We would like to invite you to join us in a fab night in Bangkok ~ one which has become one of the best ‘cocktail nights’ and ‘End of Year’ celebrations in Bangkok within the expat community ~ so lock the date in now!

This is the sixth year the Southerners have held their annual Club Ball – this year offers a chance to celebrate 17 years of Southerners sporting and social success with Club members and friends!

Date: SATURDAY 19th NOVEMBER
Where: Grand Millennium Hotel Asoke
Time: 7.30pm onwards ~ starting with drinks in the reception area before moving into the Grand Ballroom ~ where the party begins!
Tickets: 2500 THB Southerners members / 2700 THB Non-members

Inclusive of:

• International buffet meal ~ including Australian Angus Roast & all the trimmings!
• 8 bottles of wine per table
• Free flow beer
• Entertainment provided by DJ Russell Jay
• Door prize draw – BBQ up for grabs courtesy of Brad & the team at Barbeque Store on Sukhumvit Soi 39
• Raffle Draw Prizes to be won on the night!

**To reserve your tickets or book a table (10 pax) – please contact Dana Piggott or Mark Anderson.

Monday 29th August will see the new BNL season get underway – our Southerners netballers are ready and awaiting some court time!

Over the past 10 years, Southerners have always played hard, had fun and continued to successfully dominate in the Bangkok Netball League – I believe this year won’t be any different with Southerners entering four teams!

The season will commence with two weeks of ‘Mix-in’ games, before moving into league games every Monday evening at NIST.

Upcoming dates/events

Southerners Netball training sessions – 7pm-8pm every Thursday evening during BNL season @ the NIST indoor courts.

For more information, email Jenny.

Southerners Netball Umpiring sessions – 7pm-8pm, Thursday 1st Sept & 8th Sept @ NIST – come along and learn in a supportive environment.

For more information, email Dee.

Southerners Netball Cocktail night – 7pm, Friday 2nd Sept @ Oskar Bar on Sukhumvit Soi 11 – come along to meet the Southerners netball crew!

The season started with many changes for Southerners Gold (SOG). Our captain Cat Beach moved up a division and as current players filed out, we were left with only two members. Despite this, the future looked bright for SOG as our first team gathering saw 7 new and spirited ladies keen for netball and a good time. Including the old (but young) players, we were able to pull together a team of 9 members, which later grew to an impressive 12 when the magnetism of SOG attracted 3 more players in the second half of the season!

Having never played together we didn’t know what to expect stepping on court for the first game. What followed was a pleasant surprise when we scored a clear cut victory in the first few games, 30 – 5 in the first and 20 – 5 in the second. Off to an amazing start! This might have to do with the fact that we did recruit some very experienced Brits, Aussies, two marathon runners, an uncompromising Canadian and stashed a secret weapon in the form of a very fit P.E. teacher.

With 12 strong members we were lucky to only have to forfeit one game during the entire season. Injury does befall the best of us and two of our players contracted ankle/foot injuries during a particularly rough game. Another member seemed to be safest while on court, collecting lesions only when outside the NIST walls! Despite these setbacks the ladies still came to play or cheer. Their persistence and dedication to the team made a big difference and truly contributed to the team spirit.

Speaking of team spirit, this season was all about that. Encouragement and support both on and off the court.

On court, the 3 second rule didn’t faze as you knew someone somewhere would be doing a series of sneaky moves to get free. Anyone doing a good pass, block, shot or tumble to the ground could expect to hear a loud cheer, clap or friendly taunt – “Andddd.. she’s down”.

Off court, I’m happy to claim our team the loudest of the lot, especially in the finals where our lung power became apparent to everyone on courts 1, 2 and 3. With our team spirit soaring through the roof, SOG was carried to third position in the final rankings.

The last couple of games really showed to us our true potential, and I’m really excited to see what fun and games we’ll come to achieve as a team in the next season!

