scaring off Danish and Aussies alike and even a friendly brush with the law. The second 7 players arrived at 3am on Saturday morning following a later flight to Pisa and a 2 and a half hour drive in a Ford Galaxy, hitting 185km/hr en route.

The Bologna TD (Matteo) made the decision to divide the tournaments 14 teams into three peer pools. We were seeded 4th and found ourselves in the daunting 'Gold Pool' with Cota Rica, CUS Bologna and the Swiss team, Freespeed. After a lie-in we faced Bologna on a pitch best described as a thin and long dust bowl. The sun was up and the ground was sandy and hard with little or no space to warm up but we began the game in high spirits. The game started with both teams running hard, finding space and getting Ds. There were turnovers in each point and from bothe sides, but it seemed that Bologna were the team converting them. Despite all our hard running we were making too many small mistakes and soon found ourselves 4 points down, a defeicit we couldn't recover from even though the second half was a much tighter affair. Final score 12-7.

Next up were Freespeed. This time we were playing on a full size pitch, with grass, but at 1pm. It was ridiculously hot. Freespeed are physical, fast and well drilled and made pretty short work of us. While we fought them for every point they had a very strong D, using physical marks and clever poaches and their O was slick with throws going either side of the mark and breaks being converted at speed. Final score 15-7. Our third and final game of the 'Gold pool' was against Cota Rica. Again we started slowly but there was more room on the pitch than in the first two games. We fought back and the game became a proper dogfight. This was the game that got away on Saturday - the scalp we wanted but didn't take. 15-10 to the old lads.

The final game of the Saturday saw a bizarre situation - a recovery gam that saw 4v5 - the exact same game to be played in the quarterfinal the following morning. Flying Bisch were the opponents and we played out a fast, tough game and snuck it 12-11. We had asked if we could play the quarter there and then but Max has politely declined: 'we have more players arriving tomorrow and we know how you Irish will be on a Sunday morning'. Day one over, we collapsed into the gy, for volleyball, a type of wall ball (not the wall ball the WUGC players assured us), and other stuff before getting on the booze. As we got changed etc. Luan noticed he'd been robbed - passport, phone and wallet all gone. The strange thing - it was all taken from his jeans and there were at least 5 other pairs of equally valuable-filled pockets in the same area. Off to the police station with him while the rest of us tucked into pizzas and Morettis :)

Dinner came and went, and music kicked off. Luan came back and in fariness wasnt moany! Then a Beer Race was announced by Davide and 8 teams took part. Team Broccoli was Marko, Super, Luan and Ciaran. The race was simple...in no way whatsoever! It went like this - run 10 metres jumping a small hurdle in the middle, down a beer while cycling on an exercise bike, spin 10 times, run back to the start (dizzy-jumping hurdle en route), pick up hockey stick and dribble/belt a tenis ball through the hurdle to the bike, put on hocky goalie glove and down a beer in it, 10 spins again and dribble the ball back. Tag in your 2nd player and so on until all 4 have gone. We won our heat and then won the final, during which we laid out, commando rolled and cartwheeled the hirdle, by an entire go - Ciaran came in as their 4th man began :) cue a team rendition of Put 'Em Under Pressure. The night calmed from there with most of us asleep by 1am, no really...

Sunday mornings...even without a hangover getting up at 7am to play frisbee is ridiculous. The sun was hardly up, the picthes were wet with dew and there wasnt a team in sight when we got to our pitch 45mins before our quarter final. By the time 8.30 arrived we were warmed up and ready to play, but unfotunately we didnt turn up. Bisch had picked up a fast Skogs player with big throws and clever d. He made a big difference to their offence and on d he was tough to get anywhere against. That said, we got turns, we had a few runs on the scoreboard and we felt 'in the game' right until the finish. Whatever happened we tunred over too easily during the vital middle of the game and a 4 point run for them all but sealed the game. Deflated and frustrated we went down 15-10, even with the support of Cliodhna on the sideline! Next up were Torring, a Danish team of 10 players. We started well and at 4s felt like we'd kick on and run them into the ground. We didnt though and heads dropped, mistakes crept in and the Danes ran amok. 15-5 in the mst abject performance of the weekend. That result meant back to back 7th/8th place playoff against a team in white full of Italians. They weren't as good as us and despite us commanding the opening half 5-1 we crashed to a 9-8 defeat. Gutted, enough said.

7 of us then legged it to Pisa in the best car ever. Ford Galaxys are AMAZING. 7 other stayed on and drank. I heard they had a sing song in a restaurant and nearly missed their flight. Luan had to trek to Milan and had a nightmare, but we'll leave that one for him to tell, or not! Cota Rica beat FreeSpeed in a tight final, MisscoDisco (with Anna from UCD) lost their final and Freespeed beat us into second place to win Spirit. A fun weekend, and definitely a tournament we'll play again.

MVP -Darragh & Oisin
MSP - Padraig

The squad:
Marko, Oisin, Paul, Dave, Tim, Langer, Luan, Pete, JD, Ciaran, Super, Darragh, Darron and Padraig.

Marko

IFDA Weekend a big success!

