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What happened in Guadalajara last November the 20th? Guillermo Ruiz wrote a summary.
It was a sunny Sunday morning like any other in Guadalajara, except for the fact that representatives of five clubs were preparing to dispute the oldest and most important rugby league cup in Mexico. Which sounds pretty impressive, until you remember the fact that something resembling an organised rugby league tournament has existed for only three years. And so, the Origins Cup began that November the twentieth. Technically, this is the first Origins Cup because this is the first time an actual cup had been disputed. We called the previous editions Origins tournaments. The first ever Origins match was played between Valley of México and the West at Tultitlán, and Valley of México won. The second was played in Guadalajara and again Valley of México won. But this year, with an actual Cup to be disputed, everybody was saying the same thing: that Valley of México would win the Cup. Sigh, it is just the history repeating, we said... But, because this time we had some sponsors, we at Rugby League Jalisco were able to host a smaller, second tournament. We had some experience hosting small tournaments. We had played (and won) two beach rugby tournaments, the second of which was the first tournament to have a cash prize ever for any rugby code in Mexico. But we haven't had the chance to win a thirteen-a-side match against our friends and rivals of México Rugby League. And, because we wanted to show up a little bit, and also because we could, we joined our flagship tournament, the John Peter Phillips Memorial Cup, to the Origins Cup. Don't you ever dare to think we hadn't hosted this year's JPP Cup: we did, but we didn't have an actual cup. So we hosted another Cup with an actual cup at the same time than the intended Origins Cup and its brand new and shiny cup. That was the logic behind our reasoning and I'm sticking with it. Therefore, an otherwise unremarkable holiday was turned into an otherwise unremarkable double event. We are but a handful of players, anyway. But we had representatives of five clubs and two regional teams ready, and so it was the best Sunday we could imagine. We had players from Aztecas (in black and grey apparel), Black and Blues (in black and blue, go figure), Direwolves, (in white and grey), Salvajes (in black and red) and Spartans (in orange and black), all of whom would try to win the JPP Memorial Cup. Except that Direwolves would provide the referees instead of players, and so the referee wear bright yellow and grey. After all, Direwolves had the best rugby league referee in all the West. Also, he was the only rugby league referee available. And that referee was not Albert Einstein but me, the author of this chronicle. Figures... Anyway, four teams entered the jungle that was our playing pitch, all equally anxious to win the Cup. We agreed to play eurotag matches, because it allowed us to have players of both sexes on the field. Every team had to had at least two girls on the field at any given time. It worked beautifully. The referee didn't had to issue yellow cards at any moment of the tournament, a first in our history. That's because he issued blue cards: after a violation of the rules, a blue card was shown and the relevant rule was explained; two blue cards meant a yellow one, but the players (all newbies) understood the reasoning AND the rule, and so the yellow and red cards stayed peacefully in their pockets. Aztecas shown the greatest technique, and won all their matches. Black and Blues' lost match was against them. Spartans only won against Salvajes, and therefore the wooden spoon went to the youngest team: they were 18 and 17 years old players and needed the playing experience. The poor referee (still me) had to referee all those matches under the sun without leaving the pitch: a match ended, the other teams entered, and the match began. At least the weather was nice, never exceeding 28 degrees Celsius at any time. Our winters are a joke. Here the results: Aztecas 24-0 Spartans B&B 18-8 Salvajes Salvajes 6-12 Spartans Aztecas 28-12 B&B B&B 14-10 Spartans Aztecas 28-0 Salvajes I'm proud of Salvajes. All of them are newbies but they showed up courage. Especially the girls. They are really wild. Really, really wild. Anyway, the JPP Memorial Cup ended with a clear victory of Aztecas, the referee gulped a couple cups of Gatorade, and the Origins Cup began. Twenty six players on the field. Full contact. Thirteen-a-side. You know, it was nice to referee a match so clean as this. Not a single card was shown, there were very few scrums awarded (and they were contested!), and the tries where mostly converted. It was also a massacre. The West wanted to lift the Cup so badly that they didn't let Valley of México score. I mean it: twelve tries and ten conversions to nil. Zero. Nothing. Nada. The referee (remember, that's me) couldn't believe his eyes. For the first time in our history, the West had won the Cup. I refereed all the previous matches, except the beach tournaments, and I still can't believe the West won. But the West won. Fair and square. And so the chairman of the board of Rugby League Jalisco presented the Origins Cup to the West and the John Peter Phillips Memorial Cup to Aztecas, and so we proceeded to have a couple beers and a torta ahogada at the third half. Glorious third half. A truly remarkable way to finish what, after all, became a remarkable match. See you soon; I'm taking a couple days off. Yours truly, Guillermo Ruiz.
