Crosfields V Clock Face Miners Saturday 16Th March 2019 Crosfields ARLFC - Club Officials
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Kingstone Press National Conference League Division Two Crosfields V Clock Face Miners Saturday 16th March 2019 Crosfields ARLFC - Club Officials Life President Colin Webb Vice Presidents Pat Gibbons, Annette Parker, Tony Parker, Neil Stephenson Chair Mike Donnison Secretary Tony Parker Committee Dominic Caswell, Chris Hull, Matt Mahoney, Annette Parker, Steve Pickersgill Head Coach Ian Boden Assistants Chris Hull, Matt Wilson Alliance Coach Andrew “Franco” Campbell Assistant Lou Walsh Junior Section Chair Lewis Worthington Secretary Kate Hall Treasurer Jeanette Buller Subs Secretary Jackie Thomason Welfare Officer Tammy Smith Crosfields ARLFC - Welcome Good afternoon and a warm welcome to Crosfields ARLFC at the Webb Security Recreation Ground, for the opening game of the 2019 season. Today, we welcome the players, supporters and officials from Clock Face Miners, for today’s Kingstone Press NCL Division Two Round Three game. Clock Face Miners were promoted last season through the play-offs, beating Woolston Rovers at home 19-6, then beating Millom away 12-16. This season’s opening game was away at relegated Shaw Cross Sharks and , despite scoring four tries apiece, Clock went down 24-16, with Luke Leyden scoring a hat-trick of tries and Karl Hunt the other, with Webster tagging on two conversions. Last week, Clock’s opposition were in the Coral Challenge Cup, so found themselves with a blank weekend. Crosfields opened the season with a good victory over Bradford Dudley Hill, with Nathan Taylor picking up a hat-trick, with Luke Walker, Jack Reid and Hayden James also crossing. Reid added 5 goals and Jack Lewis slotted a drop goal. Last week however, we were below the level we expect to be at and went down 33-16 at Askam. Taylor, Walker and John Whittaker crossed for tries, with Walker and Reid adding conversions. This year marks the 30th Anniversary of Crosfields winning the BNFL BARLA National Cup. Throughout the season, we will take trips down memory lane to celebrate the achievement and will hold a special re-union day, towards the middle of the season. Today, Round One, Crosfields v Jubilee (Featherstone). There will be a minute’s silence before today’s kick off, in memory of Paul Hodgkinson, who we tragically lost last year. Paul would have been 50 years old today. Our Sponsor Focus today is on Anthony’s Travel, who have provided coaches for our away games for over 5 years and their service has been excellent. I thank Richard and his team and all our sponsors, for their continued support. We continue to be challenged by the junior and youth leagues fixture programme. Last week we had just two home games, but tomorrow we have 9. Extra work for the kitchen and bar staff, but we’ve already shown we can cope by hosting ELEVEN games two weeks ago. ☺ Good luck to everyone involved today. Yours in Sport Mike Donnison Crosfields ARLFC – Next at the Webb Security Recreation Ground Sunday 17th March 2019 9:30am - U7s v Rylands 9:30am - U8s Adders v Leigh East 10:00am - U10s Cobras v Blackbrook 10:30am - U15s v Belle Vue 10:30am - U12s Cobras v Ince Rose Bridge 11:00am - U8s Cobras v Blackbrook 11:15am - U11s Cobras v Wigan Spring View 11:45am - U16s v Chorley 11:45am - U13s v Saddleworth Saturday 23rd March 2019 NWML Division Three 2:30pm Alliance v Wigan Bulldogs Saturday 30th March 2019 Kingston Press NCL Division Two 2:30pm Crosfields v Hull Dockers Crosfields ARLFC – In My View, by Phil Hodgson THERE are occasions when, on seeing a scoreline in a paper or on a website, you’re almost forced into a `double-take’, wondering whether your eyes have deceived you. That happened to me on Saturday night when I checked on the result in the BetFred Super League clash between Catalans Dragons and Salford Red Devils. I’d been covering the Coral Challenge Cup tie between Hunslet and West Bowling (who performed really well, despite the 56-10 scoreline, incidentally) and had been travelling home - to my, desk to deal with other Cup, plus BARLA National Cup and Kingstone Press National Conference League reports – while the match was being screened live on Sky, so I’d no idea about who had won. I’d have fancied the Dragons beforehand, to be honest, although I wouldn’t have been surprised by a Salford victory. But 46-0? Never in a million years would I have anticipated a margin of that magnitude, especially as the Frenchmen had done so well in edging Warrington Wolves the previous week, while the Red Devils had come off very much second best against St Helens. Perhaps those