Rugby League
League 1
Sunday 16th June 2019
Kick Off 15.00
Workington Town 54 Coventry Bears 16, attendance 895
@ Borough Park
New Bridge Road
Workington
CA14 2DT
£15 Admission
£2 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.
With their own ground at Derwent Park undergoing work to widen the playing surface and remove the speedway track, to enable Workington F.C. to stage matches there next season, it meant Workington Town would be returning to the ground they used before moving to Derwent Park in 1956. Just over 30 years ago they played three matches here at Borough Park and will use it for the next couple of matches, or perhaps longer, depending how quickly the ground improvements are completed. The 4 photos below show the current state of work being carried out at Derwent Park……..
Workington has been chosen as a host for games in the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, but this is subject to a new stadium being built, which will then be shared by the town’s rugby league and football clubs. Workington F.C. will move the 500 yards or so across to Derwent Park to share with Town, whilst the new stadium is built on the site of Borough Park, which of course staged matches in the Football League until Workington’s relegation in 1977, then once completed, both clubs will move in to the new shared facility. Having originally been passed by the Labour Council, a new Independent Councillor has now been voted in, but they are against the plans, so it may not now happen……
I had actually visited Borough Park twice before, both times for football. On 27th January 1990 I saw Workington 0 Droylsden 2 in a Northern Premier League Division 1 match in front of 150 spectators. Then, on 22nd November 1992, I returned to see Workington 1 Shepshed Albion 7, again in a Northern Premier League Division 1 match, this time watched by a crowd of 130. As Shepshed had been playing a match in Kendal on the Saturday, following an overnight stop, they played this match at 12 noon, which was perfect to double up with the rugby league, who were at home at 3 o’clock at Derwent Park in a Division 3 match versus Nottingham City, which they won 68-0 in front of 1,311 supporters.
As I headed north from my overnight base in Warrington, I had passed the Coventry Bears team coach near Junction 38 of the M6, just before 12 o’clock, as they made the long slog to West Cumbria for the second successive match, having played at Whitehaven last week. They came into this match third from bottom in the league table, but have managed to win three matches so far, which is a vast improvement for them and they are far more competitive in games. Town scored two tries in the opening ten minutes, but Coventry replied quickly with a converted try of their own and despite conceding three more tries they did get another of their own so at halftime it was 26-12. The second half was pretty much one way traffic and Town ran in five more tries for a resounding 54-16 win.
