fevnut's blog: February 2017

Tuesday 21 February 2017

fevnut's blog: Swinton Away

2017 Match 4: Swinton Lions Away (Championship)

fevnut's musings

World Club Series and High Tackles

It was so very good to watch Warrington and Wigan beating the Aussies in their World Club series matches. In both matches I sat there expecting the Aussies to come roaring back but the Super League sides’ defences were good enough to hold them at bay. It was nearly as good as watching Fev’s heroic defence in action!

However, I have to take issue with several commentators (television and press) who I have heard suggesting that these results augur well for an improvement in our international team. Well, I think we must all be able to remember periods when SL clubs have dominated the World Club Challenge but it has not been carried over to success by the English national team. The reason for the difference is so obvious.

Looking at the Wigan team that took to the field against Cronulla we find a French International at fullback, a New Zealand born Cook Islands international in the centres, New Zealanders at scrum half and prop forward, and a Welsh international filling the other prop position. Added to that, Wigan had Australian, Taulima Tauta, on the bench.

The Warrington side was much more ‘English’ with just an Australian at full back and an Australian born, Fijian international, at prop. Andre Savelio is of Samoan/New Zealand descent but I think he was born here, and the way he is progressing, I hope the day will come when he decides to play for England.

I have no truck with assertions that individual referees are biased against particular teams. Generally I have admired Gareth Hewer, but I though he had a very poor game at Batley. It wasn’t the penalty count, which despite the fact that early on was 5-0 in Batley’s favour, ended up 12-11 to Fev. I couldn’t see the incident which led to Michael Knowles being sin-binned but have to concede that Hewer was much nearer to it than I was. So, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt over that. My disgruntlement with Hewer on Sunday was not over penalty awards but his lack of priority in taking action over one particular type of misdemeanour.

Of those 12 penalties awarded to Rovers, a staggering half (18^th, 24^th, 25^th, 34^th, 38^th and 61^st minutes) were for high tackles. How is it possible for a team to be penalised six times for high tackles without more serious action being taken, especially when five of those occurred in a twenty minute spell? The only team warning issued by Hewer was to Fev for those five penalties in the first ten minutes. I consider that the tem warning was probably the right action to take but not to use the sin bin, at least, for persistent high tackles was inexcusable.

T'Other Side: Swinton Lions

John Duffy

Head Coach: John Duffy

John Duffy took over as coach of Swinton Lions in June 2014 following Ian Watson moving to Salford. Although suffering relegation that year, he led them to promotion back to the championship in his first full season. As a player he was a halfback, starting his career at Warrington but making most of his appearances for Leigh. He played 12 times for Scotland including the 2008 World Cup.

Captain: Andy Thornley

Andy Thornley

Having made his first grade debut for Salford in 2009, he then went on loan to Whitehaven and then signed for them for the 2010 season. This was followed by four seasons playing for Leigh Centurions. In his final season at Leigh he had loan spells with Swinton and North Wales, signing for Swinton for 2015. This is his first year as captain. In Swinton’s last match against Bradford, despite losing, Andy scored a hat trick.

New Signings for 2017

t Anthony Bate (Barrow Raiders)

t Oliver Davies (Saint Helens)

t Chris Hankinson (Barrow Raiders)

t Sean Kenny (Salford Red Devils)

t Jack Murphy (Workington Town)

t Matthew Sarsfield (Salford Red Devils)

For 2017 Swinton Lions have made two signings from Barrow Raiders. Anthony Bate can play anywhere in the pack. He began at Leigh before moving to Barrow in 2015. The other arrival from Barrow is Chris Hankinson who usually plays at centre but can also fill in at halfback.

Anthony Bate

Chis Hankinson

There have also been two arrivals from Salford Red Devils. Sean Kenny is a 22 year old hooker who only got to make appearances off the bench for Salford but has now been giving starting chances at Swinton. With far more experience, there is Matthew Sarsfield, a second rower who has played for Dewsbury, Leigh and Halifax as well as an earlier spell with Swinton in 2013.