Southerners Black has just wrapped up their 2010/2011 netball season, competing in Division One alongside Southerners White.  Renee Kelly reports on the season that was…

Southerners Black started the Bangkok Netball League (BNL) 2010/11 season welcoming four new members – Becky, Ves, Holly and Joey. With almost an entirely new team, it did take time for the girls in black to settle and find their groove. This, and a couple of shock losses after the mid-season break, was just what was needed for the team to refocus and everyone to shift up three or four gears – and fast!

It must be acknowledged that with the assistance of the Southerner rugby lads, it was possible for the ladies to get in some valuable practice games right before the commencement of the final games of the season. What a difference it made! The ladies became more competitive and hungry for that ball on court – resulting in the team being undefeated in the final round of the season, beating their arch nemesis, Lawton-Asia A by two goals in the last game.

With a break between the final round and championship finals, the team risked losing their valuable momentum. Nevertheless, in true Southerners fashion, the team gave it their all, and although missing the championship title by the narrowest of margins, they without a doubt finished a convincing second place.

So it was certainly a season of working hard together – we’re incredibly sad that the team will now farewell it’s two young-guns as they extend their wings and move onto great things…like enduring University Orientation week on their return to Aussie! Our best wishes to Becky and Georgia – who was aptly voted our Most Valuable Player award. We wish you both all the best of luck in your future netball games, wherever they may be. As for the rest of the bunch, we can’t wait for next season…Game on!

Southerners White, one the club’s three netball teams, has just wrapped up their 2010/2011 netball season (the next season starts in September). Competing in Division One alongside Southerners Black, the girls did exceptionally well, getting great results on (and off!) the court, and welcoming new players into the club. Cat Beach has more…

It is my pleasure to report that Southerners White had a fantastic 2010/11 netball season. Like most teams in sporting history we lost, won and drew games along the way, our final position on the goal scoring food chain finding us equally placed on the third rung.

This year our talented team consisted of a combination of mostly returning players with a few random newbies thrown into the mix. Strong bonds were quickly formed between all nine team members both in between netball throws on the court and glasses of wine off court.

It is suffice to say that vigorous encouragement was never lacking during a Southerners White netball game, be it emanating from under a goal post or from the ever supporting sideline. Southerners White’s awesome team spirit was further evidenced by the constant reliability of our team showing up each week. This commitment resulted in our requiring ‘ring ins’ on only a very small number of occasions throughout the season. However, for those players that did graciously step in when required we most definitely say a massive thank you!

It was also fantastic to see our team stepping up this season and all contributing to the sometimes daunting task of umpiring, even if some of us still require a bit more practice! It is also worthy to note that Southerners White is a team who cares about the bigger ‘Southerners sporting picture’, this fact confirmed by our team being duly represented in numbers in the ‘female support team’ present at the recently held Pattaya Ten’s rugby tournament.

In addition to supporting our guys as they attempted to win rugby matches in the intense Pattaya heat, our team also provided the highly sought after skills of Katie, Claire and Jenny to the combined Southerners netball tourney team who toured Ho Chi Minh earlier this year. We will also be continuing in the international tourney spirit with our team being entered in the upcoming Asian Region netball tournament taking place on 21 May 2011 in Bangkok.

Any sporting team will agree that the number of player injuries throughout a season will often make or break a team’s competitive edge. I am therefore very happy to report that we were lucky enough to have experienced a ‘netball injury’ free season; the only team injury, a twisted ankle, being a result of some ‘intense concentration required’ texting while walking home down the dimly-lit pothole obstacle course that is Soi 15. Luckily Laura recovered quickly and has not since become victim to the treachery of uneven ground.

While on the court our team celebrated a number of great successes, off the court we also had reason to celebrate with a number of exciting announcements; the first being Sarah’s retelling of her romantically arranged engagement proposal and then of course Claire’s (hopefully also romantically arranged!) pregnancy. I’m sure you will join us in wishing massive congratulations and all the best to both Sarah and Claire for their upcoming exciting new adventures.

As is the case with any great ensemble of people, our team’s development and success was inspired and moulded by fantastic leadership. Massive kudus, power packed karma and huge thanks must therefore go out to the lovely Jenny Hall who organised us onto the court, provided strategy and encouragement during play on court and always congratulated us or attempted to cheer us up (as appropriate!) following court activity.

