Match 17: Dewsbury (Home)fevnut's musings
Congratulations
I want to start this week by offering
congratulations to Nigel Wood and the RLIF for restoring proper international
tours and the Great Brain Lions to the international rugby league calendar. It
is great news that New Zealand will be coming here on tour in 2018, Australia
in 2020 and in between there will be a Lions tour to the southern hemisphere.
Sadly, however, these tours can never be like
those that we loved in days gone by for one simple reason. Until 1995 any such
tours took place during the season in the host country allowing the visiting
team to play midweek matches against club sides. But now, with the move in
England to a summer season, these tours will now take place in the off season
when fixtures against club sides will not be a possibility. So, we won’t see a
repeat at Post Office Road of two of the greatest days in Fev history. October 11th
November, 1959 when the might Rovers beat Australia 23-15 and 2nd October, 1963
when they did it again, this time by 23-17.
and a brickbat
But it is not all good news from the sport’s
administrators. I see that Roger Draper has been floating the possibility of
the Challenge Cup final leaving Wembley. The man has absolutely no
understanding of one of the most fantastic traditions that brings together fans
from all clubs. A date that many put into their diaries as soon as it is
announced. No matter who is playing there are fans who travel to Wembley every
year. It is part of our heritage and not to be messed about by someone whose
job is as an executive of Super League. The Challenge Cup is NOT a Super League
competition and Roger Draper should leave well alone. I am utterly sick of
Super League trying to run rugby league solely for the benefit of their clubs
with no care whatsoever for the rest of the rugby league community. It is
really time for the RFL to draw a proper line between themselves and the
hierarchy of super league. The two must have very different remits and be seen
to act accordingly.
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Challenge Cup Draw
What did you think when you heard that we were going to be
playing Leeds Rhinos at Headingley? I was absolutely delighted. Not because I
think we will win, but because it is an absolutely ideal opportunity at this
stage of the season to see where we have got to compared to last year. In 2016 we
were very patchy but scraped into the qualifiers with a magnificent run at the
end of the Championship fixtures. But then we got slaughtered in the qualifiers.
That first match against the Rhinos resulting in a 62-6 loss from which we
never recovered. So the cup draw gives us a great chance to assess whether we
have made any real progress and whether we can make a decent fist of it against
Super League opposition. So it’s the performance I want to see more than the
result.
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