Matthew Sarsfield

Sean Kenny

Jack Murphy is primarily a fullback who can also play in the three-quarters. He started at Wigan and had loan spells with South Wales and Salford before signing for Workington in 2014. He played for England Academy in 2010.

Jack Murphy

The Fev Connection

It doesn’t happen very often, but there are no members of the Swinton squad who have ever played for Fev!

Today: Previously - February 26^th

Rugby League

February 26^th has not, traditionally, been a great day for Rovers and they only won one of the first six matches played on that date. The win (22-6 at home) was against Rochdale Hornets in 1966. It was a first round Challenge Cup tie. Amongst the scorers were Tommy Smales (loose forward) with a try and 5 goals and Mike Smith with 2 tries. It wasn’t the start of a great cup run as they were beaten by Warrington in the second round. Rovers fans had to wait another year for the magic to happen.

Another match on February 26^th took place in 1949 when they were away to Liverpool Stanley in the league. The teams fought out a 3-3 draw. Unlike Rovers, who despite their name have remained constantly at Post Office Road throughout their history, Liverpool Stanley were a team who roved all over the place during their history from 1922-1997. Thy played under at least 8 different names and were based at various times in Wigan, Liverpool, Runcorn, Prescot and, for just one year, London.

The last time that Fev played on February 26^th was in 2012 when they edged out Halifax, 34-32, in an away pool game in the Northern Rail Cup. In an exciting match Ian Hardman scored a hat trick. Andy Bostock scored a try in the 77^th minute to bring the scores level but Liam Finn was unable to convert. Then, heartbreak as an unconverted try by Ben Heaton put them 4 points ahead with the hooter imminent. But back came Rovers and as the hooter was sounding Greg Worthington scored and Liam converted to give us the victory.

On the international scene, England and Wales drew 9-9 at Wigan in 1944. There was a double-header in Auckland as part of the Pacific Cup in 2006. Fiji beat the Cook Islands 40-18 and Tonga beat Aotearoa Maori by 42-14.

World Events

In 1616, The Roman inquisition demands that Galileo renounces his belief that the earth orbits the sun.

In 1797, The Bank of England issues the first £1 note.

In 1848, Publication by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels of the ‘Communist Manifesto’.

In 1912, The first national miners strike begins in Britain.

In 2006, The 20^th Winter Olympics ends in Turin.

Birthdays

1361 “Good” King Wenceslas of Bohemia

1802 Victor Hugo, French Author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Nôtre Dame

1829 Levi Strauss (of jeans fame)

1946 William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, American Wild West hunter and showman

1932 Johnny Cash, country singer

1985 Ashton Sims, Warrington Wolves and Fiji

Monday 20 February 2017

Batley v Fev: Teams and Scorers

Batley v Fev: Teams and Scorers

note:
Josh Walters was named in the 19 man squad but then played for Leeds Rhinos on the Friday night.

Gareth Walker's column: February 26

fevnut's blog is absolutely delighted to have received permission to bring you a regular column from Gareth Walker.

Gareth is a top rugby league journalist who has one very exceptional distinction. He chooses to write about matters pertaining to the Championship and League One.

Although this blog is devoted to Featherstone Rovers it is always good to read opinions about matters relevant to us, but not specifically about us. We hope you enjoy reading Gareth's column each week.

Early insights

THREE games into the new Kingstone Press Championship season, and what have we learnt about the 12 clubs so far?

As expected, Hull KR sit top of the table with three wins from three - but coach Tim Sheens has found room for improvement in each performance against Bradford, London and Rochdale. Expect them to improve sharply as the season unfolds.

Featherstone Rovers are the only other undefeated side and wins over Halifax, Oldham and Batley have backed up their pre-season status as top four contenders. Jon Sharp will be pleased with their winning start.

Toulouse Olympique have racked up big home wins over Batley and Dewsbury but then gave Sheffield their only win to date on the road. Sylvain Houles is all too aware of the need to find some form on their travels, but they will test anybody in France.

Rochdale Hornets have been arguably the success story of the campaign so far, despite losing to Hull KR on Sunday. They trailed their full-time opponents just 18-20 with five minutes to play, and wins over Dewsbury and Bradford show they have little to fear in 2017.

