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Re: Best trips

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 12:03 pm
by Tightheadsdoitbest
Toulon
Train from Nice (from where it was supposed to be)
Beer with Las Faddes supporters club on a roundabout beside the stadium... and the boy who does all the shouting before the match
Got absolutely thrashed on the pitch (didn't we have 3 x 9s on the pitch at one time)
Highlight was the Toulon supporters giving their own team the bird when we somehow scored our 4th try (and got a BP!)
Next day Ulster Supporters took over an empty Monte Carlo - quick trip by train !!
Lots of beer drunk in Ma Nolans.. plenty to see with Nice, Monte Carlo, Cannes etc... very friendly opposition supporters before and after the game.

Up there with Parma, Leicester and Galway

Re: Best trips

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2021 12:11 am
by justinr73
I’ll never forget the merguez sausage and frite baguette outside the ground afterwards.

Best 5 Euros I’ve ever spent.

Re: Best trips

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2021 1:26 am
by BR
Oh there gave been some savage sessions over about 20 years now.
Hard to compare. Some of them were great because of the people we were with, some because of the people we met. Some because of the stuff layed-on, others by ghe crack we made ourselves. Sometimes the matchday experience was mighty, other times the match was irrelevant.

Not looking like we'll get anything this season, let alone a traditional european trip. Maybe a suitable time to hang up the fleg for good.

Re: Best trips

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2021 9:51 pm
by fermain
BR wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 1:26 am Not looking like we'll get anything this season, let alone a traditional european trip. Maybe a suitable time to hang up the fleg for good.
Ulster says NO!... :fleg:

at least I do. :stout:

Re: Best trips

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2021 12:15 pm
by BR
fermain wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 9:51 pm
BR wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 1:26 am Not looking like we'll get anything this season, let alone a traditional european trip. Maybe a suitable time to hang up the fleg for good.
Ulster says NO!... :fleg:

at least I do. :stout:
Too kind!

The things people will say about you, when you owe them a pint!

Re: Best trips

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2021 12:11 am
by ulsterroar
There have been many worthy away trips but Paris for a Stade game I really hope I attended, but to this day I am unsure I did holds some hazy memories. Northampton a few times and each time meeting up with a great bunch of guys. But strangely an outstanding trip to Stradey Park, a marmite sort of place, where we we lost but the the night after in their social club into the wee small hours will always be held in high esteem.
The game where I strutted round like a peacock for hours after a game was the 2009 against Munster, had waited a long time for that night. Yes, I am that old. Heres to a few more.

Re: Best trips

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:28 am
by justinr73
Indeed.

Why don’t more Ulster fans go to games in Ireland?

Seems like exactly the same (great) bunch that go to everywhere else.

Re: Best trips

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:52 am
by big mervyn
justinr73 wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:28 am Indeed.

Why don’t more Ulster fans go to games in Ireland?

Seems like exactly the same (great) bunch that go to everywhere else.
The recent practice o sending weakened teams to the provincial away fixtures probably deters some.

Re: Best trips

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:13 am
by justinr73
Possibly, but is it really all about the 80 minutes?

Been to over a hundred footy grounds and away trips are where the fun is.

Re: Best trips

Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 2:35 am
by BR
When we stated going to frsnce, you could get the 5 days for about the same as a quick overnight in Dublin.

Re: Best trips

Posted: Tue May 25, 2021 8:00 am
by Cap'n Grumpy
BR wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 6:12 pm Nobody mentioning Northampton. Couple of great trips there.
Northampton.

There - I've mentioned it. :D

It is indeed a great place to visit - Saints fans are generally, very knowledgeable, welcoming to opposition fans and very sporting.

As I haven't posted on this thread before, I might just consider one of my favourites as the one where we had a bonus point win over them, and I nearly got my lights knocked in by Dylan Hartley - simply for that reason. :shock:

I probably had nothing to do with it, but I like to think I had wound him up enough pre-match that it contributed to him getting sent off and Ulster trouncing Saints. On the other hand, I suspect he was already wound up (which is why he tried to knock my lights in), and he was gonna get sent off anyway.

Leicester Tigers is another great away trip, win or lose. Anywhere v Sorries was okay because you make your own fun on an away trip, but their fans generally not that friendly. A home match against Sorries though is another kettle of wotsits, as their more dedicated fans - the ones who don't moan about having to go more than 10 miles to watch a match, and actually travel to away games are generally great fun.

Another favourite of mine is Castres but only for one specific match - the one where we got the monkey off our back about winning a competitive match in France. Post match was particularly enjoyable, simply because it was our first ever win in France in a competitive match.

Glasgae and Embra used to be good trips when they played at local rugby clubs and the fans were great. Usually got into the post match entertainment with both teams and the hospitality was excellent. They're not a lot of fun anymore since Weegies moved to Scotstoun, (as they've grown their fanbase, their fans have become more and more unbearable - a bit like Leinster) and Embra can be hit and miss on the hospitality front.

Galway and Limerick are usually great fun and readily accessible if you haven't been to an away match - I would recommend the Sports Ground to lose your virginity - it's always a good trip.

Unfortunately I haven't been to an away match in about 4 years, I think, simply as my not so young body is wearing out, old injuries are catching up with me, and I find the travelling part too painful. Needless to say, if we ever get to a final again, I will find some way to get there, and possibly even for a big knock out match in Europe, against one of the bigger teams in a quarter or semi-final, but until that happens, I don't even go down the road to Dublin anymore.

Re: Best trips

Posted: Tue May 25, 2021 7:19 pm
by solidarity
Cap'n Grumpy wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 8:00 am
BR wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 6:12 pm Nobody mentioning Northampton. Couple of great trips there.
I nearly got my lights knocked in by Dylan Hartley - simply for that reason. :shock:

I probably had nothing to do with it, but I like to think I had wound him up enough pre-match that it contributed to him getting sent off and Ulster trouncing Saints. On the other hand, I suspect he was already wound up (which is why he tried to knock my lights in), and he was gonna get sent off anyway.
We want the full story and we want it now.!!! :shock:

Re: Best trips

Posted: Tue May 25, 2021 10:26 pm
by Cap'n Grumpy
solidarity wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 7:19 pm
Cap'n Grumpy wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 8:00 am
BR wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 6:12 pm Nobody mentioning Northampton. Couple of great trips there.
I nearly got my lights knocked in by Dylan Hartley - simply for that reason. :shock:

I probably had nothing to do with it, but I like to think I had wound him up enough pre-match that it contributed to him getting sent off and Ulster trouncing Saints. On the other hand, I suspect he was already wound up (which is why he tried to knock my lights in), and he was gonna get sent off anyway.
We want the full story and we want it now.!!! :shock:
It's been told before - several times me thinks, so people may be getting bored with it.

Have a look at THIS and subsequent for the shortened version.

The slightly longer version is that he did actually have to be restrained by his team mates - I genuinely did think he was going to clobber me, he seemed so wound up. (there's no fence between the crowd and the pitch at franklyn gardens - or there wasn't then, so you really could just dander down the side of the pitch to the loos or the bars. I'm pretty certain I was going to the loo - don't think I went near a bar on that trip - honest!!! >burp :stout: ;) )

Which could explain why I thought he'd been sent off in the match, whereas he was just like a headless chicken and ended up getting cited rather than red-carded. :oops:

It's not just the body that's wearing out. :duh: