A cracking day of sport, banter and camaraderie.

Around 2000 people attended the Islay Beach Rugby festival 2009 on Saturday - the biggest single event held on the island. The weather was hot and humid - at least at first. Then just plain humid (briefly torrential), before finally becoming hot and sunny again. Nothing got in the way of the highly competitive day of sport.

The atmosphere was superb, with families picnicking, girlfriends sunbathing, children paddling and the menfolk cheering the rugby. There were an unprecedented 32 teams taking part including 10 ladies teams. Impressively organised by Islay Rugby Club, under the presidency of Simon Coughlin, the festival proceeded like clockwork. 

The games took place on the beach at Port Ellen in front of the White Hart Hotel. The sand pitches, uniquely interpreted by Islay Beach Rugby, are only 25 metres by 20 metres.  With this narrowness of the pitches the onus is consequently on physical confrontation as well as dextrous ball-handling. The two halves are only four minutes each which does not sound too tough, but the lack of purchase in the sand under barefeet and the speed of the game makes for an exhilarating, if exhausting, sport.

People of all shapes and sizes took part. More photos can be seen at  the  2009 Eat Sand 3: Judgement Day Photos http://www.realmalt.com/eatsand3/index.html

Islay Rugby Club president Simon Coughlin, a Bruichladdich Director, explains: "the sand is such a great leveller. It surprises some of the bigger teams that come here. A number of Premier One players said these games were as tough as anything they had experienced during the regular season. Because there is little space, simply being clever is not going to get you too far. Okay, a good pass might create a bit of space, but you have to muscle it too."

The quality of rugby on display has improved immeasurably over recent years. In an impressive display of rugby skills, the winner of the The Laddie Cup was the Black Bottle invitational team beating Loch Lomand 9-4 in the final. This was a hat-trick performance, as the team made up of previous players from Hillhead/Jordanhill who get together a couple of times a year for events such as this, were the holders for the two preceding years when playing under the Lagavulin banner. 

The winner of the surprisingly hard fought Lassie Cup was the team from Hillhead, who beat Cartha Queen's Park 7-1.  While in the secondary competitions, for the runner up teams knocked out in the group stages, the men's shield was won by Kilchoman and the bowl by Trinity Muir.

The disco on Friday night and a ceilidh on Saturday after the tournament, were both packed to the rafters. Most players wisely camp on the match site so the post-match celebrations carried on late in to the night. The festival is as much a social event as a rugby gathering: a classic Islay event. It is raucous, it is laid-back, it is wild, and everyone has a great time. But equally, everyone behaves themselves; the police were surprised that 500 or so people could have so much high-octane partying without incident. But this is the rugby way:  32 teams of players, some meeting for the first time, others renewing old acquaintances, were united under Islay hospitality and the ethos of rugby.

And in case you were wondering about the tournament name... this year’s Eat Sand Winner.

Finally, a picture of Donald. The famous Disney character thinking he may have had one dram to many as  he talks to a charity duck.

Video - Laddie’s Cup & Lassie’s Cup are  available on the ileach website: http://www.ileach.co.uk