221 The Dentists Diary
I’m sure a lot of folks, like me, are getting a bit fed up with the
same old rubbish in here every week, but sadly I have to just
reflect what is happening out there around the club, and there
is little of anything at present. Still I’ll persevere, hoping that
one week there will be some signings, or news or even a little
scandal in the East of the City to have a titter at. However if I
had to encapsulate what has been happening this last week, it
would once again have to be, ‘Not Much!!!!!!’
Another 7 days have passed and it’s seen another wall of
silence on signings has prevailed, as we troop loyally to the
Stadium to get our season passes. It was a week though when
the faithful turned out en masse to celebrate the life of David
Kirkwood, and how great it was to see the supporters and the
farming community gathered to honour the passing of that great
club man.
It was certainly a sad day!
In this week’s Diary we look at Ewan Dowes, conflicting news
on Westerman, Wales in the New Year, Motu Tony, our new
shop on its way and a celebration of the life of David Kirwood.
Plus there’s a lengthy look at the SMC and the council and
clubs relationship with them both, the biggest crowds ever in
the club game, an update on season ticket sales and in
Codgers Corner were back at Odsal for a day when goal
kicking got us through.....just.
...................................................................................................
So at last we have solved our propping problems......with the
signing of Ewan Dowes last Tuesday, on a one year deal!!
Oh Dear.... Ewan has been a good servant; he tackles well,
stays on the pitch for long periods and always tries his best.
The thing is however for me personally, he is just not good
enough, even as a fifth prop, waiting in the wings. Well he isn’t
if we are to aspire to making the step up to a top four club. In
my opinion, he fails to break tackles with boring regularity, and
doesn’t have that certain flair that separates the ‘bargers’ from
the ‘classy front rowers’, in the pack. I hope my comments
don’t seem disloyal, because as always, once he pulls on that
famous black and white shirt he will get my undivided loyalty,
but as fans, and (by our investment of time and money), even
stakeholders in the club we love, we are all entitled to our
opinions.
I think that Ewan was overvalued and is overrated. In fact the
very act of taking a substantial cut in wages must be seen as a
1-0 to Agar, who obviously believed that compared with other
players in the squad Dowsey was on too much money for his
level of ability. We heard a lot of rhetoric from the player himself
too, all about being amongst friends, our potential for next
season and his liking of playing for the FC, which is all very
commendable and possibly true. However, the fact is when we
look at the situation as fans, it appears that Ewan signed in the
end simply because no one else in Super League wanted him,
and the club signed him because we had missed out on other
targets like LMS and Stuart Fielden.
Having said that he won’t let us down, Ewan’s always full of
endeavour, loyalty and passion, but as was the case at the end
of last season, he will only be seen as a stand in when injury
strikes. Perhaps with Cusack going, we will see either Fitz or
Lauaki stepping up to the front row. However that said I wish
Ewan the best of luck and hope that he proves me wrong. If he
does it can only be for the good of the club.
I am told that we are off to Wales again for our pre season
training in the first week of the New Year, and again it will be at
the Welsh Rugby Unions Centre of Excellence. The new club
shop should be open in the town centre in early November
once the lease is signed in the next couple of days.
In today’s RL press Dave Parker insists that we have signed
Joe Westerman from Cas. Whilst in the opposition publication
Rugby Leaguer, Agar states that, ‘I don’t know where these
rumours are coming from its just pure fantasy’. Nothing new
there this week then!!!! Meanwhile, Motu Tony looks to be
heading to Wakey!
So to ‘Briscoe Watch’ and I thought that against an
accomplished and strong NZ side, he did OK. He got pulled
around a bit in the second half, but mainly because our tacklers
inside allowed players to run across the line instead of getting
in amongst them and breaking play up. In the first half Tom
carted the ball up effectively, grabbed a loose ball near our line
and tackled well. The thing is though, all week we had been
reading about McNamara talking to Tom and Shenton about
their interaction on the left, and their work together on the
training field, and then on match day, because Hall is injured
Macca moves Tom to the other side, where he is partnered by
Atkins. Incidentally I see what they mean by the Atkins Diet
now, because anyone who is outside him is starved of the
ball!!! Once again I don’t think that Tom saw enough of the ball
to be judged, although in defence I thought he did well.