London Broncos have ground out hard-fought, narrow wins at Swinton and Oldham, but arguably their most impressive performance came in defeat at home to Hull KR. When key men return from injury they should also be improvers.

Oldham could be sat here undefeated, but have missed late penalties against both Featherstone and London that would have given them draws. Still, those performances, plus a home win over Sheffield, bode well for Scott Naylor’s men.

Halifax chalked up a much needed 42-16 win over Sheffield at weekend after disappointing losses to Featherstone and Batley. Finding some consistency will be their next target.

Swinton Lions have tested full-time London and Bradford in narrow home defeats, and showed plenty of guts to win in the mud at Dewsbury. They will not be disheartened by their start.

Neither should be Sheffield or Batley, although both teams will be disappointed at their manner of some of their defeats to date. They play each other this weekend in what looks an important early match.

The only side without a win to date is Dewsbury Rams, who have scored just eight points and conceded 110 in their first three matches. Glenn Morrison will be hoping to turn the tide quickly, although he has another touch assignment in London at home this weekend.

Finally Bradford Bulls sit bottom, courtesy of their 12 point deduction which has now been reduced to 10 after Sunday’s win at Swinton. With experienced players coming in on a regular basis the Bulls will be keen to string a run of results together and start clawing the deficit back on those above them.

Wednesday 15 February 2017

Records and Trophies

FEATHERSTONE ROVERS: RECORDS AND TROPHIES

n.b. fevnut is off to Red Hall tomorrow to photograph the Division One Trophy that we won in 1977. It's the only trophy he doesn't have a good image of. When done we will be adding photos of the trophies!

Gareth Walker's column: February 19

Rochdale on the rise

EIGHTEEN months ago, while Hull Kingston Rovers were featuring in a Challenge Cup final at Wembley, Rochdale Hornets were missing out on the League One play-offs.

Fast-forward to this weekend, and the clubs will face each other as the top two teams in the formative Championship table, both unbeaten after two games.

There is no surprise at the Robins’ position - following the disappointment of last season’s relegation, there’s a train of thought from some that their 2017 squad is actually stronger than their top flight group.

In their opening two Championship matches they have beaten two of the other three full-time sides in the competition, Bradford and London Broncos, although vastly experienced coach Tim Sheens was far from satisfied with Sunday’s effort in the capital in a 28-22 win.

“It all boils down to attitude and I expect a huge improvement in that next week against a Rochdale side that has also won two from two,” Sheens mused after the game. “If we want to have aspirations to climb out of the Championship, we have to improve and we will.”

Those kind of words, from a former Kangaroos coach no less, could be enough to strike fear into the heart of some teams.

But that appears unlikely to happen at Rochdale, who are bristling with confidence after head turning wins over Dewsbury and Bradford that sees them sitting top of the Championship on points difference. Coach Alan Kilshaw will have one of the smallest budgets - if not the smallest - of any club in the competition this season, having guided Hornets to promotion from League One last year.

But in thrashing the Rams 46-0 and then producing a gritty 22-14 win at the full-time Bulls, his side have sent a warning to the rest of the competition that they should not be underestimated this season. To put Sunday’s win into perspective, it was the first time in 46 years that a Rochdale team had won at Bradford - and 27 years since a win of any kind against the same opposition.

Facing a Hull KR team packed with top flight experience is another step up again, of course. But it is unlikely to faze Rochdale, who seem to have thrived in the underdog role during Kilshaw’s time in charge. He has put together a balanced squad including players with Championship experience, Super League academy backgrounds and others with a point to prove at this level.

Whether that will be enough to topple red hot Championship favourites Hull Kingston Rovers remains to be seen - but Hornets are already becoming one of the stories of the 2017 season.