I think as a team I can safely say we are all equally disappointed for the netball season to be over but equally agree that it has definitely been a season to remember. So, we say here’s to our having had a fantastic 2010/11 netball season, an upcoming fun and successful tournament followed by a well deserved break, safe in the knowledge that we will be back together on court as an awesome team as soon as next season kicks off.

Saturday morning’s bus departure was delayed due to Brett generally being useless, with the vans waiting 30mins before we found out he had instead decided to travel privately with his boyfriends Sod and Lord.

Thankfully all made it to Horseshoe Point, a decent pitch in Thailand, with everyone mentally and emotionally preparing themselves for the upcoming fixtures. I was deeply touched (not the kind Bang does to himself) when Mr Perkins (Peter De Villiers) handed me my first ever Southerners tour singlet, rendering me a true Southerner with my matching mullet haircut.

However, Lucky Mkhize outdid all with his outstanding replication of Mr T – random pisscats were shouting “I pity the fool” every time Lucky (Mr T) got the ball or smashed someone in a tackle…“I’m teaching fools some basic rules”.

We were also joined by a troupe of Southerners netballers and friends who had made the trip down to see a bunch of Southerners athletes sweat and do their thing. With the girls resplendent in two-toned singlets, the boys couldn’t help but feel an extra shot of testosterone.

Southerners vs Bangkok University

While a bit rusty, we overcame Bangkok University after sticking to our plan to spread the ball wide. It was a special game for debutants Tim (Men’s Health Model of the Year) and myself, as we both scored in our first games wearing the Southerner’s colours. Mr T also scored after picking up a loose ball. Someone else also scored but no one knows who. I’m going to award it to Callum.

Final score: 26 – 0

Southerners vs Bangkok Japanese

It was expected that our games would increase with difficulty as the day passed by. The Japs were a tad feistier, but our defence was too strong. I would compare it to a Kamikaze pilot flying into a mountain. Lord powered through for our first try before an absurd high tackle on Brett rendered him the ‘Bleeding Kiwi’ – the pass he got from Sod was something you’d see in Greys Anatomy. In the maelstrom, Dimitri snuck over and gave us another 5 point buffer.

After the try was scored, we had strict instructions from Belly to lay the ****** ***** ***** ***** out. So we rushed up at the kick off…and then knocked the ball on. They were awarded a scrum. One play and a good tackle later, time was up and a heated battle ended. Fortunately for us, Bleeding Kiwi’s genes can be traced to Tonga, so he wasn’t shaken.

Final Score: 10 – 0

Southerners vs Thai Barbarians

The third game of the day would prove to be our toughest challenge. The Thai Barbarians are a handy team and arrived pumped. For the first time of the tournament we had our tryline breached and at half time we were 7-0 down. However, Zorbs, PDV and Coach Gearing assured us that we needed to keep our composure, stick to our game plan and it would come. Early on in the second half Lord, Mr T, myself and Dean combined well to set up the Bleeding Kiwi over the line. Lord added the conversion and we were level. Our strong character and belief definitely won us this game as the hard work up front by the forwards Tim H, Spud and Patricio made the ball available yet again and in similar fashion, the Bleeding Kiwi stormed over. Everyone was jubilant and it was a great comeback win for the Southerners.

As a unit, we were now stronger, closer and amped after the win. Just like in Remember the Titans. It was now time to get out of the 39 degree heat and into the hotel pool, where Sir Andy Steel had gathered various beverages.

Final Score: 14 – 7

Saturday night fine session

At 5pm the team assembled in the hotel pool for fines. Fine master Belly, had already made note of several heinous offences, and duly appointed myself and Men’s Health as tour beer bitches.

Tim H was fined for missing training the previous week as he was too hung over after attending a Maroon 5 concert, being fined a total of 50 CCs of Sangsom and a few atrociously-sung lines of a Maroon 5 song.