As for the International itself, well I don’t know what anyone
else thought but for me it was a lot like watching Hull FC. I
knew in my heart of hearts once they scored that we were not
going to win, whatever happened. England showed lots of
endeavour and a bit of drive down the middle but when the
opposition got it wide we struggled to contain them and when
we attacked we showed few ideas. The Kiwi’s just looked
sharper on the ball, as has often been the case with our club
these last few seasons. For me it was just the ‘same old same
old’ really. Marshall was allowed to run across the line far too
much, and had Yeamo been there, I honestly believe that it
would have been a great opportunity for him to show off his
party piece, where he steps out of the line to smash the runner,
Beji might not have been so keen to run the line after one of
those. I can’t see anything but defeat looming next week can
you?
I got the Rosenberg’s season tickets last Wednesday, (well
actually I didn’t, because the computer system was down and
they had to mail them out to us). The word from the staff was
that at present ticket sales are actually up on last year, which
has to be good news. Of course the time for ‘dancing in the
streets’ at the renewal rates is still some way off, primarily
because with more new ticket holders last season, renewals
are bound to be up this time around. However it’s still good
news and all we now need is a couple of signings to push
things along. As for live rugby well after the Rovers defeat, I
was glad to see the back of it, but I’m starting to miss it all a bit
now!
The news broke in the Wail on Tuesday that we had made
another significant off field appointment with the capture of
Graham Davey for the new duel role of Director of Rugby
League (Sirius Academy) and Head of Player Improvement
(Hull FC). At the end of each season we seem to have a clear
out of back room staff, with Tingly Dick going last season and
Steve Crooks, and Lee Crooks this. However to give the club
some credit these moves seem to be in the name of freshening
it all up a bit, and there is no doubt, (even though again, he is
ex Leeds), that Davey is a big addition.
I make that ‘bracketed’ observation because a lot of folks are a
bit fed up of the continuous links with Leeds (9 years there in
Davey’s case), but he has a fantastic pedigree and looks to be
a big capture for both the school and the club. The fact remains
though that as commendable as these appointments are, in the
end, for the humble ‘shelling out’ fans it’s all about success on
the field. With 14 teams in the Super League it can’t happen for
everyone, but with all this high profile posturing off the field a bit
of success on it would be very welcome too. Still good luck to
Davey, but with Mel Harmon on his way out in November as
well, he has some big, big boots to fill.
David Kirkwood funeral last Friday at the Haltemprice
Crematorium, was standing room only, and was certainly a
moving occasion for the hundreds of folks that attended. It was
made clear from the off that it was to be a celebration of
David’s life rather than a sad affair. The high esteem in which
our ex chairman was held was reflected in the numbers that
attended and you couldn’t get parked inside the crematorium
grounds half an hour before the service started. There were lots
of familiar faces there too, and it was great to see Johnny
Whiteley, DDD, Arthur Bunting, James Smailes, Garry
Schofield, Jon Sharp, Billy Mallinson, Dick Tingle, Kath
Hetherington, James Rule and many others from the rugby
league fraternity, there to pay their respects.
The heroes in our game don’t just pull on a shirt and play, as
there are usually just as many stars working for your club off
the field, as there are on it. David was, as I said last week, one
such hero, and it was great to see the farming community of the
East Riding joining with the great family that is Hull FC, to
celebrate his life and give him a good send off! It was certainly
a moving occasion. We sang ‘We Plough the Fields and
Scatter’ and ‘Old Faithful’ which for me, and the hundreds there
at the service, perfectly epitomised the two sides of David’s life.
Well done to everyone who went.