Monday 13 February 2017

fevnut's blog (Batley away)

2017 Match 3 (Batley Away: Championship)

fevnut's musings

Rivalries

As I see it, matches between Fev and Batley used to be just another match but in recent years the rivalry has developed and intensified to the extent that it has almost become a fixture that qualifies for the label of ‘derby’. I did say almost, because, of course, the real Fev derby is between us and Cas, but we so rarely get to play them that as fans we almost have to search for an alternative and what better than the nearest Championship club - Batley. No, it’s not really a ‘derby’, because Batley do still have their own traditional one against Dewsbury (The Heavy Woollen Derby) and they play them at least twice this year.

It got me thinking about the difference in ‘Derbies’ for players and fans. For us fans, winning or losing a derby game can be at least as important as silverware. The passions get to their highest level and then, the chances are that, if we lose, we will have our noses rubbed in it by workmates and in the supermarket. And if we win, we will have the joy of crowing about it to those very same workmates!

We expect our players to feel as passionate about it as we do, but do they really? I was prompted into such thoughts whilst watching the opening game of the super league season. There was talk about Saints missing Matty Smith through injury (who had been a Wigan player for the last 6 years) and then the camera went to Saints assistant coach, Sean Long, who started his career with Wigan. For fans the very idea of changing one’s loyalty from Wigan to Saints or Fev to Cas is utterly preposterous, but not so for the players. I believe they do get quite passionate about defeating the local rivals but suspect it is more to do with keeping face with their supporters than an intrinsic horror at losing to the opposition.

I began to delve into players moving between deadly rivals. I don’t have the information to go back before those who played in the summer era, but I nevertheless found a lot of players who had made the transition. Despite my starting point of Matty Smith and Sean Long, there were 18 who had switched between Saints and Wigan. But that is rather small compared to other big rivalries. 40 have swapped between Leeds and Bradford and a fairly startling 49 between the Hull clubs. 42 players have played for both Cheshire clubs (Warrington and Widnes) and 40 for both Leeds and Bradford. That’s before this season and doesn’t include all the Leeds players who have gone on-loan to Bradford this year. Batley and Dewsbury, despite that Heavy Woollen derby tag, have shared an astonishing 71 players. Finally we come to the situation between Fev and Cas. Remembering that this is limited to those who put on their boots during the summer era we found 56 players who played for both. In that number are a whole host who would be thought of as iconic players for Fev. Brendon Tuuta and Paul Newlove certainly fall into that category. There are also 3 Fev captains who played for the other team as well: Shaun Irwin, Liam Finn and Tim Spears. Amongst the many, many others there are Andy Kain, Tommy Saxton, Anthony Thackeray and John Davies.

So you can only conclude that major rivalries are about the feelings of the fans whilst the players get on and try to please their current fans but basically put in the effort because it’s a job and it’s what they do.

T'Other Side: Batley

Head Coach: Matt Diskin

Matt Diskin

Matt Diskin was took over as head coach of the Bulldogs for this season, following in the footsteps of John Kear who had held the post for 5 years. He has a difficult standard to match after Kear took Batley into the Qualifiers last year. It is Diskin’s first post as a head coach although he did take charge briefly of Bradford Bulls in a caretaker capacity in 2014 between the sacking of Francis Cummins and the appointment of James Lowes.

As a player he was a renowned hooker starting his career in 2001 with Leeds Rhinos. He stayed with the Rhinos for ten seasons making 264 appearances. In 2011 he moved to Bradford Bulls making 86 appearances before retiring at the end of 2014. He also played Great Britain, England, England A and Yorkshire.

New Signings for 2017

t Danny Bravo (Huddersfield Underbank Rangers ARL)

t Joel Farrell (Dewsbury Rams)

t Macauley Hallett (Swinton Lions)

t Brad Hill (Featherstone Rovers)

t Dane Manning (Halifax)

t Trae O’Sullivan (Coventry Bears)

Batley also have three Castleford Tigers on loan - Jy Hitchcox, Tom Holmes and Will Maher.

The most high profile signing for Batley in 2017 has to be Dane Manning, a powerful and skilful second rower who arrives from Halifax. He is a product of the Leeds Rhinos Academy and he previously played for Batley in 2011 before having five years at Halifax.

