KL RSC 9's - Tour Report

It was with great enthusiasm that our group of Tornados die-hard beer drinkers... er... hockey players met at the Hotel Sentral in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night. The meeting place was swiftly moved from the hotel lobby to the food and drink place opposite and before you could say Kuala Lumpur a dozen people were sitting there with twice as many beers being emptied, drinking rules explained and enforced by our Fine Master Rob; the marks of a good beginning for a hockey tournament week-end. The party then moved on to a bar in town (Beach Bar, not recommended for families and friends) which was both a very enlightening and disturbing experience. After the initial shock of stepping unaware into Malaysia's creepiest side, the evening turned out to be quite enjoyable and even fun, particularly when watching our guys hassled by enterprising working ladies. The ladies and some of our most senior members called it a night by 2am while the really die-hard party goers weren’t back in bed before 5am.

So it was in a fine state of hangover and tiredness that we arrived on the pitch at 9am on Saturday and got ready for the Killer Beez’ first game at 9.30. That first game turned out to be the Beez best game with a score of 0-0. By the end of the day, they had lost all of their remaining 3 games, with no goal scored and plenty taken in, and achieved what they set out to do: getting into the bowl competition the next day and setting a record for beers drunk. The Joranians, with some of Tornados finest Div1 players, fared better and gave us pretty entertaining hockey to watch. They ended the day qualifying for the plate competition. All in all, the day at the Royal Selangor Club was very enjoyable with plenty of opportunities to reconnect with old acquaintances or make new ones and watch good hockey. We cheered for a bunch of teams, among which our friends of Tornados Vietnam, for which Micha and Frenchy were playing, Hong Kong Valley with Frenchy in goal and Paul Bains on field, and ISCI, our friends from Jakarta, which manage to qualify for the cup quite easily. Jason and Agro entertained us with their comments while the sun was roasting our back, the beers kept coming out of the magic bucket and before we knew it, it was time to get ready for the evening. I would add here a special mention to Steve K. who, after heavy drinking on Friday night, slept the whole day in his hotel room, turned up at 3.30pm and earned himself a brand new nickname courtesy of JP: No Show ;-).

Back at the hotel (well, beer shop opposite), the team decided not to attend the Hawaiian themed tour Dinner, deemed to far off the city center. While most of the family men stayed put for the night, a dozen of us went into town, wearing our Hawaiian finest, to have dinner at a random restaurant which turned out very nice, and stayed there most of the night, playing pool and singing along some American’s favorites with the live band. Not surprisingly, beer flowed freely from the numerous towers that were ordered. The few who went to the Dinner however said it was good fun and well attended and a real shame that the team did not go. Something to ponder for next year without a doubt, maybe by making it clear from the start that Tour Dinner should not be considered optional??

Anyway, the next day was even harder on the tired Tornados with a first game at 9am for the Beez who had to scrape together a team while waiting for their normal players to turn up. The Killer Beez did themselves proud and ended the tournament on the very high note of 1 draw and 5 losses, no goal scored but plenty of good humor, laughs and… beers. The Joranians upheld the Tornados’ honor by beating HK Valley in their first pool game of the plate and losing against the RSC on a (obviously unfairly given) penalty flick, that Rob, despite a great job all week-end, could not stop. At about 1pm, both Tornado teams were out and after a quick cold shower we enjoyed a much needed chilled afternoon filled with beers (shocking, I know!!!), cheers and hockey. Too soon it was time to say goodbye to KL and make our way to the airport, where plenty of us experienced planes being delayed, but that’s all part of the fun and adventure of SEA travel.

In a nutshell, a very good week-end, if somewhat tiring, filled with mostly good quality hockey in a chilled and cheerful atmosphere. Comparing with the few tours I have participated to with the Tornados, it was much better than KK, but not as varied in the participating countries as Vietnam or SCC 6’s. Definitely a tour worth going back to in my opinion.