Rugby Football League

League 1

Sunday 11th June 2017

Kick Off 15.00 Actual 15.01

Doncaster 24 Barrow Raiders 24,  attendance 563

@ Keepmoat Athletics Stadium

Stadium Way

Lakeside

Doncaster

DN4 5JW

£15 Admission

£2 Programme, 36 pages.

Team Sheet, free.

This was 4th v 2nd, although both dropped a place following this draw. Barrow went 0-10 ahead, reduced to 6-10, but they were further ahead, 6-16 at the break. When they stretched their lead to 12-24, it looked all over, but Doncaster went over for two tries, missing one conversion, to pull it back to 22-24 with a minute left, or so we thought.  Fifteen minutes into stoppage time Doncaster kicked a penalty to level it up.

With Keepmoat Stadium undergoing pitch work, it meant this game, plus the next home one, are being played on the Athletics Stadium next door, and another game being played at Featherstone Rovers.

This is the fourth home venue I have now seen Doncaster play on, following Tattersfield (10.1.93), Belle Vue (14.5.00) and Keepmoat Stadium (11.2.07). Oddly, I have seen Doncaster play seven times now, with three of the games finishing as draws. Apart from today, I saw them draw two away games, both 10-10, versus Trafford Borough (2.12.90) and Keighley Cougars (13.10.91).

Rugby Football League

League 1

Saturday 10th June 2017

Kick Off 17.00 Actual 17.02

South Wales Ironmen 0 Toronto Wolfpack 66,  attendance 325 

@ Merthyr R.U.F.C.

The Wern Sports Park

Cae’r Wern

Ynysfach

Merthyr Tydfil

CF48 1AD

£10 Admission

Programme, free, available on-line only, 22 Pages.

This was always going to be a huge away win. It was just a case of by how many. Strong defence saw the Ironmen (re-branded from last season as South Wales Scorpions) hold out for 17 minutes and the score at halftime was only 0-24. Toronto are strolling towards the title, having won every game so far and four teams have been beaten by bigger margins than today, including a 70-2 thrashing of second in the table Barrow Raiders !

With the squad assembled by the Canadians, for this level, it is hard to see them failing to go through the season without a 100% winning record. Most of the squad have played at Championship level or above, with seven of the team signing from Leigh Centurions, the best known being Fuifui Moimoi, who has represented both Tonga and New Zealand, as well as playing 14 seasons in the Australian NRL for Parramatta Eels.

All week, the Ironmen website was stressing how well tickets were selling and how booking on-line would avoid queues on the day…….a pathetic crowd in reality,( have not seen their official attendance for today, although as their result page has not been updated for a month, it may never appear) even allowing for the fact that it rained non-stop from around 2 o’clock on onwards.

The Wern Sports Park was opened in 1958 and has a capacity of 4,500.

Rugby League

Welsh Premier League

Saturday 10th June 2017

Kick Off 13.00 Actual 13.04

Rhondda Outlaws 34 Torfaen Tigers 42,  attendance 61

@ Pontypridd R.U.F.C.

Sardis Road

Pontypridd

CF37 1HA

£3 Admission

No Programme.

This was week 4 of the new Welsh Premier League, which for the inaugural season will be played between six clubs, with Rhondda being the most recently formed. I was already heading for South Wales today, so was pleased to see this game had been brought forward to a 1pm kick off to enable the players and supporters of both clubs to take in the South Wales Ironmen v Toronto Wolfpack game in the National League 1 at 5pm, up the road in Merthyr Tydfil.

Outlaws fell behind 0-10, before going up 18-10, then conceding a converted try to give a halftime score of 18-16. Tigers then took the lead, before conceding again for a 24-22 score line, but then ran in twenty unanswered points to go 24-42 up, before a late Outlaw rally saw the deficit reduced to 34-42.

Sardis Road, known locally as ‘The House of Pain’ is a superb ground and so full of character. Opened in 1974, although it looks older, it is home to Pontypridd RUFC and was also home to the now defunct Celtic Warriors  RUFC from 2003-2004, having a capacity of 7,861. The 1991 Rugby World Cup match between Argentina and Western Samoa was held here as was the 2009 Rugby League European Cup Semi Final between Wales and Ireland.

Rugby Football League

Championship

Sunday 4th June 2017

Kick Off 15.00. On Time !

London Broncos 34 Halifax 6,  attendance 857

@ Trailfinders Sports Club

Vallis Way

West Ealing

London

W13 0DD

£20 Admission

£3 Programme, 36 pages.