2008-10-08T08:36:00.007+01:00

Last weekend saw the annual IFDA Weekender made up of the AGM, the Slab O' Beer and the Awards Ball. The AGM went well, from what I remember, with the following group being voted in:

President: Dominick Smyth
Secretary: David Perry
Treasurer: Seamus Kinsella

Members at Large:
Heather Barry
Roger Beatty
Matt Di Franco
Pete Forde
Sam Mehigan
Sinead O'Shiel-Flemming

Good luck to them in the coming year! The next day people went to the Slab of Beer in St. Annes Park in Raheny and a great day was had by all (except Keith who's knee imploded). The winning team was Team Green, captained by Sinead and featuring quite a few familiar faces!

Team Green:
Heather Barry, Alan Breathnach, Darron Costello, Fintan Darcy, Mark Canning, Daragh Gleeson, Cormac Glynn, Rory Kavanagh (MVP), Stephen Mahon, Sinéad O'Shiel Flemming (c)

Finally, last but not least was the Awards Ball. Organised by our own Paul Cronin, this years ball was an absolute riot. The venue, the food, even Pete's music - it was a great night that will be well remembered (in parts), mainly for Nialls shoes, Super getting lucky and the free wine!

Broccoli's players took home two awards. A massive congrats to:

David Misstear: Most Spirited Player of the Year (Male)
Niall Harbourne: Player of the Year (Male)

For more: http://www.irishultimate.com/players/hall_of_fame.php

Well done lads!
Marko

Photos are courtesy of Paul and more can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/paulcronin86

Who could refuse??

Brocs in Black Tie!

First friendly ends in defeat

2008-10-05T18:36:00.003+01:00

Two weeks ago Broccoli took on Johnny Chimpo in our first full length friendly of the year. It was a sunny, crisp morning and the turnbout was impressive with 12 Greens facing off against 16 Oranges. We agreed on a game to 17, with timeouts, and even a scorekeeper! Chimpo won the flip, came out on D and converted the fist turn of the game. They repeated this feat in the second point taking advantage of a lacklustre start by Broccoli. Slowly our offence began to work and we notched a few scores, while on D we tried to mix it up a little. Our intensity lifted and soon there was only a point between the teams but with Chimpo up a break we needed to crack their smooth offence. We couldnt and they took the point before half to lead by 2, 9-7.

The second half saw us tire, handing over possession through a variety of poor choices, unlucky mistakes and some good pressure from the opposition. Concentration fell and soon we found ourselves with a mountain to climb. We fought until the last point but couldn't prevent Chinpo winning 17-9. The score was one-sided in the end and I'm not sure if it reflcts the performance of some of the greens. Darragh was excellent on his debut and Super had a hand in most of the scores, be it as a thrower or receiver. We tried a lot of new things, that with practice will become second nature. Also, it told that we havent played much together but with training, fitness and Bologna all close on the horizon this rustiness is short-term.

Next Chimpo friendly: October 19th, 1pm (Venue TBC)
Marko

Two of the new lads battling it out

Blonde and Super

Broccoli is Recruiting

2008-10-02T08:43:00.001+01:00

As the new season gets under way with friendlies, the Uni season and with Cork Open under a month away there has been the usual flurry of squad building and player recruitment. Broccoli is one of a number of Dublin clubs always on the look out for new/old, experienced/inexperienced talent.

We have a young, strong and spirited squad of players looking to build on last season. The club has a number of goals for the season ahead including competing at both domestic and foreign tournaments, building towards the summer (with EUCC and WUCC on the distant horizon) and has organised a schedule of training, fitness, competitive matches and more to achieve said goals. We are looking for players who are enthusiastic, committed, and can play as part of a team.

Anybody who is interested please email by Saturday with the following details:

Name:
Current Club/Team:
Experience:
Prefered playing position:
Email:
Phone Number:

We will be training on Sunday (Oct 5th) and those who get back to me are more than welcome to attend. The squad for the season will be finalised within the next month.

Thanks for reading, see you all soon.
Marko

New season is here!

2008-09-26T11:17:00.005+01:00

So with all the talking, the meetings, the Roster discussions and so on, it's finally time to get out on the pitch and play. We had Savage 7s as a little warm up day in the sun but that doesn't really compare with the first Chimpo friendly of the year. This Sunday sees Broccoli vs. Chimpo for the first time of the 2008/2009 season. It will also see a few new recruits make their first starts. If all goes to plan the next few weeks look like this:

September 28th - Broccoli vs Chimpo

October 5th - Broccoli Training (Venue TBC)
October 7th - UCD vs Broccoli
October 11th/12th - Broccoli to 'Bologna's No.10'
October 19th - Broccoli vs Chimpo (Venue TBC)

November 1st/2nd - Broccoli to 'Cork Open 2008'

See you all on the pitch,
Marko

September Savage 7s

2008-09-23T15:24:00.003+01:00

The second Saturday of September saw 7 teams and over 50 players converge on the lovely pitches of Santry for a day of Ultimate with a twist. 'September Savage 7s' was the brainchild of Dominick Smyth, who's tireless promotion of the sport aound the country has been a noticeable feature of the last year or two. He was looking to get a simple, no frills day of play organised to get people out running and having a laugh, and that's exactly what happened. 50min games, 15mins breaks and the odd bye. Easy!

