Rugby League, what a mistake

[voteronniegibbs 158]

1988/9 I got my 1st car, and took a mate to Wilderspool to watch Warrington v The Pride of Yorkshire, Castleford* 

* I knew Cas were the pride of Yorkshire because it said so on the sticker I'd put in the back window.

It must have taken 2 & 1/2 hours to get across the peak district from Nott'm via Chesterfield to Warrington.

I found a side street to park on and we walked up to the ground, as I'd never been before I said to the bloke on the turnstile " which is the Cas end?"

He said none..... we're playing Halifax today

[Bedfordshire Bronco 1,713]

4 minutes ago, voteronniegibbs said:

1988/9 I got my 1st car, and took a mate to Wilderspool to watch Warrington v The Pride of Yorkshire, Castleford* 

* I knew Cas were the pride of Yorkshire because it said so on the sticker I'd put in the back window.

It must have taken 2 & 1/2 hours to get across the peak district from Nott'm via Chesterfield to Warrington.

I found a side street to park on and we walked up to the ground, as I'd never been before I said to the bloke on the turnstile " which is the Cas end?"

He said none..... we're playing Halifax today

Well at least you lived to tell the tale chap

[voteronniegibbs 158]

5 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Well at least you lived to tell the tale chap

got out of Dodge on the 1st stage coach 

[Gooleboy 1,380]

Wilderspool was one of the most scary grounds to visit in the 70s. My team Featherstone, had many fierce battles with Warrington, A C.Cup QF there in 73 when we turned them over, in front of a hostile 15k crowd. They beat us at Wembley the year after, in a brutal Final. As well as the League fixtures we lost a Premiership Semi Final there in 1977 when we were Champions, in front of  another full house with a nasty atmosphere. With all these clashes players on both sides were often after retribution. Looking back, they were two top sides, but took no prisoners. A few years ago we played Warrington in the CC and the Warrington players surviving from the 74 Final were invited to Featherstone as guests along with our ex players. And even after 30 odd years there was still some fierce rivalry between them, especially Jimmy Thompson and Mike Nicholas, two very hard men.

[Adelaide Tiger 1,594]

Many moons ago I took my young daughter to watch Cas at Halifax and as I wasn’t sure of the way I followed another car with Cas supporters in it and we weaved our way through Halifax and parked up near the ground.

As we got out of the car an old bloke opened his front door and said ‘You here for the match?’ I said ‘Yep, where is the away end’ he said ‘At The Shay, this Thrum Hall’.

It was about 20 minutes to kick off and the car we followed had no idea where The Shay was.  The old man said that he could remember how to get their by car but couldn’t remember in detail every road we had to take.  So between us all in the two cars we all chipped in and paid for the bloke to get into the ground and the other car drove him home.

I am sure the old bloke must have done this before!

[17 stone giant 1,318]

8 hours ago, voteronniegibbs said:

He said none..... we're playing Halifax today

Did you go in and watch anyway, given that you were already there?

[Gooleboy 1,380]

This happened at Headingley several years ago, Chris Cowdrey at the time was the England Cricket Team Captain. It was the first day of the Headingley Test and he pulled up at the Car Park and the uniformed Attendant who had worked there for years asked who he was ". I am Chris Cowdrey the England Captain". The reply came, "that's what they all say, so sling your hook", and he was refused entry!.

[Robin Evans 4,430]

On 21/11/2020 at 21:21, voteronniegibbs said:

1988/9 I got my 1st car, and took a mate to Wilderspool to watch Warrington v The Pride of Yorkshire, Castleford* 

* I knew Cas were the pride of Yorkshire because it said so on the sticker I'd put in the back window.

It must have taken 2 & 1/2 hours to get across the peak district from Nott'm via Chesterfield to Warrington.

I found a side street to park on and we walked up to the ground, as I'd never been before I said to the bloke on the turnstile " which is the Cas end?"

He said none..... we're playing Halifax today

It was in the old first division. I had driven over to the the willows for the Salford game. We were a bit late setting off so got there about 2.40pm. I had the radio on for the rugby.... "and now we'll go to post office Road for team news of this afternoons clash between Featherstone  Rovers and Salford"!!!