Did anyone else find the article about Hull FC being confirmed
as one of the three leading clubs for developing junior players
for first-team Rugby League, really interesting? Well I did, as it
pointed out that we were up there with St. Helens and Leeds.
Statistics released by the RFL show that on average we had
8.24 club trained players, in our starting 17’s last season. This
was way above the Super League average of just 6.50.
Club trained players are recognised as individuals who spent at
least three years with their clubs before they turned 21. Of
course you have to say that the number of injuries we had last
year meant that more youngsters were drafted into the squad,
but it’s still a great achievement and something that certainly
justifies the investment we have made in youngsters over the
past few years. For this fan, signings from the youth ranks are
not as spectacular or pleasing as say big name marquee
additions are. However these kids have to be the future of the
club, and quite frankly it’s a good record for us to have. It
certainly points to the value of our Airlie Bird High Flyers and
Hull FC Jets programmes.
On Friday I got hold of a copy of the management magazine
‘Stakeholder Satisfaction’ which retails at £4-50 and which is
produced by The Leadership Factor an organisation who work
with the countries major industrialists and blue chip companies
to identify their levels of customer and employee satisfaction.
The October edition features our club, the first in the Rugby
league to use the company, and we in good company as the
The Leadership Factor also work for both Manchester United
and Chelsea.
The front cover featured us, with a head line of ‘HULL FC
Listening to fans’. A three page article then outlined all the stuff
the club are doing to communicate with supporters and how
things have improved over the last two years (something that
was animated by the Leadership factors own findings). Once
again it’s great to see that we are in the forefront of things off
the field and light years ahead of many clubs with regard to
communications, fans satisfaction etc. Of course as supporters
the most important thing is success on the field, but you have to
admit that if it does come, then we will be totally prepared off
the field to capitalise on it! Delivering on field success though is
much harder than attaining excellence off it. Still it’s good to
see our club held up as an example of good practise on the
cover of one of the country’s top management magazines.
that Graham Davey will take on the new role of
After another quiet week for news I thought perhaps I should
have a look at something that was raised in the media last
weekend. The Yorkshire Post is in general a good read and
particularly on the ball sports wise, but you can always
guarantee that editorially they never miss a chance to have a
go at a Labour Council, wherever in Yorkshire they are based. I
have never brought my politics, or anyone else’s into the Diary,
and I never will, that statement was simply a fact that I have
observed over the years I’ve read the newspaper. It therefore
came as no surprise when I spotted an article in last weekend’s
edition that was criticising the deal that the then Labour Council
struck with the Stadium Management Company back in 2002.
The newspaper stated that ‘One Hull City footballer is paid as
much in one week as the local council has received in eight
years of lease payments’, which is certainly factually correct.
The details of this deal came as no surprise to me, I was
around the Council and the contract when it was agreed, and
although the actual ethos and principles behind the lease was a
political decision by the then Labour Council, I was one of the
officers employed to implement it. I have never discussed it or
indeed included it in here, because that would not have been
ethical, but now it’s out in the media, I guess that it’s open
season to comment. The deal is for 50 years, and is legally
watertight. Back at the turn of the century the city council
decided to build the Stadium using capital receipts from the
sale of their KC shares, this was ‘new’ money, coming as it did
from a cash windfall. The building of the Stadium, therefore did
not impact in any way on the services that the people in Hull
receive from the Authority. Large amounts of the KC money
were also spent on upgrading council housing including the
provision of double glazing and new heating systems across
the City.
At the time the Stadium was seen as an Icon development that
would act as a catalyst for regeneration in the Region. However
if the Council had decided to run the place themselves, as the
years went by the funding for maintaining the Stadium would
have had to come from revenue budgets, and the spend
needed would eventually have exceeded income, eating into
allocations intended to be used to provide services for the
residents of the City. At that time some stadiums of comparable
size and age around the country, were costing in excess of
£1.8m to run, after any profit. Yes, of course, there would have
been income from the clubs too, but with a football club with
average gates of 9000, and a rugby League club with ones of
6,300, there was a distinct possibility that, should things go
wrong, there would be little if no income at all, in fact the
Council could have been left, ‘Holding the baby’ and shelling
out large amounts of cash every year, and that at the expense
of local services.
