Barrow
Raiders
When we watched the draw being done for the Challenge Cup 4th round there were
2 things we were desperately hoping for.
The first
was, whoever we got drawn against, that it would be a home draw. The fact is
that we haven’t had a home competitive match since we played against Toulouse
on September 7th last year. That is over five and a half months ago! Far too
long to suffer such deprivation!
You might
won’t be surprised by that wish but you might be by the second one. We got our
home draw but the ball we most fervently wanted to see come out next was the
one for Barrow Raiders! So the rugby league gods granted both our wishes. It
was almost too good to believe.
Do you know
why we wanted to get Barrow? Well, it all goes back to Black Sunday (June 23rd,
2019). That was the day we got well and truly walloped by Barrow in what felt
like not only our worst home performance of the year but for several years. We
came into that match on a winning run of 13 games against them. Had we lost
narrowly it would have been bad but to lose 38-16 was unbelievably bad.
So that’s
why we wanted a home tie against Barrow - to put the record straight and go
some way to expunging that awful memory!
Bradford
away
That was a
good win in pretty awful conditions but the experience for a number of Fev fans
was awful. We had problems resulting from a recent foot operation. But it all
started well with really helpful car park officials. Having explained the
situation they helped us to find a spot near the entrance.
But when we got into the ground things were
different, very different. At the gate we were told that we could sit anywhere,
but nonetheless we chose seats that did not say reserved on them. Soon after we
got seated a group of Fev fans settled in nearby. That group included one
person who is disabled and has major problems walking.
Then some Bradford fans turned up and kicked
them out because, although the seats were not marked, they had season tickets
which stated that the seats were allocated to them. Fair enough but it caused
considerable aggravation bearing in mind what I have already said about the Fev
fan with the mobility problem. It very nearly led to a major altercation. Fev
fans angry at having to move in such circumstances and Bradford fans angry that
their seats had been occupied by Fev fans. We did our best to calm people down
but it could so easily boiled over.
Then we faced the same problem with the seats
we had occupied. And again. And again. We had to move FOUR times. And each time
we were faced with the fear of having our painful feet trodden on.
It is completely unacceptable to have a
situation where ‘home’ fans have allocated seats but there is no indication of
this for the away fans. It is asking for trouble.
Add to this the ludicrous prices that Bradford
charge for their matches and it feels as if they and the stadium management are
doing their best to completely alienate visiting fans. We have already read on
social media of several Fev fans who have no intention of going to any future
away games against Bradford.
The sport of rugby league cannot afford to
alienate supporters who travel to away matches. We applaud the efforts to clamp
down on abusive behaviour but then don’t organise matters in such a manner as
to provoke anger and abuse.
I sincerely hope that the issue of allocated
seats is sorted out and future away fans are not subjected to this awful
treatment.
Discipline
On the field it was great to get the win but we were really
worried about our discipline. It certainly doesn’t help when you end up playing
a quarter of the match with only 12 on the pitch because of sin-binnings.
Two years ago our discipline was a big problem but it seemed to
have been sorted out last year. Let’s hope that James Webster and Dave Merrick
can quickly sort it out again.
We listened with interest to Jack Bussey explaining his yellow
card and can understand what he was saying but his ‘professional foul’ might
have saved a try at that moment but then Bradford scored a minute later when
the defence had not had a chance to re-organise to cope with being down to 12.
So there was no benefit at all only the downside.
For the other sin-binning there is no excuse at all. Of course
rugby league is an aggressive sport but that aggression has to be positively channelled.
Running around the pitch being aggressive in a manner that will get you
sin-binned or sent off does the team no good whatsoever.
Of course, being a man short for 20 minutes is only one part of
the problem. You also have to consider the effect on the rest of team getting tired
out by the extra effort they have to put in.
Greg
and Gareth
The news coming out about the Toronto squad is worrying and it
might have implications for Fev. It looks as if Thomas Minns will be out for
quite some time and it is beginning to that Toronto will need to have Greg back
as soon as they can to bolster their numbers.
On the other hand, we do have Gareth Gale. His performances in
the pre-season were so good that we are quite frankly surprised that he hasn’t yet
been given an opportunity to make his début. We hope he will be given a chance
this week. He certainly deserves it.
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