Looking for best places to meet people, and play sports (mainly Rugby)

Hi,
I was born in Tianjin, but I used to live in Beijing for the past 4 years and I just moved back here. So I am not very familiar with the city, either. As far as I know, there are some rugby clubs in Tianjin, such like Changcheng(Great Wall) Rugby Club, which I've heard of on the internet.
There are bars and clubs here but not as much as in Beijing or Guangzhou, I suppose. The bar called Xitang(昔塘) is not bad, it's around the Chengdu Road. And there're lots of quiet coffee shops in Tianjin, good places to meet friends. Also many gyms, the annual fees are around 1000 to 3000, depending on the facilities, decoration and location. If you would like to tell me your location, maybe I could introduce more about the neighbourhood.

Hello,

I really want to play rugby, can u give me an adress of this club ?
Thanks you

To whom it may concern.

Hi,my name is Chris.I am currently studying in Tianjin,China.I have looked up on the internet for any rugby clubs in Tianjin.But saddly there aren't any..I do not know how many people in Tianjin who wants to play rugby..A few friends will probally want to try..I really think Tianjin has enough foreigners here to start a team.

The rugby season is about to start in Beijing,if we could get a team or two it would be great.
It would be good for rugby in China and I think allot of people would appreciate it.

Let me know what you think.

Kind regards.

Chris

Hello Gavtian and Chris- did you manage to find a rugby club? I am moving to the Yongchuan District of Tianjing to teach and am looking for a rugby club and a hardcore gym. If you get this message please contact me. If there isn't a club at the moment and someone wants to organize one, you can put me down for prop!

My email is [email protected]
(Ben from Buckinghamshire England)

Knees, Squeeze, Engage!

Sorry not Yongchuan! I am signing a contract for Maple Leaf International School tomorrow- not sure of the address yet.

Hey Ben.

It is Chris here. There are still no clubs in Tianjin. I think there is a lack of foreigners who want to play.

I used to play in Beijing for a while,bit the travel is way too much every weekend.

And If I am correct,maple leaf us in Binhai new area. A train ride away from Tianjin's CBD.

If we can get people who want to play and start up a club,that would be awesome.

Lett me know what you think.

Chris.

I would be up for that. I miss playing!

Okay then. If you know about anyone else who are intirested in playing rugby lett me know.

We need to find a place for practice and so on. I can maybe get a sponsor for jersey's and so on. Many of the games might be in Beijing or in Tianjin if we have a field.

We maybe need a club name and so on.

How long are you going to stay in Tianjin?

What position do you play?

I play as a prop, usually tight-head. I played during university, then for 4 years at Amersham and Chiltern Rugby Club. I studied Sport and Exercise Sciece- so I can help with some fitness training.

The address of the school is: No 71,3rd ave TEDA,

Where are you based?

Also is Sky Fitness a good gym? I need to find a gym with a lot of free weights and a squat/power rack.

The Tianjin Tigers? A little boring.
The Tianjin Tyrants?
The Tianjin Trauma?
The Tianjin Titans?

How about... The Tianjin Gui lao 
(The Chinese word for foreigners- also means devils lol)

You are like a gift send from heaven. Cant find props anywhere.

If you hear from other foreigners who would like to play,let them know we want to start a club. We need at least a squad to think about making a club.

We also need a field to practice on,We should ask around and so on. It is shitty to play on the plastic chinese fields. There are stadiums and so on downtown wich could have some real grass.

I also thought about the tyrants.tigers and titans...My best choice will be theTitans,as Gui lao sounds like it is only for foreigners,but to have locals play is also good.

I am currently in the downtown area,it is not so far from TEDA.

I can ask around at the university's if some of them want to play.

I will see if I can open up a website to at least give an image that we are serious.

The rugby season is going to start in a month or two and I really want to play.

There is a good gym on 3rd avenue,it is near RenRenLe.Same street as Maple Leaf.

My mother lives in TEDA so I am there almost every weekend.Let me know if you want to find places and so on.