Despite an early morning start of 9.30am, ridiculously hot weather and the lack of subs, all players (young and old) made it through the day in one piece, even Shimbo. On top of that, all teams had a lot of fun with close results, tight battles, the odd landslide and a competitive final. Big congratulations to Johnny Chimpo who took home yet another domestic title, to 'Mostly Trinity' who won Spirit with one of the most friendly and competitive attitudes I've ever seen on a pitch and to Dave 'Pooper' McAlester whose jokes kept many of us amused (once Perfect translated them into English, naturally). A lesson in GUTS was dealt out by Perfect and Begsy and a few spectators showed up to, with Si and kids making it a real family day out!

From our point of view, the day was a success. We got to get out and play together for the first time in a long while (Limerick??). We got to blood 3 new players, each of whom played solidly and with confidence. We got to try a few new things on O and concentrate on working together as a unit on D. We learnt a lot in the Final and enjoyed every game.

Our results were:

vs Jabba 1: 13-3

vs Mostly Trinity: 13-1

vs UCD&Binge: 12-3

vs Chimpo: 7-12

The full results are as follows:

1. Johnny Chimpo

2. Broccoli

3. UCDoubleBinge

4. The Bears

5. The Huck

6. Jabba

7. Mostly Trinity

Spirit of the Game: Mostly Trinity.

The Broccoli team was: Marko, Oisin, Dangerous Dave, Tall Paul, Darron, Langball & Petie.

MVP - Oisin

MSP - Darron

Finally, without the work of Sam Mehigan, who provided us with pitches, and Dominick Smyth, who organised the schedule and got teams out on the day, we wouldnt have had the fun day we did. Thanks a lot lads, much appreciated, especially given neither of them could take part!

For more photos from the day go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/earley.mark/September7s

The New Season

2008-09-23T15:18:00.002+01:00

Well, this post has been a long time coming. While all has been quiet on the Web front, we've been busy hatching plans off it. Soon we will begin training for the new season, running a fitness plan and going to some tournaments. The calendar until Christmas is as follows:

September 13th: September Savage 7s
October 11th/12th: Bologna
November 1st/2nd: Cork Open 2008
December: Winter League

There's lots to look forward, lots of new players to get involved and lots of exciting news ahead, including a new website, a Broccoli Tournament of some variety, a brand spanking new Roster and lots of travelling. Keep an eye on the site for more details as soon as they're available.

Marko

Broccoli Players to Vancouver!

2008-02-15T13:05:00.003Z

During the past few weeks the National Teams have been announced and with all the dust settled, the trials complete and the tough choices made, there were 10 Broccoli players chosen for Ireland's Open team and 3 picked to represent Ireland in the Women's Division.

Congratulations to everyone and best of luck with all the training, tournaments and fitness. Here's hoping both teams can build on the good results of the past few seasons.

Broccoli's Ireland Open Players:

Tahdg Healy (Capt)
Rob Kiely (vice-capt)
Al Murray
JD Coakley
Oisin Flannagan
Dara Hayes
Peter Gaston
David Misstear
Niall Harbourne
Brian MacDevitt

Broccoli's Ireland Women Players:

Fiona McDonald (Capt)
Katie Twidwell
Sparky Booker

For more info on the tournament - http://www.wugc2008.com/

Broccoli 2008

2008-01-16T22:27:00.000Z

As the successes of 2007 fade into memory we're looking ahead to a new year of new challenges, new tournaments and more good results. Central to this will be the addition of some fresh new talent to the squad. To facilitate this we will be holding our annual trial on the second weekend of February.

Details:
What? Broccoli Trial
When? Sunday February 10th
Where? Herbert Park
Time? 11am-2pm

The Trial
The trial will be very straightforward, consisting of a decent warm-up, lots of throwing and some skill-specific drills followed by a game. Make sure to bring a light top, a dark top, some water, a disc and food for afterwards. Be ready to run at 11am, we will start on time.

What we are looking for
We are looking for Open players who enjoying playing competitively, having fun and playing with Spirit. All players of all ages and standards are welcome. Our long-term goal is to be able to field both a 1st and 2nd team at events so there's room for all players. The team will be participating in the Limerick Open where we hope to blood new players so please let us know whether or not you are available on that weekend (Febraury 16th/17th).

If anybody has any questions at all please don't hesitate to email me at earley[dot]mark[at]gmail[dot]com.

The season ahead
2008 will see Broccoli visit the following tournaments:
- UCD's Winter League
- The inaugral Limerick Open
- IFDA's Spring League
- Sligo's Wig Of Shame
- a European tournament (ideally in September)
- Cork Open 2008

We will be looking to build on last season with a strong showing in each of the above tournaments. Furthermore, we hope to build a squad capable of rubbing shoulders with the eilte in the UK & Europe as the Irish club scene continues to grow. We look forward to welcoming you on board to be a part of it.