TWENTY-FOUR teams competing; ponderous, undeniably skilful, occasionally hilarious play across three pitches in bright sunshine; big crowds and a cavernous ‘big top’ marquee – it all added up to a unique experience as Farnham Rugby Club hosted the European Veterans Rugby Association Festival over three days last weekend.

EVRA had selected Farnham for its fifth tournament venue and the 487 rugby veterans were welcomed by Pat Frost, Farnham Town Mayor, and her consort Bob.

After speeches by EVRA president Marko Protega and Farnham RFC chairman Geoff Robins, the drinks began to flow as teams from as far apart as Portugal and Sweden, Moravia and Ireland, the Czech Republic and Germany swapped rugby tales.

It was the prelude to a full-on rugby weekend.

This prestigious festival had been months in the planning and Farnham should be proud of its rugby club and all those who volunteered, were cajoled, or were just happy to help out.

The organising team was led by Paul Brooker and his committee of Gavin Baker, Nicky Doran, Rebecca Watson, Barney Hart, Julian Frost, Andrew Mortimore, Seb Fox, Mel Adams, Marc Chaumerton, Keith Harding, Paul Keogh, bar supremo Gerry Boucher and match co-ordinators Karl Brown and Tina Goodwin. They and a host of others – too many to mention – produced a fantastic event.

The scale was immense. Apart from acquiring, erecting and victualling the ‘big top’, Farnham staged over 80 games over the weekend.

After a full schedule of matches on Friday, an estimated 1,700 people used the marquee to watch the World Cup’s opening ceremony and subsequent game between England and Fiji on the big screen. After yet more games on Saturday, 800 sat down to a gala dinner, complete with white-glove waiter service.

A nice touch was the four red Routemaster double-decker buses that operated a ferry service for teams and festival goers from the centre of the town.

As for the rugby, the stand-out teams were the Czech International Stars, Agronomia from Portugal, Skane Old Boys from Sweden and the be-kilted Galicia Old Boys who brought 60 players for the trip. The oldest player, from Portugal, was 72. Farnham’s own Escargot and Escargot O50s teams, skippered by Gavin Baker and Geoff Robins respectively, played a total of 14 games over the weekend.

The senior Escargot side, which included former Farnham player Tim Flood – father of Toby – opened the festival with a match against the EVRA XV and the first try of the event was scored by ex-1st XV stalwart Andy Mortimore.

The emphasis was on festival rugby. The veterans, many with impressive girths, many who have played at a high level, were playing for love of the game – no knockout format, no final, no winners’ trophy – and the vets play to their own set of rules in two age groups: 35-50 years and over 50s.

For this particular festival, the games comprise two 11-minute halves, with a two-minute interval, so the action is short and sweet. Both gentlemanly (most of the time) and competitive. There is no place-kicking, players cannot run more than 20 metres, and those aged 65-69 (gold shorts) cannot be tackled.

Farnham players were on standby to fills gaps when required – standing in for injured players and others for whom the festivities had proved a little too much. One exhausted Farnham player was heard to groan that it was his fourth game of the day.

There were injuries, especially with muscles not being in perfect tone this early in the season, and two ambulances were required on Saturday, one of the stricken, ironically, being Farnham’s own Dr Peter Briggs.

Bodies were tired and heads sore by the time of the closing ceremony on Sunday, after which the visiting veterans were treated to a faster version of the game, courtesy of the talented academy sides from Farnham and Cobham.

Special awards: Jeff Butterfield Award (team showing the best vets’ spirit) – Skåne Old Boys (Sweden); ‘I would walk 500 miles’ (team travelling the furthest) – Old Boys Rugby Hungary; First Try of the Festival – Andrew Mortimore (Farnham Escargot).