Great, Titans it is! Thanks for the gym tip too!

I will be arriving on the 19th and starting work on the 22nd.

As far as venues go, how would we organise rugby posts (I'm presuming there are no rugby pitches in Tianjin)

If they had to be bought, perhaps I could persuade the school where I will work to allow us to use their football pitch (to promote the school with a logo on the shirt). It has a stadium, with athletics track around it (there's a picture at this address- scroll down mapleleafschools.com/ML_Tianjin_International/content/tianjin_school_facilities.html

I don't know anyone there yet, but there might be some players or American footballers at the school (40 foreign teachers)

Keep in touch

I've been searching on the internet for rugby in Tianjin and TEDA. It seems people play rugby in TEDA (but no club). There is also a contct number for a "Ben" (another one!) - Type "TEDA rugby" into google.

IT IS IN MY SCHOOL- Tianjin Maple Leaf International School

I'm not that into touch rugby myself- I prefer waking up with a stiff kneck and bad back after a war!

We could contact them to see if they want to help start a proper club.

I've posted the page below:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
tianjinexpats.com/component/eventlist/details/3865-teda-touch-rugby-practisce?Itemid=385

If you want to get fit, train your running and tactics skills, or simply have fun, join the

TEDA Warriors touch rugby team who plays every sunday at 1pm at Maple Leaf School, on the 3rd avenue, opposite of the TEDA International School (East of TEDA), before a well deserved 3rd half-time.

Some extra events (games versus Tianjin, Beijing, Internation tournament in Shanghai...) are also regularly organized for even more fun

Touch rugby is non-physical, and everyone can join (guys, girls, dogs...), as long as you can run without articifial assistance"

Contact Ben at 1366-214-8010 for more infos"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not there yet, so if you call this guy, could you let me know what he says. Thanks!

Another contact "Fraser Ross" 139 0217 0303

- and a website: tianjintouchrugby.com

jinmagazine.com.cn/magazine/show.php?id=55&p=2

With just seven players on hand to make up two teams, a game of 3 vs 4 runs naturally unbalanced. So, the rule of the evening was quite simply this; a try could not be scored unless three passes had successfully been made in a single phase of play. Sounds complicated but it just means the attacking team must make 3 passes from the re-start of the game to be allowed to score a try. This worked for me because the theme of last Monday's training on ‘individual skills' was passing. The 3 passes rule was enacted for Wednesdays game and although simple in principle it took all of the first third of play to learn. Some thought it was 3 phases of play then others thought it was 3 passes in 3 phases. This and inaudible calls resulted in many comical mishaps. Bob had found a gap close to the wing of the three-man defence and went through to score having not heard the ref shout that it was only second pass. Good effort, try disallowed – rollball re-start at the 5m line. At the start of the second third of play Xia received the third pass and in signature style jigged and danced around the Marauder's defence to get the first try of the game. The Marauders were plotting and worked out a strategy of three short passes to suck in the depleted defence of the Defiants and then swing out wide for Bob or Julia to make on the or score the try. From just this tactic Bob broke through and ran an incredible 30 metres to score. The Defiants took a heavy toll on the try count in the 2/3rd but true to their name came back with a balanced pass from Allan to Danielle which allowed her to find a gap in the defence. This was all that was needed to cross the score line on the second pass – now if only someone was there to take the third pass Danielle had lobbed over Mark's head. Just kidding Xia Yi, seriously…. By the 3/3rd Julia joined the Defiants to try to redress the balance of play. The Marauders combination of Matt and Mark in the centre and Bob on the wing meant that they always posed a threat in attack, which they did twice. Even after playing 3/3rd of 15mins each and 10mins extra in the 3/3rd nobody wanted to stop. All had a good workout and a good time both on and off the field. But the fun had to end so in the true tradition of the Warriors we conducted our debrief with pints in hand in the fading light of the setting sun at the Wei- Ha pub. This time truly yours in Rugby Cheers – Oldfella League Notes: during the summer holiday period TEDA training will be held on Mondays, games on Wednesday. Both take place at 6.30pm at the TEDA International School, 3rd Avenue. Tianjin training is on Wednesday evenings at the Normal University starting at 6.30pm as well. Anyone in Tianjin who wants to join the Tianjin section should contact: Fraser Ross on 139 0217 0303. tianjintouchrugby.com