This was 3rd v 5th, although in reality, the gulf between the two teams was huge. Halifax were very poor and London had the game sewn up by halftime when they went in 22-0 up. Despite converting the opening try of the second half to pull it back to 22-6, the hopes of a comeback were quashed when Dixon converted his own try just before the hour mark to put London up 28-6. This was the seventh straight win for the Broncos.

Over the years London, under various names ,have played home matches at numerous venues, but one thing seems to remain constant…..poor crowd numbers, with the crowd today only about half of the official figure given. Perhaps the cost is too much, especially when they then rip people off with a £5 charge for car parking inside the ground, although there are no restrictions in the surrounding streets, which is where most people were choosing to park. The matchday programme is also overpriced and doesn’t even have a league table in it !

I have missed a fair few of the ‘one off’ venues used for their home matches since I first saw them play at home back in October 1992, but have still seen them host games on seven grounds previously………….Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, Barnet Copthall Stadium, Griffin Park (Brentford F.C.), Stoop Memorial Ground (Harlequins RUFC), The Valley (Charlton Athletic F.C.), Welford Road (Leicester Tigers RUFC) and 369 Molesey Road (Esher RUFC).

Speedway

SGB Championship

Sunday 28th May 2017

18.30 Start

Newcastle Diamonds 46 Scunthorpe Scorpions 44, attendance 400 est.

Diamonds :

Robert Lambert 14 pts

Ashley Morris 5 + 1

Lewis Rose 6 + 2

Ludvig Lindgren 7

Steve Worral 9

Ben Hopwood 5 + 2

Connor Coles 0

Scorpions :

Michael Palm Toft 12 pts

Carl Wilkinson 4 + 1

Lewis Kerr 16

Ryan Douglas 0

Josh Auty – Rider Replacement

Tero Aarnio 10 + 1

Jack Parkinson-Blackburn (guest) 2 + 1

@ Brough Park

Fossway

Byker

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE6 2XJ

£16 Admission

£2-50 Programme, 28 pages

£1 Car Park.

This was the first speedway meeting I have attended for around 24 years.  The result was in the balance right through the meeting, helped by the fact that three ex-Diamonds were riding for Scunthorpe, the pick being Lewis Kerr, who top scored with 16 points.

Newcastle took the first heat 4-2, but Scunthorpe took the next by the same score. Heat 5 went 4-2 in favour of the visitors, which put them ahead 14-16. Heat 10 finally saw Newcastle edge ahead 31-29, courtesy of a 5-1 from Lambert and Morris, but level again at 36-36 after heat 12. Newcastle took the next two heats by 4-2, giving them a 44-40 lead going into the final heat, leaving Scunthorpe needing a 5-1 to get the draw, but they were denied by Robert Lambert, who managed the all important second place, his only defeat from his five rides.

Brough Park first hosted Speedway in 1929, having hosted Greyhound racing a year earlier and Rugby League has also taken place here. Having closed in 1930, it was reopened in 1938, but had to close again due to WW2, re-opening in 1946, where huge crowds were reported, some as high as 20,000 !

Admission is available on-line, for £1 reduction, but Speedway is not the best sport for booking advance tickets, as it is so reliant on favourable weather conditions.

Rugby Football League

Championship

Sunday 21st May 2017

Kick Off 15.00  Actual 15.02

Oldham 28 Batley Bulldogs 48,  attendance 578

@ Manchester Regional Athletics Arena

Rowsley Street

Manchester

M11 3FF

£17 Admission

£2-50p Programme, 24 pages.

Oldham normally play their home matches at Bower Fold, home of Stalybridge Celtic F.C. Due to the pitch being re-seeded, they had switched this game to the Manchester Regional Athletics Arena, which has an all seated capacity of 6,500. I had previously been here for football, seeing Manchester City Reserves v Everton Reserves on 26th October 2004.

Oldham were up 10-4, before being pegged back to 10-10, then led 22-10, but were once again pegged back to go in level at halftime 22-22. Batley were well in control and after the 12 unanswered points at the end of the first half, they put on another 26 points without reply to comfortably lead 22-48. Having had a player red carded, they were finally breached as Oldham converted a last minute try.

So, this is now the seventh venue I have seen Oldham use to stage their home matches……Watersheddings, Ewen Fields (Hyde United F.C.), Boundary Park (Oldham Athletic F.C.), Surrey Street (Ashton United F.C.), Bloomfield Road (Blackpool F.C.) and Whitebank Stadium being the previous ones. Oddly, it is the third time that Batley were the visitors as they were the opposition for the games at Surrey Street and Bloomfield Road.