The trick was therefore to shift the risk to someone else. If you
can do that you take away the liability for all the maintenance
cost, but at the same time, you can’t expect the organisation
that is willing to take on those risks and costs to pay you large
amounts of dosh for the privilege. Any deal that was going to
shift the risk was therefore unlikely to be lucrative for the
Council, as they could only really expect a return based on a
proportion of any profits the management company made.
It’s easy for people like the Yorkshire Post who are observing
this situation now, to chastise in hindsight the then Council for
not taking everything on themselves, with the large ‘Profits’ that
action would bring. However when you look at other ‘money
spinning ideas’ such as say Rock Concerts, the risk the
Stadium takes is often a substantial one. Contracts for these
events are etched in such a way, that the band, the production
company, sometimes the record company, and the tour
promoter are paid first, and last to get their money is the owner
of the arena.
Once everyone has got what has been agreed on that principle
then anything else made is split between the various partners,
but unless they sell out the income invariably never gets to that
level. The old % deals that venues used to use are now a thing
of the past in pop promotion, and often these days’ concerts
don’t sell well enough to get to this latter stage, and so as with
The Who, REM and Bon Jovi, the stadium owner is lucky to get
his cut. These days there are more modern Stadiums than
concerts available, and if you want these events badly enough
you do it on the bands terms.
Under the Freedom of Information Act the Yorkshire Post had
managed to get hold of the council papers on the subject of the
contract with the SMC. These show that the deal sees the
council receiving a return of 5 per cent of net profits up to £1m,
7.5 per cent up to £1.5m and 10 per cent above £1.5m.
With profit being generated over the years, but not to massive
levels, the total paid to the Council in the eight years since the
stadium opened is £46,996. Over the same time, Hull City's
attendances and fortunes have soared, including promotion to
the Premier League in 2008, and we have become one of
Super League's best-supported clubs. However that does not
necessarily make for big profits, because in any venue, the
more you get through the door, the more your costs rise. Of
course the Yorkshire Post is looking to use this as a ‘Stick’ to
beat the previous Labour administration in Hull with, but then
again, as I said earlier who can blame them, it’s their business.
They are also going to be quick to point out that with the
SMC/Council deal the authority has only gained a measly
income over the years the Stadium has been open. However
that has all been profit, because their costs have been nil. The
SMC get nothing from the Council, and make their money from
granting a catering franchise, room hire, concerts and of course
the user agreements they have with the two clubs. In their
defence the Council ensured that both clubs had long protected
tenancy deals, and both Hull FC and Hull City have a 25 year
user agreement with the SMC, (so we ain’t going to be playing
anywhere else....well not in my life time at least) but after that
they withdrew from all responsibility for the place, (with the
exception of monitoring the service level clauses they have with
the SMC), and in so doing they have ensured there was no
liability falling on the people of Hull.
In my opinion, there is no doubt whatsoever that the authority
did make some massive mistakes too, none more significant
than the situation where they allowed the Chairman of the
football club to also be the Chairman of the SMC. However in
their defence, it was hard for the Council to find anyone besides
Adam Pearson who was willing to take the rather one sided
deal on. It’s also easy with hindsight to say that seeing the size
of gates now, there could have been a better deal struck, but
the Council would then have been in for some of the running
costs and back then that was not a viable proposition. Another
big mistake where the Council have not done themselves any
favours, is by them actually renting office space for the Cities
sports development teams at the Stadium at a cost of £72,000
per annum. If nothing else it just looks bad, and they have once
again, I think, shot themselves in the foot.
