Rugby weekend
Sep. 17th, 2005 10:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chickenfeetThis week is week 13 of 14 of the Ontario league season. Today my club, the Nomads. play York Yeomen at their ground, The Moat in Claireville. This game will likely decide the division as currently we lead with 52 points and York are second with 49. No-one else is close. (This league uses the Super 12 scoring; win=4, draw=2 , bonus point for four tries or losing by less than 7). Both teams have easy draws next weekend. Thus, a draw today would pretty much seal it for us and even a close loss could, under some scenarios, be recovered.
So, under any circumstances this would be a big game with the prize being promotion to the top division. There are though several reasons why this game is likely to be particularly competitive. Both sides feel they have a natural right to be in the top flight. The Nomads have been there for most of their history and York were only dropped last season for technical reasons (failure to pay disciplinary fines). Which brings up reason two why this could be interesting. York have an appalling record for violent play. Many people believe they should have been thrown out of the league years ago but they haven't been. We are not the softest touch in the league either though considerably better behaved than York. Let's just say the atmosphere could be explosive. All in all, it's on days like these that I'm glad I've retired from competitive rugby.
York fans aren't any better than their players and have a reputation for intimidating officials. We are trying to counter this in two ways. Firstly we have asked the league to appoint three qualified officials for this game (normally at this level only the ref is appointed and the teams provide TJs) and, secondly, we have a supporters' bus travelling up to try and balance up the crowd a bit. Should be interesting.
Tomorrow I travel to Peterborough with the XLs for what should be a much friendlier and more relaxed affair. It's always physically tough playing Peterborough but in a good spirited sort of way. They also entertain rather well and I'm not driving!
So, under any circumstances this would be a big game with the prize being promotion to the top division. There are though several reasons why this game is likely to be particularly competitive. Both sides feel they have a natural right to be in the top flight. The Nomads have been there for most of their history and York were only dropped last season for technical reasons (failure to pay disciplinary fines). Which brings up reason two why this could be interesting. York have an appalling record for violent play. Many people believe they should have been thrown out of the league years ago but they haven't been. We are not the softest touch in the league either though considerably better behaved than York. Let's just say the atmosphere could be explosive. All in all, it's on days like these that I'm glad I've retired from competitive rugby.
York fans aren't any better than their players and have a reputation for intimidating officials. We are trying to counter this in two ways. Firstly we have asked the league to appoint three qualified officials for this game (normally at this level only the ref is appointed and the teams provide TJs) and, secondly, we have a supporters' bus travelling up to try and balance up the crowd a bit. Should be interesting.
Tomorrow I travel to Peterborough with the XLs for what should be a much friendlier and more relaxed affair. It's always physically tough playing Peterborough but in a good spirited sort of way. They also entertain rather well and I'm not driving!