MORE! found this:

There is now the project to start a contact rugby team (15 people) in Tianjin.
tianjinexpats.com/community/forum...6.msg39693/#msg39693

Hey Ben.

About the venues,I still don't know. We can ask maple leaf school if they can borrow us the pitch for training and games.We can also try the sports university(it is in downtown)I think they might let us use it. If they don't have any posts or not interested in buying some,I will see what I can do. I think the biggest problem is being able to find a pitch with real grass(not this fake Chinese turf that takes all you skin when you fall).

I don't think the school would say no for free promotions for them,as the games would attract allot of attention from foreigners(that is what they want).

Yeah,I also looked at all those forums and so on,most of them are closed or the sites don't work at all.

I also prefer real rugby over touch rugby. Touch can also be organised just to spread the word and maybe get some supporters.

Also the project to start a 15's team is still dead. I think we might be the first ones to actually put effort in making a real team.

I looked on the internet for rugby kits if there are enough players. The kits from the U.K are a little expensive and the Chinese sites are giving trouble.(I have some awesome designs that might give us a hint as from what we want). Tianjin's colors are light blue and white(As that can be the jersey colors).

For a club crest I don't know yet. I will do some research and find something that relates to China and Titans..

I will print out some fliers and put them in the pubs across Tianjin and TEDA to spread the word about the club.

Talk soon.

Chris, still not there- working on my visa. Any news? I asked the school if we could use the pitch. They said they would be interested, as long as we had an advert for the school on the shirts and used their name. Let me know how things are going.

Hey Ben.

We have a few people interested in the team,but I still need to put out the flyers.

We can do the advert on the shirts and so on.

How is the pitch? Real grass or not?We can always find another school or place to practice and so on.

What do they mean by we have to use their name???

Cheers,

Chris.

Hey Chris, sounds like good news. My arrival in TEDA will be a bit delayed, as they have to work on my papers- but I'll be there.

As for the pitch, I don't know for sure about the surface- but it looks natural if you look at this image.  http://www.mapleleafschools.com/ML_Tian … ties_4.jpg

The facility looks A+

If you look at the school website in the facilities section
http://www.mapleleafschools.com/ML_Tian … ities.html

it is described as....

"Full-size Turf Soccer Pitch"

As I'm not there, I can't view it person.

They suggested maybe using the school's name- but it probably isn't a deal breaker. Maybe something like Maple Leaf Tianjin Titas. Maybe just the logo of the school would be O.K.

They will say for sure soon (they are still busy recruiting teachers) but think it is a good idea for advertising. They wanted to know how often we'd need the pitch.

I'm still getting my paperwork organized, so I can't be too pushy about rugby- otherwise they'll think I'm nuts.

I'll keep you informed if I hear anything

If you want to email me, my email is [email protected]

My Skype ID is benfinesilver

How many players so far and what positions are filled?

Also, I never asked you the position you play in?

BTW I'm 33 and train like an athlete. Oh how I've missed playing rugby for years living in asia!

Hey,

I read your post about trying to form a rugby team. I played some in college and would like to start playing again.

Do you ever get a team formed?

Also what are some good gyms in Tianjin that are affordable with lots of free weights?

Thanks,

Oak

Hey guys,

Any more on this? Really want to play some rugger!

Just finished uni, am working as a gap student at Wellington college. Have quite a bit of spare time so happy to help sort stuff out. Couple of guys here have played before and would be keen, including a hooker which is pretty handy. I'm personally a fullback but can play anywhere in the backs.

Cheers

Luke