Red and Black Supporters Day

SUPPORTERS DAY

27 JAN

SOCIETE GENERALE VALLEY RFC

This weekend sees the last of five Club Days played at

CLUB DAYS ARE HAPPY DAYS

our home pitch this season, and after a lengthy break from Happy Valley Pitch 6 - it is good to be back!

Four out of six teams are home and involved with Club Day this weekend as we welcome Tigers who will be taking on our Valley RFC Mens Premiership, Womens Premiership and Knights teams in what will be hotly contested fixtures.

Our Men’s Premiership will be looking to continue their winning momentum from a Kowloon victory the previous weekend, whilst our Womens Premiership will be facing a tough game ahead.

The day will kick off with our Valley Fort children, who aged 5 to 18 will be playing in a series of small sided games showcasing their talent and skills.

Elsewhere across Hong Kong, our Reds will be playing Tigers and our Mavericks will take on Shenzhen Pirates.

Special shout out to Nyasha Tarusenga for collecting his 50th cap for the mighty Red and Black!

Saturday 27th January

CLUB DAY 1:30 Valley Fort Minis and Youth Showcase games 3:00 Societe GeneraleValley RFC Mens Prem v Tigers 4:30 Societe Generale Valley RFC Knights v Tigers 6:00 Societe GeneraleValley RFC Womens Prem v Tigers

Things to look out for at Club Day: Societe Generale Valley RFC Scoreboard

Valley RFC Pop Up Shop

Societe Generale Kicking Posts Station

Valley Fort Ball Team and Cheer Squad

Food and Beverage Station

Face Painting Station

Saturday is a rugby day and we love playing at home down at the Valley! We would like to invite everyone down to celebrate, share a drink, and watch some rugby. This Saturday is our last of five club day’s this season. So come support and cheer on the Men’s and Women’s Prems, Knights, and Mavericks. Look out for our younger players who kick off the day with their games.

Let’s go Valley!!!

CHAIRMANS MESSSAGE

ROUND 2 V KOWLOON

WRAP UP Women Premiership Loss 17-29 Men’s Premiership Win 36 - 15

Tough evening for the Womens Premiership, as they finished the day on the wrong end of the scoreboard with defeat to Kowloon.

We shot off the blocks to a tidy 10-0 lead with a great team build up leading to new Zoe Smith dotting down, however momentum shifted and Kowloon began packing on a strong territorial game with their lethal back line Persistent kicking down field by Kowloon, made it hard for our women to get out of their own half and capitalise on the slender lead.

Our Mens Premiership had a better day on the park as they pulled off a key win over Kowloon.

Our stronghold up front in the likes of Luke Dewar and Nyasha Tarusenga continued with their gritting ways and put in a solid shift, and stand in fly half Christian Stenhouse had a strong day on the boot.

Both teams are looking forward to a short break as we head into the Chinese New Year.

v Tigers

1

Rory Young

2

Nicholas Brown

3

Faizal Solomona Penesa

4

Nyasha Tarusenga (c)

5

Zinzan Hanesen

6

James Cunningham

7

Robert Lennox

8

Domenico Hegglin

9

Alistair Stacey

10

Christian Stenhouse

11

Harry Sayers

12

Henry Shiell

13

Max Woodward

14

Viliame Naivalu

15

Huw Alexander

16

Luke Dewar

17

Thomas Concu

18

Barend Potgeiter

19

Justin Beese

20

Roger Ng

21

Ben Rimene

22

Guy MacKinley - West

23

Ettore Perri (debut)

THE TEAM

v Tigers

Leung, Wing Yan Andrea

1

Tanya Dhar

2

Kea Herewini (C)

3

Rosie Inglis

4

Chan, Wing Yan Alexa

5

Sonia Chandiramani

6

Riva Brill

7

Tiffany Fu

8

Li Sze Ting

9

Wong, Yi Tung Lewis

10

Zoe Smith

11 12

Rumeng, Wu Aislin

13

Tyler Botha

14

Nadia Cuvelier

15

Claire Leung

16

Kea Herewini

17

Adrienne Davis

18

Karen So

19

Au Shu Wan

20 21

THE TEAM

22 23

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT Coach Turtles words

The Mavericks start the 2023/24 season with a mouthwatering clash against their 2023 Grand Championship Final opponents HKFC Scorpions. The game is likely to set the tone for the respective seasons of these two old rivals, both or which are widely expected to set the pace in the Championship.

The Mavericks, once again ably led by Ben Campbell, will be missing a number of familiar faces for following: the retirements of Trey Deaver and Victor Martin (at the ripe old age of 25!); the departure of Wyler Wong; and long term injuries to Josh Burnside, Dan Hodgetts, Aljon Grospe. Offsetting these losses will be the introduction of new recruits Christo Smit, Steve Safarowic, Louis Destombe, Dennis Hung and Matt Zirps, along with the welcome return of Tim Che, Nelson Chan and Arthur Monnet.

Built on the solid foundations of seasoned campaigners Brendan Dunstan Smith, Peter Yau, Rion Yeh, Lukas Lai, Kiwa Whatarau, Kin Chong, Brandt Human, Paul Wessles, Gwylim Richards, Adrien Marie-Francoise and Carel Swanepoel spiced up with the exuberance of youth supplied by Olly McDermott, Jack Lamming, Baptiste Nallet and Jeff Tse the Mavericks are looking to play entertaining rugby and contend for Silverware again this season.

