I weekenden fejrede DTU Exiles RUFC 50 års jubilæum med pubcrawl, jubilæumskamp og gallamiddag for langt over 200 gæster. En unik begivenhed og et stort stykke af den danske rugbyhistorie samlet i København og Lundtofte.
DRUs formand Jens Aage Skare Nielsen deltog på vegne af DRU og hans tale til Exiles kan læses herunder. TILLYKKE med de første 50 år!

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

For those who do not know me, my name is Jens and I am the president of the Danish Rugby Union.

I am delighted to be with you today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Exiles Rugby Union Football Club. Delighted because it does not happen every day that we in Denmark have a club celebrating their 50th. And because I think that a club like Exiles with your history, your legacy and your type of crowd will surely also be here in another 25 years, to celebrate your 75th anniversary. I was amazed to learn this afternoon, that Exiles family members from all over the world have made the effort to come to Copenhagen to join the celebrations. That says a lot about you as members and Exiles as a club.

And I guess rugby in general.

I read an interesting fact on your homepage, which dates back 10 years. Let me quote:

“In fact, in 40 years of existence there has never been a recorded case of the Exiles putting out the same fifteen players in two consecutive matches. What has however been recorded on more than one occasion, is the fielding of fifteen players from fifteen different countries”... That I find quite amazing and not sure if that has changed over the past 10 years.

And I am not sure what the numbers were this afternoon. But what I do know is that you managed to set an unofficial Danish record for the highest number of players on the pitch at the same time in a match. One of my boys counted 28 players on the Black team, there might even have been a few more towards the end. Luckily Mike turned his blind eye and we all had an amusing end to an entertaining encounter.

This afternoon it was also great to see all the women players on the field, both the girls who have been playing for a while, but also girls who are new to our sport. I am sure that you with those numbers can soon again be a contender for the Danish title, which you successfully won back in 2010. And I hope that can inspire also the talented male players, whom we saw on the field this afternoon, to also bring the Exiles men’s team back to the top of Danish rugby, where I think you belong.

With these words I would like to present Exiles with a small gift from DRU.

I would like to finish by wishing Exiles and its members all the best in the future.

You have as a club had a large impact on the development of rugby in Denmark and I am sure will continue to do so.

We look forward to the next 50 years. A big cheers to Exiles!