Gearing was fined for his litany of bad tour admin. Steel was fined for his wife’s Facebook status updates. Laurent was fined for being French. Dimitri was fined for drinking a can of Leo at a Southerners training session, and for not proving he’s not French. Men’s Health was fined for being the blackest man in the club, despite not being of African of Caribbean descent. Spud was fined for embarking on a 3 week tour of Thailand with two men. Kook was fined for being too fat to be a fitness instructor.

The fine session also provided several new revelations:

• The French don’t like whiskey, but do like vomiting in a pool.
• The combination of sunbed, olive oil, spray on tan and carrots produces the perfect tan (advice from Mr. Men’s Health).
• I’m awesome at breathing, drinking, sleeping, throwing shit passes, irritating Belly, loving my country, bruising, bleeding and being a cock.

Saturday night out

All dressed up ready to go, a heated debate erupted, Sir Andy Steel had a go at some of the boys for not doing things as a team (Some wanted to walk, others were going to take a truck). “Fooking Hell man, we’re a bloody team we do fings as a bloody team” a furious Sir Andy yelled out. William Wallace from Braveheart would have shat himself.

After a bit of a feed and a few brews, we sang national anthems – another Southerners tradition. All were sung with passion, pride and love for our countries, however Dimitri’s rendition of La Brabançonne was moving. Bless his soul he was banging tables, pulling fists and air punching – it was fantastic. Nothing better than seeing someone so passionate and patriotic.

Ok enough soppy shit now, it was now time to hit up Pattaya’s Titty Bars.

The squad climbed onto the back of a songtaew and there was plenty of banter and singing of songs. We had tourists taking photos of us and getting dirty looks from locals. Nothing new. After a few beers, arm wrestles and beer bongs, we made our way into the devilish Angel Witch club. In summary, the night consisted of oil, sangsom, poles, and several Southerners covered in foam.

During intermission one Southerner was reluctantly drawn from the crowd to aid entertainment. Not one to leave a cuzzie behind, another leapt from the second level, sliding down a 15ft pole to rescue his mate. Then the music and lights went off. A few of us thought we were about to box on with security, but they couldn’t help but love us.

Spud left his camera behind as a tip, and we were on to walking street to meet up with the Southerners girls.

Judging from photo evidence the morning after, everyone had an amazing time. Drinks were flowing, boys and girls were flirting and we even had Russian prostitutes judging us.  ”One” netball girl reportedly also went walkabout in the ocean looking for dolphins.

After doing the Nelson Mandela jive to Waka Waka on stage, Mr T went M.I.A., also managing to lose his cell phone battery, money and name at the bar. Three hours later, he ended up at the wrong hotel (where the Bangkok Bangers were staying) where some of the Bangers lads had to bail him out of an outrageous 300Bt moto taxi fair and potential night in a jail cell (cheers boys). More worryingly, rumours say he woke up naked, big-spooning Tim H.

Quarter Final – Southerners vs Pattaya Panthers

Day 2 of the Tournament saw us up against the Pattaya Panthers in a gritty match with tons of physicality and dirty play. Tim H got into a scuffle after some slapper kneed him in the head. We made sure our hits counted thereafter. After a closely contested game, and our boys sweating methane, Men’s Health finally cruised over the tryline and helped us to a narrow victory.

Final Score: 7 – 0

Semi Final – Southerners vs Royal Thai Police

We knew that this would be our most challenging game. As semi-professional players, the cops spent about 40 minutes warming up before the game started, while we slept and were generally being hung over.

The cops were an extremely well-drilled team, and had us on the back foot early on. A few missed tackles set us back and at half time we were two tries down. We were in a few good positions at times, but the ball just did not go to hand. A quality game of rugby came to an end, and so had our tournament.

Final Score: 0 – 19

Tournament wrap-up

In the end the cops smashed the Chang Mai Suas 28-0 in the final.

I think as a team we performed well and deserved to be in the finals. Most of all though, the tour was enjoyed by many new and old, netballers and rugby lads, with the odd bit of incestuous Southerners rugby-netball late-night loving.