MAVERICKS

from the archives - club days

RORY YOUNG

POSITION Loose Head Prop

YEARS AT VALLEY 6

WHY VALLEY Close affiliation with Medusa

ADVICE FOR SOMEONE JOINING V Work hard, play hard culture

MOST MEMORABLE RUGBY EXPERIENCE Promotion to National One with Bishops Stortford RFC.

ANY PLAYER FOR THE TEAM Moon Dog. Never short of supplies

SUPERHERO FOR THE TEAM The Flash. Quick init

2 TRUTHS 1 LIE I’ve never been shocked by Carl Marks I’ve eaten 10 double cheeseburgers in 10 minutes I have a license to carry a Shotgun in the UK

Lock

YEARS AT VALLEY 7 Years

WHY VALLEY Anita brought me to the pitch after just one week in Hong Kong- I have been with the club ever since

PRE GAME ROUTINE I play loud, angry music and get my hair braided

SUPERHERO FOR THE TEAM Scarlet witch- can't beat the power to alter reality

POST GAME ROUTINE Love to spend some time in the sauna or getting a massage

ANY PLAYER FOR THE TEAM Portia Woodman- what a beast!

TWO TRUTHS ONE LIE I have given someone a tattoo I've flown in a helicopter I know how to pick locks

ADRIENNE DAVIS

POSITION

Pl

W

D

L

PF

PA

PD

Pts

HKFC Natixis Club

11

10

1

0

302

145

157

46

HKU Sandy Bay RFC

11

7

1

3

289

170

119

36

KPMG HK Scottish RFC

11

6

0

5

246

235

11

31

Societe Generale Valley RFC

11

5

0

6

236

181

55

28

DAC Kowloon RFC

11

4

0

7

249

289

-40

19

Kroll USRC Tigers

11

0

0

11

126

428

-302

0

HKCR LEAGUE TABLE

Pl

W

D

L

PF

PA

PD

Pts

HKFC Natixis Ice

11

10

0

1

295

139

156

48

DAC Kowloon RFC

11

7

0

4

339

199

140

38

Societe Generale Valley RFC

11

7

0

4

266

157

109

35

Kroll USRC Tigers RFC

11

6

0

5

304

162

142

31

Gai Wu Falcons

11

3

0

8

221

217

4

16

SCAA Causeway Bay Phoenix

11

0

0

11

62

573

-511

-5

HKCR LEAGUE TABLE

#heretohelp is a wellbeing project that aims to bring together the Valley community to talk about mental health and share resources and techniques to support each other in our mental health journeys.

HERE TO HELP

SHINING THE SPOTLIGHT ON My name is Jess, and I head up The New Normal (TNN), an NGO dedicated to supporting adults through life’s difficult moments.

This journey started when I struggled to cope with the loss of my Dad and faced challenges accessing mental health support. At TNN we understand that life can be hard, and sometimes it’s difficult to find someone who truly understands and empathises with what you’re going through - nobody should feel alone no matter how they feel.

It is our mission to create supportive spaces. We do this by offering free peer-to-peer support groups in Cantonese and English to all people seeking to explore their grief, mental health, and well-being in an environment where they feel supported and heard.

We also provide activity-based group classes, free for those in financial hardship, as we recognise that taking care of our physical health can positively impact our mental well-being. Finally, we collaborate with different communities and create an inclusive platform to share thoughts, stories, and support.

What common mental health issues have you noticed in Hong Kong, and how does that relate to the way in which The New Normal has developed its services?

People who come to our peer support groups talk about their struggles, communicating what they are going through, especially with family, and bridging the gap between generations. Everyone talks about financial stress, which encompasses so many things.

Younger people worry about academic achievement so that they can achieve financial success. Hong Kong is a costly place to live, and consequently, people often have to share homes with others, meaning they don’t have much privacy.

There is a real emphasis on working hard and less on emotional, psychological, and social support in the workplace. Wellbeing at work is seen as a workplace benefit rather than a given. In our grief groups, people talk about being forced back into work after a traumatic loss. There are a lot of unhealthy work cultures because of competition and the pressure to achieve.

On the finance topic, private mental health care is often expensive, wait times for the public system are long, and workplace health insurance may only cover psychiatry and not broader mental health services. These challenges leave people with not much choice about what to do. Further compounding this, many people have no idea where to go to get help. Or how to find services that fit their identity and income bracket.

How could people get involved, either volunteering or offering financial support?

If you are open to discussing your experiences with your mental health, grief, or challenging life events, please come to our free, open peer support groups and share. We need spaces to host our peer support groups and activity-based group classes. We are always looking for volunteers! So if you’d like to become a peer support group host, have special skills to support a small organisation, or maybe you’re a fitness professional who could lead an activity-based class. We would love to hear from you!

We are running a crowdfunding campaign to cover our launch costs, and we are incredibly grateful for every donation. We are a small organisation driven entirely by volunteers. email jess@thenewnormalcharity.com

instagram @tnnhongkong

www.thenewnormalcharity.com

WITH THANKS Societe Generale Valley RFC would like to acknowledge and express sincere thanks and gratitude to our sponsors and partners.

Thank you to our Title Sponsor Societe Generale, and our primary sponsors TV5 Monde, Mayer Brown, Bonaqua, Swire Properties, Links Moving, BFT and the Happy Valley Bar and Grill. As well as our product sponsors ONLY Beverages and Metabev.

@sgvalleyrfc

valleyrfc

Valley RFC

www.valleyrfc.com