two games were a factor in the scoreline in Perpignan. Mindset is so important in sport, and there were hints in one or two reports I’ve read that the Dragons took victory for granted. On closer inspection, though, there seems to have been little between the sides until close to half-time when Salford, having notched an early try, suddenly began to cut loose. On that basis it seems that the Red Devils may more have grown into the game than given Catalans a shock, although the Dragons will certainly have been stunned in the end. Whenever I see results such as those I’m reminded of a surprising scoreline from yesteryear. One was from way before my time, in the 1953-54 season, when Liverpool City hosted Warrington in a league match. This was in the era of a 30-team single league. City, as usual, were near the bottom of the table, while the Wire would finish the season with three major trophies, lifting the Challenge Cup, the Championship and the Lancashire League. Indeed, if they’d managed to win the Lancashire Cup they’d have joined Hunslet, Huddersfield and Swinton in pulling off the magnificent All Four Cups feat. Liverpool that day, though, were no respecters of reputations. Warrington returned from Knotty Ash humbled by a 5-2 defeat. Keith Macklin, in his superb book `The Rugby League Game’ recounted: “The reaction to the result in Warrington was as humorous as it was predictable. When the football editions of the newspapers appeared on the streets stay-at-home supporters bought a paper, looked twice at the result, then went back to the newsboy and bought another paper, convinced there had been a misprint. “It was a great moment for Rugby League, for nothing is more tedious than the foregone conclusion.” That’s how the scoreline in France, if not the result itself, will always resonate with me. Crosfields ARLFC – NCL Sponsors Crosfields ARLFC – Round One Saturday 2nd March 2019 - Crosfields 33 Bradford Dudley Hill 20 Crosfields opened the 2019 campaign with an excellent victory against Bradford Dudley Hill at the Webb Security Recreation Ground. It looked like it was going to be Crosfields’ day from the first set. Luke Walker chipped through on the fourth tackle. The visitors full back seemed to have the ball covered, but slipped at the crucial moment and Walker followed up, hacking the ball on and winning the race to touch down. Jack Reid converted for a lead of 6-nil. BDH immediately put pressure on Crosfields, who were working the ball out from their own line. Reid spotted an opportunity and his long pass found Walker, who broke through the opposition line, racing to the half way, before drawing the full-back and feeding Nathan Taylor to sprint the last 50 metres for the try. Reid converted and Crosfields were looking good at 12-nil. BDH recovered well with their big pack driving hard, but it was quick hands to the wing, which saw Damian Smith go over in the corner. The first penalty of the game gave BDH possession and position to mount another attack, which brought the reward, with a similar play moving the ball wide for Martin Southwell to touch down in the corner. Kyle Bateman converted superbly from the touchline, to reduce the arrears at 12-10. Crosfields put themselves on the back foot, when conceding penalties, giving BDH three consecutive sets to the Crosfields line and the defence was eventually broken, when Seb Russo went over from acting half to put his in front 12-14. Reid steady the ship again for Crosfields, working with the forwards to push the play deep into opposition territory, then caught out the defence with a dummy, to go over Luke Walker for a try and to regain the lead for his side at 16-14. The bigger BDH pack tired towards the end of the first half and John Whittaker made a great break to set Crosfields up for another attack. Reid chipped through to the corner were Taylor was on hand to score. Minutes later the home side were over again. A steady set from the pack took the team into the opposition half. Reid’s towering up and under, split the full-back and wing, who unfortunately for BDH both attacked the ball, knocking each other over, for Taylor to pick up the loose ball to score. Reid converted for a half time lead of 26- 14. The half time rest was welcome relief for BDH and they started the brighter of the two sides after the break. The pack worked hard to take the play deep into Crosfields’ half, then a grubber to the corner was pounced upon by Smith for his second, whilst Bateman converted again from the touchline to get within one score of the home side at 26-20. Crosfields looked to be on the scoresheet next, only for them to be pulled back for offside.