Thanks to Gearing, Dee, Darryl and Richie for a cracker of a week end, as well as to Zorbs for great coaching. Also to the Netball girls for your support and for allowing Spud to have farewell cuddles.

I cannot wait for the next tour… once a Southerner always a Southerner.

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(Download the full tournament information pack here)

The tournament has developed a solid reputation for high standard netball, with teams traveling in from Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Borneo year after year.

Singapore NZCC Wahines will be on a mission to retain the trophy so there should be some good competition and hustling on those courts!

Come watch some decent netball at the NIST courts and support our two Southerners netball teams in action!

Where: NIST International School
When: Saturday, 21 May, 9.30am – 3.00pm
Spectator entry: FREE
Who: Bangkok Southerners White, Bangkok Southerners Black, Singapore NZCC Wahines, Singapore NZCC Atuas, Hong Kong Football Club, Singapore Bedok, Vietnam Saigon Shooters, Borneo Crocs
After-party: Australian Pub, Sukhumvit Soi 11, 7.30pm

At the most recent club AGM, Vaughan McClear stepped down as President of the Southerners Sports Club after several years of sterling service.  During his time as President, Vaughan led the club to financial and sporting success, ensuring each section was supported on and off the field.  Vaughan typifies the true spirit of being a Southerner, and thankfully, he is only reeling back his responsibilities, still being involved as Club Treasurer and Cricket Representative.  Big Daddy Vaughan will no doubt now have more time to work on his young fella’s cover drive!!  Thanks to Vaughan for all he has done for the club as President.

Dana Piggott was subsequently elected as the Southerners’ first ever female President, following in the high-heeled footsteps of Lithuania’s Dalia Grybauskaite, Germany’s Angela Merkel and Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff.  As a matter of immediate importance, Dee announced a number of key social events this year, including the Southerners Race Day, Khao San Road Tour and Southerners Ball (19 Nov), as well as club-wide drinks on the first Friday of every month.

Elected – 2011 Southerners Sports Club Committee:

Dana Piggott – President
Mark Anderson – Vice President/Secretary
Vaughan McClear – Treasurer & Cricket Representative
Jenny Hall – Netball Representative
Darrel Lintott – Rugby Representative
Linda Belonje – Touch Rugby Representative
Siam Sattayaphan – Social Coordinator
Steve Bell – Website/Communications
Kara Dowson – General Committee Member
Patricio Alban – General Committee Member

Click here to find a contact email for the President and section heads.

08/02: 24-9 against H&F (Best & Fairest: Alicia)
21/02: 41-18 against Shrewsbury (Best & Fairest: Alicia)
28/02: 33-30 against Tigers Black (Best & Fairest: Renee)
07/03: 47-3 against Tigers White (Best & Fairest: Kara)

The indomitable Carlene Whitten describes the recent win against Shrewsbury (pics from Renee Kieseker, Southerners in yellow bibs)…

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After a long rock, paper, scissors battle with the Shrewsbury captain, we lost the win for centre pass – this was not the case for the rest of the game though. Although we were numerous players down, the seven of us battled hard and won convincingly with a final score of 41-18.

Big thanks to Kushia’s mum Barb for filling in and providing us with some excellent defending and shooting action. She can come and assist us next time the Mad Dogs forfeit…or whenever she wants to help us win!!

With the height advantage in the goal circle, Kushia showed us shorties how easy it is to get rebounds and goals in with great ease.

Congrats to Alicia who scored the Best on Ground (court – whatever!) chosen by the umpires. Her defense lead us to many steals from the opposition.

Emma had some great possessions of the ball and managed to do some really good intercepts.  Fran showed us her PE teacher prowess, with non-stop running around in centre and defense.  Even though there was only one Renee, she seemed to be all over the court when needed!

Last but not least, if you want to know, my ankle is fine, I didn’t roll it too bad, not swollen at all. Also, I think I may have shed a few kilos last night, I swear there was NO air conditioning on while we were playing!

A big high five to all. I had some compliments from the GD Katie, who said it was a very enjoyable and friendly game.