Join the Axemen for a "Night at the Movies" to support the USO and Local Rugby

[danno]

The Jacksonville Axemen are inviting all local Rugby players, supporters and fans to join them for a night at the movies on December 11 for the opening of the new Rugby movie "Invictus". The Axemen have designed the night as a fundraiser for the Jacksonville area USO and also for the local Rugby Clubs to help them with the development of the sport in the Jacksonville area.

The USO is the official charity of the Jacksonville Axemen and as with most of their events, a $1 raffle will be held in association with the movie night and all proceeds from the raffle will be donated to the USO. There will be three great prizes to be won and the lovely Axe Maiden Cheerleaders will be on hand selling tickets prior the movie starting.

The Axemen are selling 200 tickets to the movie for $9 each that they pre-purchased at a discounted price. 100% of the profit from these sales will be evenly donated to the three local area Rugby Union clubs that have helped the Axemen promote and expose events over the past year. The Jacksonville Mens Rugby, UNF Rugby and the JAX Womens Rugby teams will all be on-site to help support the event and take the opportunity to expose their clubs and to attract interest from new fans and potential players. Axemen event planner, Spinner Howland, commented on the similarity of the movie plot and the use of it for this event. "Invictus is based around how the sport of Rugby was used to unite the nation of South Africa after Nelson Mandela took office. Using this movie as a joint effort that includes all the Jacksonville area rugby clubs is a perfect fit to bring us all together not only to help raise money for the USO but also to help us become a stronger force in the community by working to promote and expose our sport under the one banner. Just like Rugby united the nation of South Africa - We are using the movie Invictus to united Jacksonvilles Rugby community."

The Jacksonville South African Club will also attend the event and one of their members who has been a long time rugby player for the Jacksonville Mens team and is the current coach for the JAX Womens team will open the movie with a short speech on the impact the sport has had on him and his home nation.

Following the movie all those fans who are 21+ will be invited to join the teams at Time Out Sports Grill where they can use their movie ticket to get a $1 Bottle of Bud or Bud Light or a $2 Bottle of Barons Black Wattle that is the official beer of the Jacksonville Axemen.

You can get tickets here:
http://www.jaxaxe.com/GameDayPage/tabid/153/Default.aspx

[danno]

There are still tickets left.  Go to:

http://www.jaxaxe.com/GameDayPage/tabid/153/Default.aspx

before they are all gone.

[danno]

There are still tickets left.  Go to:

http://www.jaxaxe.com/GameDayPage/tabid/153/Default.aspx

before they are all gone.

There are a few more tickets left.

[danno]

Thanks to everyone who came out last friday

Almost 200 members of the Jax Mens, UNF, Jacksonville Youth and the Jax Womens Rugby Teams, along with the Jacksonville South African Club joined the Axemen and Axe Maidens at the Regal Cinemas in Jacksonville for the opening night of the Invictus movie. The movie was given the "must see" vote by all who attended and most certainly one that can be enjoyed by everyone and not just Rugby fans.

Regal Cinemas made the night a huge success by providing a first class venue and service as well as supporting the event by reaching out to Warner Brothers for some great prizes that where added to the raffle items to help raise money for the USO. "Regal Cinemas was a first class organization to deal with from the very start", said Spinner Howland. "From the first call to get the group tickets to the on-site operation team that hosted our event for the night, it was all awesome. They even put us up on the Marquee to welcome us".

Each guest was welcomed by the Axemen and after collecting their tickets they received a movie poster that was again arranged by Regal Cinemas and also asked to sign one of the full sized Invictus movie banners that Regal had also provided courtesy of Warner Brothers. The signed banner was added to the main prize pack for the USO raffle.

The evening opened with a short speech from Herman Moller who is a well known local South African Rugby player and is also the coach for the Jacksonville Women Rugby team. Herman gave a great insight to the importance and how the events shown in the movie effected and shaped the nation of South Africa and the sport of Rugby in a way that only someone who lived it could. His words made those in the crowd understand just how incredible it was to experience the effect that sport can have on people of all races, nationalities and beliefs. This was something that was echoed by the fact that people from no fewer than six countries sat in the same room to watch a movie and the sport of Rugby was the common denominator. The fact that it happened in the USA where Rugby is barely a niche sport made it even more incredible.

After the movie three lucky people who had purchased raffle tickets won a variety of prizes before the group headed to Time Out Sports Grill to continue the evening over a few bottles of Barons Black Wattle and Budweiser beers.

The event raffle raised $160 for the USO and also money for the local Rugby teams as well raising the awareness of the sport in the Jacksonville area.

The Axemen would like to say a sincere thanks to everyone involved and especially to Herman Moller and Regal Cinemas.


Posted on Saturday, December 12, 2009 (Archive on Monday, January 01, 0001)
Posted by jaxaxe  Contributed by