It’s a sobering thought indeed that had the Council decided to
run the place themselves, with the football team in the financial
mire they are in at present, they could now have had real
problems getting any rent at all from them, and the burden of
running the place would now be falling on the shoulders of
every citizen of the City. In the light of the current government
cuts announced for local authorities last week, that would have
been a disaster.
So, for what its worth, I believe that the deal that is currently in
place does not suite the SMC these days, or indeed their
tenants the clubs, (or apparently the Yorkshire Post) but it does
at least protect the people of the Hull, and the Stadium is not a
drain on the councils ever decreasing revenue. It’s easy isn’t it
to sit in the editorial suite in Leeds and point the finger at the
small profit the Council have made? I think that perhaps it
should be more, but then again it’s always easy to be wise after
the event. But at least the running of the KC has not cost the
good folks of Hull a penny, something the Yorkshire Posts
choose to overlook and the current administration at the
Guildhall appear to have conveniently missed too!!!
Just my views of course, I have no axe to grind either way, I
think personally the problem is the closeness of the SMC to the
football club and their ineptitude to market and use the place to
full effect. As for the deals that we and the football club have
with them, well the football club opted to pay a massive lump
sum every year and keep all income themselves and we have
seen where that has got them. As for us, well Richo did the
deal and he was a shrewd cookie. As a lot of the doom and
gloom merchants will tell you half the ticket income after around
7500 tickets sold does go, allegedly, to the SMC but we only
pay a small amount of annual rental on top of that. Whilst we
are doing well we miss out on half our ticket income over that
figure, but with a salary cap some would argue that income
(except for possibly providing for transfer fees) is of little use
anyway. However should gates fall below that, we pay nothing
for the same services. That to Richo made sense with the gates
we were getting at the Boulevard back then, and means that if
we fall on bad times again, and gates drop below that level, we
will pay nothing for the current level of services we receive at
the Stadium.
Well that’s how I see it anyway; I just hope that this insight has
at least given the reader some idea of the thinking behind the
original deal that was done with the SMC back when we were
moving into our new home. No doubt many will still disagree
and believe the Council should be making pots of money out of
the place, but if you do, I should warn you, they could also be
having difficulty making it pay and making a whopping loss to
boot.
In ‘Did You know’ this week I want to look at attendances, in
fact the two biggest that ever graced a Rugby League game.
The most famous is the Cup Final replay between Halifax and
Warrington at Odsal in 1954. A crowd of over 81,000 watched
the two teams play out a drab but historic 4-4 Draw at the
National stadium at Wembley on Saturday 24th April, and few
expected a bigger turnout for the replay the following
Wednesday at Odsal Stadium Bradford. As a counter attraction
in fact, (and here’s something you can keep to lob into the
conversation one day) Laurel and Hardy were playing at the
Bradford Alhambra that same night. The replay was scheduled
for 7-00pm and shuttle buses were running from Bradford town
centre to get everyone to the ground. At the same time 20
special trains had been laid on from Warrington to the nearby
Low Moor station to transport the ‘Wire’ fans across the
Pennines, in the end they carried 12,000 passengers.
There were 100 gatemen and 150 policemen on duty at Odsal,
with an estimated attendance of 60,000 expected, and the
gates opened at 5-00pm. People had been queuing since
before 3-00pm, and with an hour to go to kick off there were an
estimated 60,000 in the ground. It is said that by that time traffic
jams stretched right back to Lancashire, mainly made up of the
estimated 4000 coaches and double deckers packed with
Warrington and other fans eager to see the first ever Challenge
Cup Final replay. In the end the official attendance was
102,569 although many believe it to be nearer 120,000
because many fences had been flattened and supporters were
stood all round the touchlines just two feet from the whitewash.
Incredibly there were no major issues or casualties and only the
usual reports of people fainting were to be found in the press
next day. Warrington won the game 8-4 and remarkably it was
reported in the local papers that within an hour of the trophy
being presented, the whole crowd had dispersed although it
took two days to clear up all the litter they left behind. The
attendance remained a world record for a game between two
club sides until 1999 when the NRL Grand final at Stadium
Australia saw 107,558 crammed in to watch Melbourne Storm
beat St George 20-18. The Odsal game remains a record in
this country and one, with current stadia and legislation, it is
hard to see ever being beaten.
