The 37th Carrick Sevens,held at Woodlawn over the week-end of 1-3 May 2009, at least matched, and, in most cases, surpassed the achievements of recent years. In association with their main sponsors - Guinness, Carrickfergus Borough Council, Kukri Sporswear, Manvik, Abbey Insurance, NK Fencing and CP Hire - Carrickfergus RFC produced yet another wonderful week-end of Sevens and Ladies 10s rugby. The Friday evening and Saturday attendances were probably the largest to date and, despite a forecast for poor weather on Sunday, a large crowd turned up to see the rugby, including an appearance by Sevens legend, Waisele Sereve ,as player-coach of Mel's Exiles. The international appeal of the Sevens continues to increase, with two French teams participating this year along with fifteen English based sides, eleven Scottish, three Welsh and twenty-nine local sides. Indeded, there was something of a "Geordie " feel to the week-end, with a number of the sides consisting of natives of the North-East of England or Northern Ireland students at the Universities of Northumbria and Newcastle. In terms of success, it was certainly a North- Eastern week-end, with one winner and two losing finalists from the week-end's four competitions.

There was the usual mix of non-rugby entertainment, with discos and dances in the evenings, an area set aside for children's entertainment and, on Sunday, a haka performed by Hertford Ladies Rugby Club ! The Grim Reapers were in attendance as usual, providing their world-famous Reaper Burgers to spectators and players alike.(They also do hot dogs and tea and biscuits by the way and are available for weddings and bar-mitzvahs!)

The week-end actually started on Thursday evening with a match between Carrick and Scottish side Forrester to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the latter's first appearance at the Sevens. This resulted in a victory for Carrick but defeat in no way appeared to dampen the enthusiasm of the visitors, who are, by now, better known in the area than many locals.They threw themselves as wholeheartedly as ever into rugby's ancilliary "cultural activities"; it is rumoured that the entire Club was "sent off" from the touchline at one of the Sevens matches but this can not be confirmed!

The Sevens part of the week-end began on Friday 1 May with the Kukri Under 20s competition. The main competition, for the Everest Cup, was won by the impressive Surrey Colts side who beat Queen's by six tries to one in the final. Surrey had over-come Telford College in the semi- final while Queen's just squeezed past holders Dungannon. This year, for the first time, the Group stage runners-up played off in a Plate competition. This was won by Bangor, who beat Ballynahinch in the final. The third placed teams played off in a Bowl competition which was won by Grosvenor whose final opponents were Ophir. The Player of the Tournament award, provided by Richard Mulligan of the Newsletter, was given to Sam Hampson of Surrey Colts.

The Guinness Sevens ,on Saturday 2 May, was played in an entirely new knock-out format. First and second round Cup losers moved into a Plate competition, with second round Plate losers then going into a Bowl competition. The format, which allows teams to find their level in the competition and still have something to play for, seemed popular with the players (once they had worked out the logic!). Wooden Spoon successfully defended their title in the main competition, defeating The Mighty Peth (from Morpeth in Northumberland) in the final by five tries to three. Afterwards, they were presented with the Holmes Trophy by Marlene and Roger Holmes and with a winners cheque for £1000.The Newsletter's Player of the Tournament award, however, went to Mighty Peth player Alan Rogers. The Plate, and the Reggie Willis Bowl (presented to the Club in memory of former Captain , J. R. Willis ) was won by Grosvenor, who narrowly beat Academy in the final. The Bowl competition was won by Newcastle based side, Novos Gremlins who beat Old Filtonians in their final. Carrick had four sides in the competition this year.The Carrick "A" team and the Carrick President's side, reached the semi-finals of the main competition. Both were unfortunate to run up against extremely strong opposition in their semi-finals and both well beaten by the eventual finallists. Carrick A had looked quite impressive up to this point, accounting for Woodlawn Warriers , Larne and Telford in the earlier rounds, with paricularly impressive performances from Andy Kincaid, Karl Quinn and Aaron McKinney. For rugby historians, this competition was marked by the appearance of a team with Whitehead in its title (Whitehead Wanderers), probably the first time this has happened since before the Second World War!

Although the weather on Sunday was not as good as on the previous two days and there were two late withdrawals from the Manvik Premier Sevens competition, a large crowd enjoyed an afternoon of very good rugby. Interest was hightened, of course, by the appearance of Sereve as player-coach with Mel's Exiles and the great man did not disapppoint the crowd, appearing for some of the game in each of the matches, and virtually all in a couple, as well as signing autographs and posing for photos.

The Manvik Premier Sevens competition was won by North-East England side Kooga Wailers (largely based on Newcastle Falcons) who beat Wooden Spoon (again largely England based) by six tries to one in the final. Because of the late withdrawals, the teams had played one another on a League basis, with the top two contesting the Premier final , third and fourth the Plate final and fifth and sixth the Bowl. The Plate was won by the Ulster President's team who beat the Irish Exiles and the Bowl by Mel's Exiles who over-came local combination side, Studfarm. Wailers were presented with the Simms Salver and the winner's cheque for £2000 by the Mayor of Carrickfergus, Alderman Patricia McKinney. The Player of the Tournament award(again provided by Richard Mulligan of the Newsletter) was won by Wailers' Jack Smails who had a superb game in the semi-final and was involved in nearly all of the scoring moves in the final.

Belfast side Cooke once again proved irresistable in the Abbey Ladies 10s competition. Having conceded just one try last year, they went one better in 2009 and didn't concede any. They beat another North-Eastern team, Novocastrians, in the final , running in four unanswered tries, to take the FLP Cup for the third year in a row. The Ladies Plate final was won by City of Derry who beat Lismore in the final. Carrick Ladies took the Bowl, beating Grangemouth in their final. The Player of the Tournament award went, for the second time, to Cooke Player Rachel Boyd who both scored tries set them up in the semi-final and final.

At the presentation on Sunday evening, the rugby charity Wooden Spoon, which works with disadvantaged children and young people, received a cheque for £1250 as well as the proceeds of a draw for a Fijian jersey signed by Sereve.

This was again a highly successful week-end of Sevens and Ladies 10s rugby of which the Carrick Sevens Committee, led by Michael Simms, the Club President Peter Luney and the sponsors can justifiably feel proud. The only problem now is how do they do even better next year??