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Surrey men, United/Capilano women win big at Gobbler Tournament

Dominant victories were the order of the day at the Abbotsford Rugby Football Club’s annual Gobbler Tournament, held at Exhibition Park on the weekend.
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Doug Saunders of the Hansen alumni squad gives Bateman alumni opponent Bryn Keys a stiff-arm during Gobbler Tournament rugby action on Saturday.

Dominant victories were the order of the day at the Abbotsford Rugby Football Club’s annual Gobbler Tournament, held at Exhibition Park on the weekend.

On the men’s side, Surrey rolled to the title, downing the Robert Bateman Secondary alumni 24-7 in the final on Sunday afternoon. The T-Wolves’ try was the only one allowed by Surrey all tournament long.

On the women’s side, Capilano of North Vancouver and United of Port Coquitlam joined forces to enter a team, and they blitzed the ARFC women 35-0 in the title game.

This year marked the 35th anniversary of the turkey-time tourney, and event organizer Doug Primrose said there was a stronger alumni presence this year.

“We advertised it with a lot of our alumni, so a lot of the older guys came down and watched some games,” he said. “The weather helped, too. We were lucky on both days to have pretty good weather.”

The Gobbler doubles as a fundraiser for the ARFC, and Primrose said this year’s event generated in the neighbourhood of $15,000 for the local club.

A member of the Abbotsford Collegiate alumni loses his footing during a game against the Heritage Park alumni during the Gobbler Tournament at Exhibition Park on Saturday. The 35th annual tourney, hosted by the Abbotsford Rugby Football Club, drew 18 teams from B.C., Alberta and Washington.