Staying at Bradford its always been a cold inhospitable place,
which has none the less been the scene of some great victories
and a couple of record defeats, so it’s hard for me to know
really why my memories of games gone by often feature Odsal,
but they do. This week in Codgers Corner I go back again to
the, ‘the Hole in the Ground’ ‘The Rubbish tip’ or the Fridge of
the North’ which is that famous old ground, that in 1954 saw
that record gate packed onto the then ash covered terraces.
The game I feature this week took place in the 93/94 season
when we were rebuilding our team under, Phil Windley and
player coach Russ Walker, and suffering a run of atrocious
away performances. It was attended by just 4,641 of which
around 1000 were from Hull, so it seem like we were playing in
a cathedral, as the usual poor atmosphere was reduced, to no
atmosphere at all.
I have to admit here that it was also a time when I personally
felt that trips away every week were becoming a little onerous,
but you know how it is, just as you are about to decide to give a
few a miss, and pick your away games, you see something that
brings back your faith in the club you love and makes you glad
you made the journey. The weather on 4th April 1994 was the
usual at the West Yorkshire ground. I had long moved on from
those boozy bus trips from the Half Way, as being in my mid
forties, the pace was starting to get to my liver, and so it was
against a gale force wind that we drove over to Bradford for a
game we certainly did not expect to win. Our ‘away day blues’
stretched right back through the season and a draw at Leeds
and wins at Swinton and Salford were all we had to show from
12 away games, Bradford on the other hand had only lost two
at home all season, and were sat proudly on top of the league.
If the wind was bad when we got to the ground once inside it
was horrendous as the storm force South Westerly blew round
the bowl in a clockwise direction and straight into our faces as
we stood in a beleaguered group on the North end Terracing.
Games at Odsal were often low scoring affairs but this game
was to be the exception, as we were treat to a total of 62
points, including 13 tries, in a topsy turvey affair.
With the gale blowing down the pitch it was always going to be
a game of two halves and having won the toss Bradford
decided to play into the wind and away from us in the first half.
Rather like our game there last season, it was a case of getting
as many points as we could with the wind at our backs and
then ‘hanging on’. We kicked off and immediately, as the wind
caught it, the ball flew out way beyond the dead ball line. From
the resultant penalty Bradford camped on our line and Paul
Newlove and Cordle on their left gave our right wing pairing of
Eastwood and Brandon Greenwood a torrid first ten minutes. A
great tackle by our prop Mark Jones was mysteriously
penalised, and as Bradford quickly tapped the ball and fed it
wide across the line Newlove drew Greenwood and put Cordle
in at the Corner. From the kick off we at last got into the
Bradford half and on almost our first attacking move of the
game Dixon and Busby ran down the middle exchanging
passes and Rob Wilson took the final ball to crash over near
the posts. However, Bradford got the ball back at the kick off
after some sloppy handling by Jeff Doyle, and Deryck Fox
slotted a perfect grubber through our right side again. This held
up well in the wind over the line, for Cordle to again beat
Eastwood to the touchdown. Fox however failed again with the
conversion but against the wind the home team held an
impressive 8-6 lead after just 18 minutes.
From that point onwards however the first half was all FC and
once we settled and the forwards started to create a platform
we played some delightful rugby. Russ Walker, (playing at
Prop), Wilson and Divet all ploughed into the Bradford Northern
ranks, and Dixons produced what seemed to be a limitless
supply of those darting runs that were his trade mark. At 7 Mark
Hewitt’s kicks regularly pinned the hosts behind their own line
and on two occasions this led to James Grant nailing their full
back Richard Darkes behind his own line. As we mounted this
pressure the gaps opened up in the Bradford defence, but it
took an amazing piece of opportunism by winger Paul Sterling
to start the scoreboard ticking over.