 

Rugby Football League

League 1

Sunday 5th March 2017

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.02

Oxford 40 Hemel Stags 12,  attendance 100

@ Tilsley Park

Dunmore Road

Abingdon

OX14 1PU

?? Admission

Programme, only available as a download. Printed off as 26 pages, A4 size.

My first rugby league game of the season and where better to start than a battle between two hotbeds of the game…..Oxford and Hemel Hempstead !

I had already noted from the Oxford RL website that there would be no programme today, although it was available as a download, which defeats the object really. Arriving at the ground I was charged £3 to park my car. I then went round to the far side of the stadium to take a few photos, before taking my place in the stand. No evidence of any admission being charged and no one came round to collect any money, which seems odd at this level. Perhaps with such a poor crowd, they didn’t bother ? I don’t think there was even one away supporter here, which again was odd, as this is one of their nearest games. Is there really any point in these teams trying to take rugby league from the traditional northern heartland.

Despite plenty of rain, there was going to be no problem concerning the pitch, as it is 3G. It doesn’t look right when all the kits are still in pristine condition, rather than muddied up as the tackles go in.

Hemel both opened and closed the scoring today, but were woeful in between, as Oxford ran in 40 unanswered points. It was 24-6 at halftime and it took 19 minutes of the second half before they added to it.

Stockyards Championship Rodeo

Friday 1st April 2016

Start time 20.00

@ Cowtown Coliseum

121, East Exchange Avenue

Fort Worth, TX 76164

$17.50 admission

$3 Programme , 30 pages, plus schedule insert.

The Stockyards Championship Rodeo is held every week on Friday and Saturday evenings. It is not something I would watch regularly, but as a one off nights entertainment it was worth the trip.

The Cowtown Coliseum was built in 1908 and is part of the Fort Worth Stockyards. It was the first ever indoor arena to host rodeos in the U.S.A. It was refurbished in 1986 and has seating for 3,418, which all seemed to be sold tonight.

Formula 1 United States  Grand Prix

Sunday 25th October 2015

Race start time 14.00

@ Circuit of the Americas

9201 Circuit of the Americas Boulevard

Austin, TX 78617

$99 admission

Programme, yes, but didn’t bother at rip off price !

Car park had been booked, right next to our chosen corner for viewing the race, at an astronomical $75. However, a text message was received the evening before saying that the car park would not be open due to the rain of the last 2 days and we were to exchange our voucher for a shuttle bus journey from Austin city centre to the track, which was adding a couple of hours on the journey at each end. If that wasn’t bad enough, this option was a lot cheaper than we had paid, so a very expensive alternative. Despite e-mail correspondence this matter has never been resolved and just to really rub salt into the wounds, we arrived to find them using the car park we had booked as a $25 cash option on the day !

I had been brought up as a Rally fan, during the great days of the Audi Quattro, Peugeot 205 T16, Lancia Delta S4 et al so it seemed strange to be watching so called super cars driving past at speeds of 200 mph and thinking I could hear the next door neighbour mowing his lawn  or my wife drying her hair !

This is certainly a sport far better viewed from the comfort of your own home and without the feel of being ripped off at every opportunity they can.

The F1 race was preceded by the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race and the Masters Historic Race, both of which featured proper sounding engines, but as the rain only stopped 5 minutes ahead of the F1 sadly this meant the drivers in these races weren’t  able to push their cars to the limits.

As for the race……..a win for Lewis Hamilton saw him crowned as World Champion.

1. Lewis Hamilton….Mercedes

2. Nico Rosberg………Mercedes

3. Sebastien Vettel……Ferrari

4. Max Verstappen….Toro Rosso

5. Sergio Perez……Force India

6. Jenson Button…..McLaren

7. Carlos Sainz…….Toro Rosso

8. Pastor Maldonado…..Lotus

9. Felipe Nasr……Sauber

10. Daniel Ricciardo…….Red Bull Racing

The entertainment after the race was a concert by Elton John. Now, I am a fan of Elton and know a fair bit of his stuff, but when he started off with 6 of the first 7 songs unknown to me, then it was time to call it a day. Unfortunately everyone else seemed to have the same idea which meant a huge queue to get a bus back to Austin and pick up the car. We reached the car 3 hours later……..the same time as we could have driven the 200 miles back home from the car park we had originally booked !

Safe to say F1, this first time attendee at one of your events will not be returning for more.