Rawhyde Revolver 2010 (Winchester)

Twelve months on from the inaugural Rawhyde Revolver and with teams once again gathering. For 2010, Rawhyde Revolver had expanded into a 12 team tournament, opening up new opportunities for everything from scheduling to drinking. But some things will always remain the same, so on Friday night we returned to the scene of last years party, The Hyde Tavern. Those who made the (often literal) trip to the cellar of The Hyde were treated to “the latest in frontier audiophile neurolinguistics invoking the spirit of hedonism past” apparently. Granted it sounded more like mainstream pop music, but who are we to judge. Suitably saturated in Hampshire’s finest ales, the party rolled into the various nightclubs that Winchester has to offer. Those with experience of the Winchester’s nightclubs know that to talk about the events that take place within is about as sacrilegious as discussing Fight Club.

Rawhyde are nothing if not forward thinking, so a significant number of pennies were sunk into buying the most perfect weather you could hope for and Saturday morning duly dawned with clear blue skies. With the blowing of a dubiously wheezy airhorn battle commenced on pitch. Actually ‘battle’ isn’t the right term as the spirit on pitch was excellent and the mix of talent present put on a great show for the passing public, who got to see everything from warp speed hucking and epic lays through to some of the authors own attempted assists that could best be described as, ermmmmmm, entrepreneurial. After a couple of games and the mornings hangover long forgotten, the eyeballs on pitch were pried wide open by the arrival of the Red Bull girls. This effect, I’m sure you understand, was not due to anything as uncouth as gawping at pretty girls but rather due to the Energy Shots they were handing out. Following an excellent days play and now suitably bewinged, it was time to leave the pitches behind and head once again to more alcohol-fuelled surroundings.    

Saturday nights jamboree was in Winchester town centre. Handily enough, the venue had a flat screen TV so pictures taken throughout the days play could be uploaded and left scrolling. Utilising these photos as a prompt for drinking games was as instantaneous as it was increasingly vindictive. Early rules were reasonable enough, such as ‘drink if you’re dropping the disc’. After a couple of hours the rules had morphed into ‘drink if you’re in the photo; and also if you’re not’. This combined with the irresistible offer of 2 for 1 cocktails was always going to lead to an unpleasant start to Sunday morning. Jagermeister and tonic? Yes please.  Still, when the first rays of the following morning felt like someone had pointed the Large Hadron Collider straight at your retinas, comfort could be found by slipping back on the aviator sunglasses that had been distributed in the pub. The avaiators lenses were welding-mask dark preventing everything from the sun to particle accelerators from disturbing your disco nap. Logically, you would have gone to sleep with them on as a preventative measure and some claimed to have done just that, however the counter-claims revolving around ‘just passing out’ seemed more plausible.
           
Sunday’s games were played at the same ferocious pace as Saturday’s had been. Well, perhaps not the first game or two. It’s comforting to think that given the flammability of alcohol, surely by some biological miracle it must provide some extra fuel on the pitch? This hypothesis has been disproven an innumerable number of times but there will always be those willing to re-test it, just in case. As the teams honed in on their final seeding matches, the passion on pitch was evident. This also shone through in the calls; and to whoever brought along the ridiculously sour sweets, there’s at least one person in the world who’s considering suing for a new tongue…    

But perhaps the most remarkable event of the entire weekend was that the Vietnamese pig being kept adjacent to the camp site managed to survive both Saturday and Sunday mornings without being hastily turned into a platter of bacon sandwiches.

Huge thanks too all the teams and players who make the event what it is.

Congratulations to:

BAF – Tournament winners
SPANK - Runners up
In the Zone - Spirit winners
Bobcats - Plate winners

Essex – Best fancy dress (when we didn't even have a fancy dress theme!)
 

Rawhyde Revolver 2010 Results

1. BAF
2. Spank
3. Kernow Inferno
4. Shake & Bake
5. Raw
6. More than just a hint
7. High Fliers
8. Essex Ultimate
9. Bobcats
10. In the Zone
11. Southsea Commoners
12. Hyde

Rawhyde Revolver 2010 Spirit Results

      1.  In The Zone (8.44)
      2.  Hyde (8.34)
      3.  More Than Just a Hint (8)
      4.  Shake & Bake (7.88)
      4.  High Fliers (7.88)
      4.  Bobcats (7.88)
      5.  Essex Ultimate (7.63)
      6.  Raw (7.5)
      7.  Southsea Commoners (7.13)
      8.  BAF (6.5)
      8.  Spank (6.5)
      9.  Kernow Inferno (6.29)