fevnut's musings
Summer Rugby
Over 50 years ago I was a pretty mean
hockey goalkeeper. I must have been pretty crazy because there were none of the
modern facemasks and helmets and even leg and hand protection was nothing like
they wear nowadays. Being at school on the Surrey/Hampshire border the pitches
were pretty good and I could rely on knowing what the ball would do. When I
went on to university in the North Midlands I hated playing because the pitches
were so rucked and muddy that you never knew what would happen and my style was
completely unsuited to playing under those circumstances. How I would have
loved to play on modern synthetic pitches! Much faster and much more skilful.
That’s by way of an introduction to reflecting on the changes that Summer Rugby has brought. When the change first came in 1996 there were many people who wanted to revert to winter but there are far fewer who would change back now. Perhaps it’s good that the start of the season provides us with a reminder of what it used to be like. Those games against Rochdale and Sheffield were dire with skill levels reduced and the consequence of that is to negate the fast flowing rugby that has become the norm. Play on mud and not only is it a grind but so much is down to luck. The speed and ball handling has improved league almost beyond recognition. It has always been the skill levels, rather than brute power, that has made league better than union and now we see that on a fairly regular basis. Infinitely better than the spectacle provided by the 15 a side code.
That is without even considering the comfort of spectators. The rain at Bradford was a reminder of how it used to be - soaked, freezing or more often than not, both! My thoughts turned to this topic remembering our fixture at Dewsbury on February 10th, 2013. I have climbed in the Alps in temperatures way below zero, but even though it wasn’t as cold as that at Dewsbury, it felt far worse. You could say it was because I wasn’t expending effort as a spectator but I well remember Liam Finn telling me that he had never been as cold as he was that day and he was running all the time (well, as much as Liam ever did!).
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Turning to a totally different topic. With
the huge turnover of players we have had in recent years you would expect that
recent players would have had difficulty getting anywhere the top of records
for career points scoring. So it is all the more to the credit of Ian Hardman
and Kyle Briggs that they both get two entries in the Fev All Time Top 20
charts. Ian for points and tries and Kyle for points and goals. If you look at
the page in this blog entitled ‘All Time Top 20s’ you will find Ian at #7 in
the top try scorers, Kyle at #16 in the top goal kickers and they are at #15
(Kyle) and #20 (Ian) in the top points scorers with opportunities for both to
climb higher this year. If you do look at the page, take note of #4 in the try
scoring charts!
T'Other Side: Dewsbury Rams
Head Coach:
Jonathan Schofield and Karl Pryce (caretakers)
Sod’s law! I had just put the finishing touches to this page
when the announcement came that Glenn Morrison had stood down as head coach and
the Rams assistant coaches, Jonathan Schofield and Karl Pryce, would be acting
in a caretaker capacity until a new appointment is made. Schofield started his
playing career at Hunslet in 2009, moving on swiftly to York. He played for the
Rams for three years until 2014 when he retired at the age of 24 and began his
coaching career. Look at the photo and there’s not much doubt who his father
is! Karl Pryce (like brother Leon) began at Bradford Bulls. After 4 seasons there
he moved to union with Gloucester returning to league after a couple of years
to play for Wigan, Harlequins RL and Bradford again. The last four seasons he
was at Dewsbury, retiring at the end of last year.
 |
| Paul Sykes |
New Signings for 2017
During the close
season Dewsbury signed three players from Keighley Cougars. Hamish Barnes is a centre and a
Jamaican international. Aaron Ollett
is a forward appearing most often at loose forward. He started with Hull
Kingston Rovers and had two loan spells with Gateshead Thunder before moving to
Keighley last year. Jode Sheriffe is
a prop forward. He played for Halifax, Rochdale and Featherstone before moving
to Keighley in 2012. He, too, is a Jamaican international.
Brad Foster is a 21 year old second rower who was with
Doncaster in 2015 and 2016. Gareth Potts,
who can play at wing or full back, also began with Doncaster and then had two
seasons each with Batley and Halifax before joining Dewsbury this year. Lucas Walshaw started at Wakefield in
2011 and moved to Bradford Bulls in 2015. Although he has become a Dewsbury
registered player this season he is very familiar with the Rams having
previously had four loan spells with them. Hooker, Robbie Ward, began with Leeds Rhinos in 2014 and played for England
Academy that year. He has played for Hunslet on loan, and last season had a
short spell with Featherstone.