 

Edited November 23, 2020 by Robin Evans

[Scubby 11,824]

In the late 1980s we were travelling to St Helens on a Sunday afternoon. Got reasonably close to the ground but felt a bit lost. Ended up behind a car with a Saints mini kit and stickers in the back window so decided to follow them. Followed them through a loads of streets before they turned up a little lane. Followed them up the lane until they pulled into their own drive on a cul-de-sac   .... they weren't going to the game (bloody part-time skint flints) but we were too embarrassed to ask them the way to the ground.

[Wiltshire Rhino 3,008]

This thread doesn't portray Northerners well.

[Jill Halfpenny fan 206]

Went to Headingley one Sunday, had the flying s**** on the morning of the game so took a swig of kaolin and morphine to bung me up.

Got to Headingley, parking up I reversed into one of those big concrete gate posts they have on the houses in the vicinity, my paintwork was still on it five years later.

Went the game, 18-0 down in about 10 mins and we went on to get dicked.

Never went on the loo for about 4 days.

Not my best Sunday.

 

[Oxford 5,011]

Being driven back from Yorkshire (foreign Country to the East a member of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by all accounts!) before't Motorway was a gleam in some politicians eye, in thick fog and heavy snow. Scene set The Salford Magic Sponge Man at the wheel peering through the windscreen at the two yards of visibility, when the sign says "Welcome to Yorkshire" So we turn around and a few miles down the road the sign says "Welcome to Yorkshire." In the hope of escaping this episode of the Twilight Zone we turned off that road and eventually entered Rochdale by their backdoor!

So when you're feeling like moaning cos you're stuck on't M62 like, think on!

Edited November 22, 2020 by Oxford

[Gooleboy 1,380]

I was at Headingley a couple of years ago in the Hospitality with work and they came round with the half time draw tickets. Everyone on the table bought some. After the game we got to know the winning number and we were all around it but didn't have the winner. Our Boss had left early as his team Wakefield were losing easy, so we guessed he had it and gave him a call. He was near his home in Wakefield and had screwed the ticket up and had pushed it in crack in the wall outside the ground. The prize was around £400, so he drove back to the ground and found the ticket, but it wasn't the winner! He really had the p*ss taken out of him on the following Monday at work.

[voteronniegibbs 158]

10 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

Did you go in and watch anyway, given that you were already there?

no mate, wasn't going to make the day any worse by throwing money at it as well

Edited November 22, 2020 by voteronniegibbs

[gavin7094 233]

Went by train from Leeds to Warrington for a league match sometime in the late 80s.  Fell asleep on the train and woke up in Liverpool.  Took the train back and arrived just in time to see fans coming away from the ground. 

It had been called off. 

[Chris22 1,353]

First time I went to Huddersfield was the 2005 Cup semi final, traffic awful on the way there. We had to pull over to allow the Saints team bus past, which was being given a police escort (as it was also running late, quite the omen). We eventually parked up and realised we had no change for the car park! Then, you could not pay for the car park by card. A very generous Hull FC fan paid for our parking (we're a good set of fans in this sport).

Saints got trounced. Despite most of our fans leaving early,  traffic was awful on the way home. We were behind a Saints fan, who took a different route. We assumed they knew a shortcut. Turns out they were from Sheffield and were taking a back route there. With hindsight, it took us far too long to realise this! It was a long way home, with a big diversion after a long and unsuccessful day!

Edited November 22, 2020 by Chris22

[glemiln 157]

10 hours ago, Oxford said:

entered Rochdale by their backdoor!

In the 60’s drove from Milnrow/Rochdale with friend to watch Hornets play Featherstone and entered the ground into an unusual sea of noise and red, white and blue. As the players came onto the pitch, we realised we were on Wakefield’s ground and hot footed through the turnstile for the onward journey to Fev and less red,white and blue.  Lost too! 

[Oxford 5,011]

22 hours ago, Gooleboy said:

I was at Headingley a couple of years ago in the Hospitality

Get you! There's always one name dropper!

Well I once had a sandwich in the players room after a match at the Willows (gets teary eyed here please look the other way a moment)

So beat that if you can Mr Hospitality! I put the winky man just in case, you never know what will upset folk.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Oxford

[Hopping Mad 1,074]

I remember, one mid-Eighties Christmas, being daft enough to believe the Boxing Day kick-off times in the Yorkshire Post.