He snapped up a sloppy David Heron pass in our 25 and
completely out paced the cover to score a brilliant try which
Eastwood converted. Next Divet popped out a gem of a pass
whilst in a three man tackle and before Bradford could even
regroup, Richard Gay scooped it out of the air and shot in for
another touchdown.
Northern were hardly seeing the ball now and the next time
they got it Paul Grayshon knocked on and whilst the Bradford
players motioned towards forming a scrum the referee Mr
Connolly waived play on as Divet picked up the loose ball, ran
wide, drew centre Karl Hall and then found Stirling who flew in
again at the corner for Eastwood to tag on the extra’s. An injury
to Greenwood saw Gary Nolan enter the fray and with his first
touch he was over the line too. A sweeping move between
Divet, Doyle and Hewitt left the Northern defence mesmerised,
and there was our substitute to latch onto the final pass and
score in the corner. Eastwood missed the conversion but his
three other successes in blustery conditions meant that we
headed for the half time oranges leading by 26-8.
Of course as is still the case today you’re never home and dry
with the FC, and as if scripted, just when we needed to keep
our line intact at the start of the second half Bradford scored.
Second Rower Paul Dixon started the half like a house on fire
and when he stepped out of a tackle after just 5 minutes,
Newlove took his pass and put Cordle in for his hat trick.
Luckily Fox was still having trouble mastering the wind and he
missed the conversion something he was thankfully to repeat
throughout the afternoon. We needed a response and we got
one when Hewitt hung a kick in the wind, which completely
confused Summers and allowed James Grant to snatch it from
the air and score, for Eastwood to again convert with a goal
that was to eventually prove crucial.
For the rest of the half as the wind blew in our faces we were
under the cosh, largely because kicker Deryck Fox’s used the
elements brilliantly, pinning us in our own half for most of the
time. When we got the ball we had little luck, as Paul Dixon
pinched it back off Walker at the blind side of the referee,
Newlove again got free and put the stretching Trevor Clarke in,
despite a brilliant attempt at a tackle from the retreating Grant.
To the cheers of an increasingly agitated FC contingent
huddled on the terraces, Fox missed woefully again. With just
five minutes to go another peach of a grubber by Fox caught
Eastwood flat footed, he slipped as he turned and Cordle
pounced for his fourth, only for Fox to miss again, and it was
20-32. A minute later we were penalised for crossing whilst in
our own half and as Northern worked play to their right Hall
shot at the corner but luckily Fox missed again. We all just
knew that was not the end of it and so it was that in the fourth
minute of injury time Fox kicked again, the ball sprang in the air
‘off the point’, and straight over full back Gay’s head, for Hall to
scored again. Thankfully with just 4 points separating the teams
the hooter went as Hall celebrated, and with the final kick of the
match Fox got his first conversion and we had won....just...3230.
I remember the game as one of the few where fortune really
favoured the FC, the first half display was simply excellent
being as it was at the home of the league leaders, we needed a
good lead and got one, and in the end it was just enough. The
rest of the season was pretty none descript really but whenever
I go to Bradford these days that match in 1994 is one of a few
that spring to mind as the wind lashes into my face on that
barren terracing!
At the funeral on Friday I was impressed by the way that the
Reverend Bagshawe conducted proceedings; he seems to still
be involved, despite being officially retired. He is in fact just
about to move from St Matthews Vicarage to a new home. I
asked where he was moving to, and he surprised me by stating
that he was about to take up residence in darkest East Hull.
However when I challenged him about relocating to enemy
territory, he informed me that he saw himself moving from the
position of parish priest to that of missionary!
So that all there is from the ‘Cardigan Kid’ this week, it’s been
hard work. I hope you found something of interest included
here and thanks as always for your continued support when
news is certainly at a premium.
Faithfully Yours
wilf