It was a sunny Sunday morning like any other in Guadalajara, except for the fact that representatives of five clubs were preparing to dispute the oldest and most important rugby league cup in Mexico. Which sounds pretty impressive, until you remember the fact that something resembling an organised rugby league tournament has existed for only three years. And so, the Origins Cup began that November the twentieth. Technically, this is the first Origins Cup because this is the first time an actual cup had been disputed. We called the previous editions Origins tournaments. The first ever Origins match was played between Valley of México and the West at Tultitlán, and Valley of México won. The second was played in Guadalajara and again Valley of México won. But this year, with an actual Cup to be disputed, everybody was saying the same thing: that Valley of México would win the Cup. Sigh, it is just the history repeating, we said... But, because this time we had some sponsors, we at Rugby League Jalisco were able to host a smaller, second tournament. We had some experience hosting small tournaments. We had played (and won) two beach rugby tournaments, the second of which was the first tournament to have a cash prize ever for any rugby code in Mexico. But we haven't had the chance to win a thirteen-a-side match against our friends and rivals of México Rugby League. And, because we wanted to show up a little bit, and also because we could, we joined our flagship tournament, the John Peter Phillips Memorial Cup, to the Origins Cup. Don't you ever dare to think we hadn't hosted this year's JPP Cup: we did, but we didn't have an actual cup. So we hosted another Cup with an actual cup at the same time than the intended Origins Cup and its brand new and shiny cup. That was the logic behind our reasoning and I'm sticking with it. Therefore, an otherwise unremarkable holiday was turned into an otherwise unremarkable double event. We are but a handful of players, anyway. But we had representatives of five clubs and two regional teams ready, and so it was the best Sunday we could imagine. We had players from Aztecas (in black and grey apparel), Black and Blues (in black and blue, go figure), Direwolves, (in white and grey), Salvajes (in black and red) and Spartans (in orange and black), all of whom would try to win the JPP Memorial Cup. Except that Direwolves would provide the referees instead of players, and so the referee wear bright yellow and grey. After all, Direwolves had the best rugby league referee in all the West. Also, he was the only rugby league referee available. And that referee was not Albert Einstein but me, the author of this chronicle. Figures... Anyway, four teams entered the jungle that was our playing pitch, all equally anxious to win the Cup. We agreed to play eurotag matches, because it allowed us to have players of both sexes on the field. Every team had to had at least two girls on the field at any given time. It worked beautifully. The referee didn't had to issue yellow cards at any moment of the tournament, a first in our history. That's because he issued blue cards: after a violation of the rules, a blue card was shown and the relevant rule was explained; two blue cards meant a yellow one, but the players (all newbies) understood the reasoning AND the rule, and so the yellow and red cards stayed peacefully in their pockets. Aztecas shown the greatest technique, and won all their matches. Black and Blues' lost match was against them. Spartans only won against Salvajes, and therefore the wooden spoon went to the youngest team: they were 18 and 17 years old players and needed the playing experience. The poor referee (still me) had to referee all those matches under the sun without leaving the pitch: a match ended, the other teams entered, and the match began. At least the weather was nice, never exceeding 28 degrees Celsius at any time. Our winters are a joke. Here the results: Aztecas 24-0 Spartans B&B 18-8 Salvajes Salvajes 6-12 Spartans Aztecas 28-12 B&B B&B 14-10 Spartans Aztecas 28-0 Salvajes I'm proud of Salvajes. All of them are newbies but they showed up courage. Especially the girls. They are really wild. Really, really wild. Anyway, the JPP Memorial Cup ended with a clear victory of Aztecas, the referee gulped a couple cups of Gatorade, and the Origins Cup began. Twenty six players on the field. Full contact. Thirteen-a-side. You know, it was nice to referee a match so clean as this. Not a single card was shown, there were very few scrums awarded (and they were contested!), and the tries where mostly converted. It was also a massacre. The West wanted to lift the Cup so badly that they didn't let Valley of México score. I mean it: twelve tries and ten conversions to nil. Zero. Nothing. Nada. The referee (remember, that's me) couldn't believe his eyes. For the first time in our history, the West had won the Cup. I refereed all the previous matches, except the beach tournaments, and I still can't believe the West won. But the West won. Fair and square. And so the chairman of the board of Rugby League Jalisco presented the Origins Cup to the West and the John Peter Phillips Memorial Cup to Aztecas, and so we proceeded to have a couple beers and a torta ahogada at the third half. Glorious third half. A truly remarkable way to finish what, after all, became a remarkable match. See you soon; I'm taking a couple days off. Yours truly, Guillermo Ruiz.