Up visiting the folks, we arrived at Fartown for what we thought was a three o'clock fixture with Runcorn Highfield - only to be met by fans streaming down the drive. The game had started at 12.30.

A little later, on a first visit to HKR's new ground, I came up behind an HKR sticker-festooned car at traffic lights on the north edge of Hull. I thought 'great, I'll follow this guy to the ground'. We ended up in a labyrinthine housing estate. Turned out he was having a cup of tea at his mum's before the match.

Other cock-ups include...

In student days, travelling by train from Liverpool Lime Street to Swinton to watch a mid-Eighties Challenge Cup midweek evening replay with (IIRC) Leeds. Arrived to discover Station Road in darkness. The pitch was frozen. 

Pitching up at Hilton Park for a Leigh-Whitehaven game, just as the first of the home players were getting out of their cars. I'd forgotten about the clocks change. Doh.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Hopping Mad

[Harry Stottle 4,114]

On 21/11/2020 at 23:01, Gooleboy said:

Wilderspool was one of the most scary grounds to visit in the 70s. My team Featherstone, had many fierce battles with Warrington, A C.Cup QF there in 73 when we turned them over, in front of a hostile 15k crowd. They beat us at Wembley the year after, in a brutal Final. As well as the League fixtures we lost a Premiership Semi Final there in 1977 when we were Champions, in front of  another full house with a nasty atmosphere. With all these clashes players on both sides were often after retribution. Looking back, they were two top sides, but took no prisoners. A few years ago we played Warrington in the CC and the Warrington players surviving from the 74 Final were invited to Featherstone as guests along with our ex players. And even after 30 odd years there was still some fierce rivalry between them, especially Jimmy Thompson and Mike Nicholas, two very hard men.

It would have been 81/82 season my lad was 7 at the time and I drove over to watch Leigh at the Boulevard play Hull, it was drizzling so we went and stood under cover in the Th'penny stand, my lad had his cherry and white bob cap and scarf on and as it approched kick off, I was advised that it would be far safer if we went and stood somewhere else as it may not be safe in that position especially if Hull were losing.

Hull won 8 - 4, but we had the last laugh Leigh won the Championship a few weeks later Hull............ were 2nd.

[Manx RL 1,180]

On 22/11/2020 at 11:34, Wiltshire Rhino said:

This thread doesn't portray Northerners well.

Not just this thread, Notherners don't portray Northerns well in general

[Gooleboy 1,380]

2 hours ago, Oxford said:

Get you! There's always one name dropper!

Well I once had a sandwich in the players room after a match at the Willows (gets teary eyed here please look the other way a moment)

So beat that if you can Mr Hospitality! I put the winky man just in case, you never know what will upset folk.

Only one sandwich! With spending many years in the Brewery trade, I have been lucky enough to get to many games as long as it didn't clash with a Featherstone game.

[Gooleboy 1,380]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

It would have been 81/82 season my lad was 7 at the time and I drove over to watch Leigh at the Boulevard play Hull, it was drizzling so we went and stood under cover in the Th'penny stand, my lad had his cherry and white bob cap and scarf on and as it approched kick off, I was advised that it would be far safer if we went and stood somewhere else as it may not be safe in that position especially if Hull were losing.

Hull won 8 - 4, but we had the last laugh Leigh won the Championship a few weeks later Hull............ were 2nd.

Yes, the Boulevard could be intimidating enough without going into the Threppenny Stand as a visiting Supporter.

[Oxford 5,011]

1 hour ago, Gooleboy said:

Only one sandwich! With spending many years in the Brewery trade, I have been lucky enough to get to many games as long as it didn't clash with a Featherstone game.

Yes the players swooped when they saw the guests arrive and even standing next to the table didn't allow me rescue anything else. Besides I think that was only left behind because one of them didn't like the filling! There was no sense of family hold back about this.

It's alright for you brewery hangers on standing shoulder to shoulder with tory MPs and the stars.

 

[Gooleboy 1,380]

19 minutes ago, Oxford said:

Yes the players swooped when they saw the guests arrive and even standing next to the table didn't allow me rescue anything else. Besides I think that was only left behind because one of them didn't like the filling! There was no sense of family hold back about this.

It's alright for you brewery hangers on standing shoulder to shoulder with tory MPs and the stars.

 

You won't see me near any Tory MPs.