Travels with my Ostrich ....

[Ally]

Attendance 80?

Why Ossie? No interest or too cold?

Or lack of good food?

Fair play to you for going my good man...roll on Spring for better weather for you!

xx

[TheOstrich]

Romulus are the second worst supported club in that league, Ally. The average attendance this season is 99, the worst Carlton Town (Nottinghamshire) with 96. Even flippin' Market Drayton Town are averaging 111 ....

http://www.evostikleague.co.uk/match-in ... nce-tables

And you'll see Sutton Coldfield Town aren't doing very well in the Premier league, either. Basically, there's no real support for non-league football around here - it's all Blues or Villa .....

I would suspect Sutton Coldfield Rugby Club get higher attendances than either Sutton Coldfield Town or Romulus.

[Ally]

Romulus are the second worst supported club in that league, Ally. The average attendance this season is 99, the worst Carlton Town (Nottinghamshire) with 96. Even flippin' Market Drayton Town are averaging 111 ....

http://www.evostikleague.co.uk/match-in ... nce-tables

And you'll see Sutton Coldfield Town aren't doing very well in the Premier league, either. Basically, there's no real support for non-league football around here - it's all Blues or Villa .....

I would suspect Sutton Coldfield Rugby Club get higher attendances than either Sutton Coldfield Town or Romulus.

The way Villa have been playing this season I'd have been more tempted to go to a non-league game!!

[TheOstrich]

[Kaz]

That story about the plank has got me in stitches here

[TheOstrich]

Saturday 06/02/16 – Midland Intermediate Cup, no idea what round @ 14:15
Willenhall RUFC 12 Ledbury RUFC 20 abandoned on 55m after injury to player
Admission free, no programme. England Rugby draw tickets £2.
Refreshments: 2 ham buns and a J20 £4.20. .
Attendance: 27 (h/c).

A howling gale, pelting sleet, a new ground visited and two new teams seen – what more could you ask for?

The Ostrich’s first choice of rugby match on yet another Saturday with a multitude of games being postponed was the Intermediate Cup tie between Kings Norton vs Rugeley, but Kings Norton took to social media around 11:45 to declare the game off. However, looking at one of the few other fixtures in the area (it’s a 6 Nations weekend and there weren’t that many games scheduled), Ledbury had tweeted “all our three teams in action this afternoon”, so on the off-chance of their first XV cup tie surviving the weather, I phoned Willenhall’s clubhouse at 12:00 and got the barmaid who announced she was the only one on the premises, and had no idea whether the game was on or not! So with that rather dubious recommendation, the Ostrich set sail for the prosaically-named Bognop Road ground, which is situated on the outskirts of the village of Essington, travelling there via the now notorious Walsall ring road, north to Bloxwich, then B roads cross-country, although actually the venue isn’t a million miles from Junction 1 of the M54. But the Midlands motorways have been horrific this week as you’ve probably seen on the news, so I went the slow way.

I drove into a deserted club carpark, and got out of the car straight into the teeth of a raging wind, at which point an 8’ length of plastic guttering sheared off the clubhouse roof and crashed onto the tarmac in front of me! Too shocked to even squawk, the Ostrich stood there somewhat non-plussed before a Willenhall player emerged from the changing rooms and helped me move the debris to a more secure location.
“I assume it’s off, then,” I said, “I suppose the opposition haven’t come”
“Oh no,” he said “they’re here, we’re just waiting for the referee to turn up”.

So I wandered into the clubhouse bar to await events. An elderly guy came in 10 minutes later and asked generally “Is it on?”
“Dunno,” I said “we’re waiting for the referee.”
“I AM the referee,” he replied!
I asked him what he thought the prospects were (even though in rugby union, it’s ultimately the team captains’ decision whether a game starts, not the referee) and he told me he’d only intervene if it were dangerous – “if someone’s likely to sink or drown” as he put it!

One boggy patch on the main pitch was evidentially giving cause for concern, so it was agreed the game should go ahead on one of the three back pitches, the one furthest from the clubhouse, which although by far and away the most exposed to the elements, did have a slight slope to it, and was therefore draining reasonably well. Cue mad panic with the white-wash machine to hurriedly mark out the lines!

I can’t tell you much about Willenhall RUFC except they play nowhere near Willenhall, which is in the Black Country. They were founded in 1966 and have been a reasonably successful junior club over the years. They now ply their trade in Midlands 3 West (North) which is Level 8 in the rugby union pyramid. Herefordshire club Ledbury, on the other hand, play in Midlands 3 West (South), and I know even less about their history, despite googling!

