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Stabroek News

'Honeymounding' at Sabina Park
published: Sunday | March 18, 2007

D. Anthony Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter


Honeymooner Adrian leads an Irish party during Ireland?s Cricket World Cup game against Zimbabwe at Sabina Park on Thursday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer.

YOU MAY have heard of a honeymoon but probably not a 'honeymound'. Well, it pays to be prepared for surprises.

Here is a story of a couple that chose Jamaica for their honeymoon and have been spending it on the party stand (popularly known as the Mound) at Sabina Park.

Adrian and Kylie Riftery got married at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia last Sunday, 82 days after they first met. By Monday they were on a flight to Jamaica. They arrived on Tuesday and despite the long flight they had enough energy to party on the Mound under an Irish banner.

Irish blood

Adrian has Irish blood. His parents are from Ireland, but he lives in Australia. Kylie too is Australian. It is Thursday March 15, and the Rifterys have only been here two days. But unlike others who would have headed for Paris, Milan or even the moon, they are having a honeymoon on the Mound and its all fun.

Adrian is one of two men dressed like a leprechaun, while his wife is more conservatively dressed. She, however, wanted to look more like the partying Irish and had ordered costumes of the cheer group Blarney Army. Costumes, however, ran short and she got none.

Having a great time

?We are here to have a great time and it has been all fun since we got here, Kylie told The Sunday Gleaner. She says coming to Jamaica was all Adrian's idea she had no problem with it and does not regret the decision. In fact, the Rifterys,who watched their last match of the World Cup yesterday say they will be spending a few more days enjoying Jamaica.

Kylie is loving every moment of her visit thus far and cannot wait to tell her friends about the ?wonderful hospitality of the Jamaican people.

But why did the couple choose Jamaica? Answer: Cricket!

A few years ago Adrian promised Jeremy Bray that if he were to play in the World Cup he would be there supporting him. Bray, made Ireland?s World Cup team and with the country playing in Group D alongside West Indies, Pakistan and Zimbabwe here in Jamaica. As it turned out Adrian watched and cheered every one of Bray's 115 runs, the first World Cup century to be scored at Sabina Park.

Bray, the Australian-born cricketer, who opens the batting for Ireland is Adrian's schoolmate.He was singing the school's song when Bray was batting and Bray heard and waved, Kylie says.

However, cheering Bray on and jumping with the Irish was not Adrian?s lone reason for coming to the reggae land. He wanted to drink beer, bask in the sun and experience Jamaica for himself. ?Ten years ago I said to a co-worker that I wanted to come to Jamaica to sip on Red Stripe and eat lobster and here I am, in Jamaica enjoying it.

It is great. The Red Stripe is wonderful ... read my eyes, Adrian says as he balances himself on a rail and pointed his crooked fingers to his eyes.

Although Adrian and Kylie may have been planning the Jamaican tour since December, Adrian had already done some courageous planning.

Even before he proposed to me, he went behind my back and asked my boss for leave of absence so that I would be able to travel to the Caribbean with him,? Kylie, 33, told The Sunday Gleaner.

Amazingly, Kylie and Adrian had been in each other?s life for only 86 days when they spoke to The Sunday Gleaner and they know so much about each other. They met through an Internet dating site and their first date was at an Australian Football League (AFL) game.Adrian has never played cricket for his country, but in Sydney he represents Parramatta Goannas, a cricket club where he is a wicketkeeper/batsman and he has the crooked fingers, the wicketkeepers battle scars to prove it.

Straight finger

In fact, Adrian does not have one straight finger and he boasts about it.

I have a picture back home with my hands and Ian Healey?s (the former Australian wicketkeeper) hands and let me tell you, 20 crooked fingers,? he brags. While Adrian did not say what kinds of picture will be mounted beside it, it is clear what image of Jamaica Adrian and Kylie will take home.

The country is lovely. The people are great ... the hospitality ... everything is great. I will tell everybody about Jamaica, it is a great place, she says. It however remains to be seen if the couple will follow Brian Lara's example and name their first child for the place they fell in love.

Lara named his first daughter Sydney because he made his first double century (277), in that Australian city. Kylie says she won?t name her child Jamaica but has not ruled out the name Sabina.

With the music blaring in the background and the Irish still cerebrating their tie with Zimbabwe as a win, it is a good time for The Sunday Gleaner to bid goodbye to the happily married couple, Adrian and Kylie Riftery, who says they will return here for their 25th wedding anniversary celebration.




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