Valley RFC are well underway with our 50th season celebrations and planning. All our sections have been busy with their sporting commitments across the various leagues. From special limited edition Valley RFC NFT’s to collection of content for our Valley RFC Archive Project, our 50th Anniversary Working Group are well on their way with the planning of events.

Samantha Scott, sat down over the weekend with life member and participant in the 50th Anniversary working group, Paul “Turtle” Deayton to discuss all things Valley 50th. Paul's most recent work has been collecting key content from two of our founding members Jamie Scott and John Barrett who have been there since day 1. The three pictured above, with Jamie to the left, Paul in the middle and John to the right.

I know that you have a long history with Valley, but can you paint a picture of your involvement for some of our members that may not be aware?

Thanks Sam, I joined Valley as a rugby player in 1988 and have been a member ever since. I have played and coached both rugby and hockey and held a number of positions in the club’s administration. Maybe relevant to our discussion today, the first Valley Anniversary event that I attended was the 15th, it was a black tie dinner held in the old China Fleet Club and your Dad was the keynote speaker!

As I understand it, most of the “celebration” of the 50th Anniversary revolves around a series of social events what do we have in the pipeline?

Valley is the most social club in Hong Kong, so it is only right that we will be partying through the year! We are expanding the club’s social calendar from the Christmas Party and End of Season dinner to include some events specifically created to celebrate the 50th anniversary. On 19th June, the anniversary of the meeting held to form the club, we will have a cocktail reception. The centre piece of our celebrations will be the Gala weekend in October next year, which will include Friday evening drinks, a black tie ball on Saturday and a recovery barbeque/junk on Sunday. We are also trying to schedule mens and womens rugby and hockey games in the Valley on Saturday afternoon to add to the festive atmosphere.

Isn’t October after the 50th Season has finished?

It is, in the same way that we celebrate a birthday at the end of the year not the beginning the Gala Weekend like all our past anniversary celebrations was always intended to be at the end of the season. Recognising that the hockey season typically extends into the summer, which is not the best time of year for a ball given holiday travel etc., we thought it would be appropriate to hold it at the beginning of the 25/26 season when the weather is better, our overseas visitors can watch our teams in action and there are fewer competing events.

Why are tickets for the Christmas Party are being sold via Moongate?

It is a break from tradition but we have engaged a ticketing agent for this season. Everyone that buys a ticket to any of our social events will receive a QR code by email, which they will require for entry. It does mean there is a small transaction fee for each ticket purchased. However, it allows past members living in Hong Kong and our alumni around the world to buy tickets easily, which is particularly important for the gala weekend when I expect there will be a large number of former members joining the celebration. We have also created some ticket packages that cover multiple events – a season pass and three event package. Moongate’s system makes administration of all the events and alternative packages much simpler.

Everyone loves a bit of merch, what can members expect to b able to get hold of as a lasting reminder of the 50th?

A range of playing and casual merchandise has just gone on sale, all of which carries the commemorative logo that was adopted through our design competition. We are also working through a collection of other items that will be available in the new year. In addition, the club commissioned a set of images that will be used as a permanent souvenir of each of the social events we have scheduled this season. Everyone that attends a social event will receive an NFT of the ticket image personalised for them. Whether these have any value in future is a matter for debate, however, they will be a permanent souvenir of the clubs 50th year. This is also true of the season pass and three event ticket which will be minted as NFT’s.

Speaking of the season pass, what is it and is it really good value?

I hope that people recognise that while the upfront payment, $7,000 appears a little intimidating, it really represents great value. Anyone that buys the season pass gets entry into all the clubs social events – the Christmas Party, End of Season Dinner, 50th Anniversary Cocktails and all three events on the Gala weekend – we have planned for the 50th. They will receive a swag bag of selected merchandise and be eligible for other give aways and lucky draws etc. I would guess it amounts to something in the region of $8,500 in value. With that in mind, the number of season passes available for sale is limited to 20, we have to be mindful of our bottom line! Given the scarcity I would expect anyone that buys one will have considerable bragging rights for many years. Anyone that would like to buy a season pass can do so via this link:

https://app.moongate.id/e/valley-50th-season-membership

Is there anything else that members should be aware is going on the background in this auspicious year?

We are making a concerted effort to collect materials that will contribute to documenting the history of Valley RFC. While this includes obvious things like old newsletters, tour magazines, newspaper cuttings, photos, video etc., we have also started conducting interviews with some of our founders, past Chairs, life members etc. to get their recollections on tape. It is an interesting exercise, who would have thought that Valley produced a year book in 1980! Anyway, it is long term project and it would be great if anyone that has anything that may contribute to the archive could get it or a copy of it to us.