2003 IRISH CANADIAN RUGBY CLUB
AWARDS DINNER REPORT

On Friday, November 21st, 2003 the annual Awards Dinner was held at the Paradise Banquet Centre in Concord, Ontario.  Master of Ceremonies Mark Thompson started the evening with a bang by doing a presentation on why he thinks the Irish Canadian Rugby Club should be renamed the "United Nations Rugby Club".

Click here for United Nations!! - coming soon

  ORU Hall of Fame member and ICRC Life Time Member Eamonn Browner then presented his award for Rookie of the Year to Ryan Ellement.  Ryan made a huge impact with the Irish this season, recording the most tackles in the entire club and pushing his way into consideration for a 1st XV spot in our very talented back row.  Ryan will definitely be one to watch in years ahead.

Club Captain Neil Maxwell presented the Bill Barclay Trophy for the Most Improved Player.  Neil spoke of how he honoured he was to have been able to award this last year with the recently departed Barclay, but stated that he was confident that Bill would have been very proud of this years recipient.  Former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Leonard Jean-Pierre, in only his 2nd year of rugby, was the winner.  Unfortunately, Lennie was not able to attend due to work commitments.  Lennie was most recently the winner of the ORU's "Rookie of the Year" Award in last weeks ORU Hall of Fame / Awards Dinner.

Club Coach Mark Winokur invited the entire coaching staff up to present them with gifts for their work in 2003.  Gareth Pettigrew, Ian Galbraith, Jon Ashley, Rodin (Koko) Lozada and Neil Maxwell were all honoured.  Once Ashley had finished picking out what he wanted, Winokur then presented the MVP Trophy for the 2nd time in the last 3 years to 1st XV Captain George Azar and to a standing ovation from the crowd.  Winokur stated in his speech that "George is not only a great leader, put works extremely hard to improve his own game, which paid off this year with a spot on the Toronto Xtreme (RCSL)."

President Peter Ameli then came up to present the John Dixon Memorial Award for the Most Valuable Member.   The award went to Club Captain Neil Maxwell.  Peter mentioned during his presentation that he "had not seen anybody do so much work during his entire 20 year career with the Irish".  A standing ovation had Maxwell choked up on his way to the podium.  

Peter Ameli and Neil Maxwell made a presentation to Ken Smith, who is retiring after over 50 years of volunteering in rugby.  Ken was presented an Irish rugby ball, which all the players and coaches had signed.  An emotional Smith said during his speech that "this award means the most to me in all my years of rugby, and it will hold a revered place in my den".  Ken is looking forward to spending more time with his wife Barbara, his two daughters and son-in-laws, and his 1st grandchild.

Thanks to all who attended!!

Special thanks to George Azar from booking the facility and collecting at the door; Ramzi Azar for running a very successful "Joker Poker" fundraiser; Mark Thompson for his excellent MC job; and Darcy Longpre for helping with the bus, even though he was unable to attend due to work commitments.

The Colt of the Year will be awarded at the Junior Dinner, which has tentatively been booked for Sunday, December 14th and Sababa Restaurant.

This season was in fact a very successful one for a lot of individual players.  The following players received representative honours this season:

Congratulations to all!!