The Fev Connection
After struggling to
find a connection between Fev and Toulouse for the last match, this time we
have abundance! Of their current squad there are 7 players who have played for
Rovers. At the top of the list has to be former Fev favourite Andy Kain whose 128 tries puts him in 4th
place on the Rovers all time try scorers list. Another great favourite with
Rovers fans is prop Tony Tonks, who
played for Fev from 2009-2012 and together with Andy Kain was a member of the
grand final winning team in 2011. Paul
Sykes only had one season (2015) at Post Office Road but scored 18 tries
and kicked 104 goals. In 2014, Jason
Crookes came on loan from Hull FC and scored 14 tries in 15 appearances. Jode Sheriffe played 6 times (5 off the
bench) at prop for Rovers and as mentioned above, Robbie Ward made 5 substitute appearances at hooker for Fev last
year. Tom Hemingway played just 3
times for Fev in 2011 at hooker and stand-off. He is the joint British record
holder for goals in a match. On the 16th May 2010 he kicked 22 goals (in 22
attempts) in Blackpool Panthers 132-0 slaughter of Gateshead Thunder equalling
the record set by Jim Sullivan for Wigan in a Challenge Cup victory over
Cumbrian amateur team, Flimby and Fothergill, in 1925.
Keegan Hirst and Chris
Annakin have also played for Dewsbury this year on dual registration from
Wakefield.
As if that wasn’t
enough of Fev/Rams connections there are also 7 members of the current Rovers
squad who have previously played for Dewsbury:
Andy
Bostock (2006-2010)
Kyle Briggs (2014)
John
Davies (2012)Kyle Briggs (2014)
James Lockwood (2009-2011)
Anthony Thackeray (2014-2015)
Scott Turner (2010-2011)
Matty Wildie (2015)
Today: Previously - April 2nd
Rugby League
In 1926 Rovers journeyed to Belle Vue and beat Wakefield Trinity
9-4 with 2 tries from Jim Denton and one from Joe Morgan. No goals were kicked
by Fev that day.
Workington Town were Rovers opponents at Headingley in the
semi-final of the Challenge Cup in 1955 but Fev filed to make it to Wembley losing
13-2 with a solitary goal from Don Fox. The attendance was 36,077.
April 2nd has seen three matches against Keighley. Fev won all
three starting with a home win by 14-5 in 1929. In 1999 we won 32-18 at Cougar
Park. The third game was a 44-10 win at home in the Challenge Cup 4th round in
2006. The tem was:
Craig Moss; Wayne McHugh,
Nathan Batty, Danny Kirmond, Matthew Wray; Josh Weeden, Craig Fawcett; Ian
Tonks, Paul Hughes, Stuart Dickens, Steve Dooler, Steve Crouch, Greg
Nicholson. Subs: Carl Hughes, Gary
Shillabeer, Gary Ellery, Dale Cardoza
Wayne McHugh scored 4 tries,
to add to the 5 he had scored against Skirlaugh in the previous round. A
remarkable achievement!
This year he was again scoring tries in the Challenge Cup at
Post Office Road against Keighley. He played for Fryston Warriors in the third round
tie and went over for two more!
Some of the other fixtures that took place on April 2nd
include Saint Helens winning away by 14-12 against Wigan in 1999, Pia beating
Keighley 56-26 in the Challenge Cup in 2005 and a Hull derby in 2010 when Hull
Kingston Rovers lost at home to Hull FC by 18-14.
In 1938, Wales beat France 18-2 in a European Championship match
in Llanelli. France were the losers again, but much more heavily, in a test
match against Great Britain at Headingley in 1993. The score was 72-6, with
Rovers player, Paul Newlove, scoring a hat trick.
World Events
In 999, Gerbert of Aurillac elected as first French Pope
In 1860,
First Italian
parliament meets in Turin in Paris
In 1902,
"Electric Theatre", the first
full-time cinema in the United States, opens in Los Angeles
In 1921,
Albert Einstein lectures in New York on his new “Theory of Relativity”
In 1968, Première of
Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’
In 1977, Red Rum wins the
Grand National
Birthdays
 |
| Giacomo Casanova |
1725 Giacomo
Casanova, Italian writer, adventurer and famous lover
1805 Hans Christian Andersen, Danish fairy tale
writer
1840 Emile
Zola, French novelist, author of Germinal
1875 Walter
Chrysler, founder of Chrysler Motors
1914 Alec
Guiness, English actor
1939 Marvin
Gaye, singer
1960
Linford Christie, British Olympic 100m gold medallist
1987
Mickael Simon, Catalans Dragons prop forward
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