With the daytime temperature reaching up to 40°C during our rugby holiday period in Azerbaijan, there was no time for the Baku Exiles RC committee (Jason Thomas, Dean Culshaw, Karl Porter and John Quinn) to cool down as they worked hard on planning schedules & fixtures for coming 2006/7 rugby season. "This year we plan to have more intense and competitive games against our counterpart clubs here in Azerbaijan and Georgia" said committee chairman Quinn. "Currently, having three international rugby players as part of our team, we expect our 15-a-side to hold their own throughout the year. We are aiming to put in a very strong 7s team in the Baku Rugby Festival this October and also in the Dubai 7s end of November and expect to get into the finals again this year".

Baku Exile RC is primarily expatriates who have come from far a field as Alaska and New Zealand to work in the Oil and Gas booming industry here in Azerbaijan. Baku Exiles RC always welcomes new players to join, this year we have new comers Edward Karr from Aberdeen and Ulie van Staden from South Africa. We would like to say farewell to some of our old players who have departed for greener pastures, among them Doug McConnell whose kicking for touch was always desired but never achieved. Farewell to Mark Adams who came out of retirement to play one final game before he left Azerbaijan, Mark showed us young guys what passion for rugby is all about.

PSL have been the Baku Exiles RC main sponsors since very beginning and negotiations to keep PSL as our main sponsor for 2006/7 season are underway. Big thanks to PSL for their sponsorship for the past few years, many thanks to others who supported us over the years - Xirdalan, Rolls Royce, ACE Forwarding Caspian, KCA Deutag and others for their big and small contributions which all went towards development of Rugby in Azerbaijan.

Baku Exiles 2005/6 squad:
Back row (left to right): Owen Dady, Emin, Mark Jenkins, Phil Coombs , Doug Ord, Andy Whitaker, Jason Linford, Mark Adams.
Front Row (lift to right): Elchin Suleymanov, Elnur Ibrahimov, Doug McConnell, John Quinn, Ian Plowright, Jack Winton, Ian Armstrong, Mike and young Alex Sherwin.

5^th BAKU RUGBY FESTIVAL
07^th and 08^th October 2006

DEAR FELLOW RUGBY CLUBS,

I am writing to cordially invite you to take part in the 5^th annual Baku Rugby Festival, which takes place from the 7^th and 8^th of October, 2006, in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Festival offers teams action on the rugby field combined with a chance to enjoy Baku - a city with a unique history and culture which also has a lively expatriate population and all the bars, restaurants, hotels and other amenities you would expect to find in a modern capital.

The centrepiece of the Baku Rugby Festival is a Sevens tournament, but there is also much besides that. Last year, the Festival attracted teams from Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Welsh rugby legend Jeremy Pugh and Scottish international Norman Rowan was the guest of honour's and speakers at our annual rugby dinner, which coincides with the Festival. You can find more details about the 2005 Festival on our website in News column. For this year annual dinner, we are inviting Sean Fitzpatrick former New Zealand international captain.

This year, we are planning to make the Festival bigger and better. Teams from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Italy and the UK and the United Arab Emirates have already expressed an interest in attending.

The 2006 Festival programme will include:

• Opening ceremony on Friday 7^th October at 7:00 p.m. with a free BBQ and entertainment for all participating teams.
• Baku Rugby Club's annual rugby dinner with special guest speaker - Sean Fitzpatrick - and cabaret. If you wish to attend this dinner, please send a separate email to Festival organiser John Quinn at john@acecaspian.com.
• The Festival competition this year will be divided into four sections: the main Sevens tournament, which incorporates a plate and cup competition; a veterans' 10-a-side competition; a U-19s 15-a-side competition and a touch rugby competition.
• The playing schedule for the Sevens competition will start with group matches on Saturday the 7^th followed by the semi-finals and finals of the plate and cup competitions on Sunday the 8^th. Matches are to be played between 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. on both days.
• Prize-giving ceremony and Farewell concert at the tournament venue after the final matches.
• Drinks and other refreshments will be available at the ground throughout the two days of competition.

We have endeavoured to make sure that the Festival is hassle-free and good value for participating teams. Participation in the Baku Rugby Festival is completely free. All teams will be provided with a Festival pack containing information about the event, entrance passes to the Festival venues and free lunch vouchers for each day of the competition. We are happy to advise teams on hotels in Baku and to help you make reservations.

Baku is easy to get to. There are daily flights from London, Istanbul and Moscow, five times a week from Frankfurt, four times a week from Dubai, and three times a week from Milan, Paris and Vienna. Visas can be obtained on arrival at Baku Airport. Once you arrive, transport is simple. The tournament venue is near the city centre. The metro system costs less than one US cent per ticket and taxi journeys around the city centre should cost you no more than $2.50.

If you and your team would like to participate in the 2005 Baku Rugby Festival, please fill in the attached form and send it to me at john@acecaspian.com before the closing date for applications of 22^nd September.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you need any further information. We very much look forward to welcoming you to Baku.

John Quinn
Festival Organizer
Mobile: +99450 221 7306
E-mail: john@acecaspian.com

The Application Form (Download)    5th BAKU RUGBY FESTIVAL    (07th and 08th October 2006)