We duly left the warmth of the cosy bar with its comfortable, plush velvet-cushioned benches, squelched our way round the back of the main pitch and up to the top pitch, and got underway more or less on time. The conditions were appalling. The constant gale was strong enough to leave us hardy spectators leaning drunkenly along with the corner-flags, and as the driving rain included the occasional burst of hail, it was a pretty testing affair. How the flightless Ostrich did not take wing in the frequent heavy gusts and disappear in the direction of Stafford, I do not know. None the less, on the pitch, Ledbury were straight through the home defence and in for a try under the posts which I timed at 51 seconds, and a penalty put them 0-10 in front on 10m. Two further tries for the away side, playing down the slope, including one glorious catch and mudslide over the line, before Willenhall hit back with a try of their own, made it 5-20 at the break.

With Willenhall then having the benefit of the slope in the second half, they scored a converted try on 44m to make it 12-20, but unfortunately a home player was accidentally knocked out cold during play shortly thereafter and the sensible decision was taken to bring the game to an end. So a thoroughly sodden Ostrich squelched back to car and made for home, heaters on at full blast.

Full credit to both teams for even attempting to play this match. I’ll certainly be looking to revisit this friendly club sometime, but hopefully in much pleasanter weather!

[Ally]

Gosh Ossie, that weather sounded appalling.
And what a close shave with that guttering!

at "I am the ref!"

Ossie...will they be able to play/accommodate all these matches that have been abandoned before the end of the season?

Thanks again for another great read...bet you were glad to get home to your nice warm nest.

[TheOstrich]

It was one of the worst matches for sustained atrocious conditions I've attended in a long while, Ally, but pride of place in the Bad Weather stakes has to go to Burntwood RUFC vs Edwardians RUFC, played on Saturday 25/01/2014. It was on this day that a vigorous, sharp little weather front hurtled across the Midlands from west to east and caused a tremendous amount of disruption and damage. Burntwood's ground is on the edge of Cannock Chase, and my notes at the time recorded:

"We’d been monitoring an oncoming storm on the horizon, and around kick-off the skies darkened eerily. A huge bolt of lightning over the ground presaged the onrushing back edge of the storm, and suddenly the wind rose dramatically – and we were pelted with horizontal hailstones! It was flippin’ painful, even through layers of clothing!! Referee Lee Chapman (Staffs) sensibly took the players off as the spectators fought their way back to the bar. After a nine minute delay, the worst of the storm having passed, the sides took to the field again, and Edwardians promptly put 8 points on the board via an E.4 try and E.10 penalty."

Now that was a memorable match ...... it was only about 50 yards from pitch to the sanctuary of clubhouse, but I now know how the early Antarctic explorers felt. Those hailstones were vicious enough to bruise the legs, even beneath the Ostrich's layer of feathers!

My notes on yesterday's match can be best described as paper mache ....

[Kaz]

You've got to admire that good old British grit. Whoever said the English like to take their pleasures sadly was probably stood on a touchline in the rain and freezing cold at the time

Glad you weren't hurt by that guttering, an hope the injured player was ok xxxx

[TheOstrich]

That guttering was indeed a bit of a , Kaz. It was only plastic but it could have done some damage if it had hit anyone. Luckily, at the time, I was the only person outside in the carpark.
I don't know about the injured player, regretably; neither side are that "regular" in posting on social media.

Ally, the fixtures pile-up is getting quite serious in some parts of the country; I understand that in the south-west, their local soccer league now has a backlog of over 100 games to rearrange. The "season" can be extended (with the FA's permission, I believe) but they really want everyone to finish by mid-May. In the past, I've known one of the local leagues around here turn a blind eye to games not being fulfilled.

Rugby union tends to have smaller leagues and more "blank" Saturdays which can be used to re-stage games, but the RFU traditionally insist that everything must be wrapped up by the end of April. Again, it's not unusual that some league fixtures remain unplayed. This game last Saturday is a bit of a different kettle of fish, as it was a cup tie, and the eventual winners of the Midland Intermediate Cup go on to join the winners of the three other "regions" in a knock-out that culminates with a final played at Twickenham. So there is pressure to complete matches. I don't know if Saturday's game will be replayed or it be ruled that the score will "stand"; if it is going to be replayed, it'd have to be on 27th February, I think. All will probably become clear as (and when! ) the RFU get around to updating their Fixtures and Results website. Last Saturday's game is currently shown on there as "postponed", when in fact it was technically "abandoned" ....

Next week's weather forecast continues to be lousy ......