Although Danny Bravo has been signed from the amateur game he does have professional experience having played nine games for Oldham in 2011. In the same year he was picked for Jamaica in World Cup Qualifiers against South Africa and the United States. Joel Farrell usually plays at loose forward and has been very impressive playing for Dewsbury against Rovers in the last two years. He, too, is a Jamaican international.

Macauley Hallett started with Hull KR in 2014 and then played for Newcastle Thunder under dual registration in 2015. Last year he joined for Swinton where he became a regular starter and scored 17 tries in 24 appearances. Brad Hill is having his first year in the Championship having played in League One with South Wales Scorpions and Gloucestershire All Golds. He has also played for the Wales Academy. Trae O’Sullivan, a young prop, played for Coventry Bears in 2016 and Batley see him as one for the future.

Dane Manning

Joel Farrell

Macauley Hallett

The Fev connection

There are five players in the current Batley squad who have played for Featherstone. You have to have a good memory to recall Dominic Brambani playing in a Fev team because it was 12 years go in 2005 when he had a seven game loan spell with us from Castleford. Rather more recent was Jy Hitchcox who Fev brought over from Australia in 2015. He played at fullback and on the wing, and although popular with many fans he never really settled and moved on the following year to Castleford. He is currently at Batley on loan.

Dane Manning, who we have already mentioned above, played 23 games for Fev on loan from Leeds in 2010. Dave Scott is a regular Scottish international (and a genuine one, complete with Scottish accent!) He started his international career back in 2011 whilst a junior at Hull KR. Rovers signed him in 2013 but he only played one first team game before going on loan to Doncaster, where he stayed for a further two seasons before signing for Batley.

Sam Smeaton came through the ranks at Featherstone Lions before Rovers signed him in 2009 and he was a regular in the team before a horrific injury caused him to miss the whole of the 2013 season and he only came back for 2 games at the end of 2014. He moved on to Sheffield in 2015 and Halifax in 2016 where he went out on loan to York and then signed for Batley in July. Sam played 84 games for Rovers scoring 41 tries.

There is one further player in the Batley squad with a Featherstone Rovers connection. Although he signed for Rovers last year, Brad Hill was a regular member of the Fev reserve team until its disbandment, but never played in the first team although he did appear in four out of the five pre-season games.

Today: Previously - February 19^th

Rugby League

The first time that Rovers played a match on February 19^th was in 1927 when they beat Barrow 17-5 at home. There have been 2 matches against Hull Kingston Rovers, both with heavy scorelines. In 1955 Featherstone were the winners by 45-3 in a home league match. The Fev try scorers on the day were Ken Elford, Mick Clamp (2), Ray Cording, Joe Mullaney, Don Fox, Ken Welburn and Willis Fawley (2). Don Fox kicked 9 goals. They met again in 2006, also at Post Office Road, in a Northern Rail Cup group match but this time Hull KR won 32-6. Fev’s most recent match on February 19^th was against Dewsbury. It was also a Northern Rail Cup group match which we won 38-6. Three tries were scored by members of our current squad with two for Kyle Briggs and one for Ian Hardman. Sam Smeaton (now at Batley) also scored that day for Fev. In all four of the 2017 squad were playing that day: Hardo and James Lockwood were in the starting 13 and Kyle Briggs and Andy Bostock were on the bench.

On February 19^th, 2012 there were signs that the once powerful Bradford Bulls were falling from grace when they went down by 54 points to 16 at home to Wigan.

There don’t seem to have been any representative matches played on February 19^th.

World Events

In 1600, Most violent volcanic eruption ever recorded in South America at Huaynaputina in Peru.

In 1878, Thomas Edison patents the phonograph (gramophome).

In 1942, 150 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, in Australia.

In 1980, Ian Botham scores a century and takes 13 wickets in a test match in Mumbai

In 1995, Linford Christie breaks the world indoor record for 200 metres

Birthdays

1473 Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer who produced the theory that the planets orbit the sun

1717 David Garrick, English actor and producer

1924 Lee Marvin, film star

1953 Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, former Argentinian president

1962 Hana Mandlikova, Czech tennis player

1986 Anthony Thackeray