The Sydney True Blues were in attendance at the recent ORSA AGM and convention hosted by the Hong Kong RSC (link). The event was held from Wednesday through to Monday and also took in the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens tournament which the Rangers Youth Team and Rangers Masters were participating in. The ORSA AGM was held on the Thursday afternoon in The Pawn and was attended by supporters from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Phuket, Korea and beyond.
Key points from the meeting included the decision to increase annual ORSA membership from $10 to $20 per year with a lot of discussion regarding what individual clubs charge their members above the ORSA fee. There was a decision taken to rotate the ORSA event between Australia and other member countries from now on and the next two convention hosts have been agreed upon. The NT Loyal in Darwin will host the event in 2014 which will be followed by a trip to Phuket in Thailand which will be hosted by the Bawdeep Loyal. There have been slight changes to the committee in an effort to spread the workload of ORSA and there was positive discussion towards inviting other clubs to join the Association. Derek Kerr of the Sydney True Blues is now on the ORSA committee.
After the AGM took place many of us attended the opening dinner of the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens, with guest speaker Joe Jordan. The Rangers Masters kicked off their tournament on the Friday evening with 0-0 draw. Saturday proved to be better on the pitch despite the weather conditions as the Masters progressed despite losing to Ajax and the Youth team also progressed to the later stages of the competition being played on the Sunday.
On the Saturday night three junks (boats) carried the players and almost 100 bears to one of the islands for a fabulous seafood dinner. Everyone enjoyed the company of having different ex players at their table, getting the chance to have photos taken and autographs signed. There was a generous raffle laid on by the Hong Kong RSC before everyone took part in singing a few Rangers songs – Arthur Numan capturing a video of his mate Michael Mols as everyone sang his song. It was one of the many moments over the few days where for me it said everything about the Rangers we all love and the family we’re part of.
Sunday brought the football to a close, and whilst the youth team lost to Newcastle Utd in the semi finals they can hold their heads high as they came so close to making the final. The Masters progressed to the final and took on Ajax again who had beaten them in the group stages. The game finished 2-1 to Rangers with Alex Rae scoring the winner. Party time was upon us and we all went out to celebrate what had been a great weekend of football and being connected to Rangers. I would like to offer a big thank you to the Hong Kong RSC and it’s members for all their effort into hosting such a memorable event – a special mention for Scott Semple and his family who made me feel so welcome the following week as I stayed in Hong Kong for the British & Irish Lions match. The standard has been set to a very high level … so good luck to the Northern Territory Loyal hosting it in Darwin next March!
More photos from Hong Kong can be found in out Gallery
