View from the Cemetery

Another very decent week for RCA, despite mounting injury and unavailability problems. A good win down at Thornaby I am told, with the Teessiders belying their lowly league position with a very spirited performance which stretched us to the limit before we managed to squeeze out the win. Followed by a big day out in Gateshead for the FA Cup match at our old rivals Dunston. Not a classic by all accounts but on paper a very good draw, and a chance to finish the job on Wednesday night. Swaz came up with a demon plan to stop Pagey playing which worked fairly well, unless he just felt guilty about deserting his old mates for the bright lights of the big city. I never knew he was such a fan of long bus rides.

Anyway on we go, ten games into the season and you really can’t complain. Elsewhere Stockton are going like trains, Hebburn are doing as well as expected, despite the odd blip, and Consett are not quite living up to the pre season hype. Billy Town are doing very well and both Northallerton and Thornaby look capable of making a fist of it over the season. So, a good season building up, no easy games and lots and lots of them. I’m not sure the idea of the four group games in the Mitre Brooks Mileson League Cup will end up looking like such a good idea as the winter draws on though. RCA are already looking at a minimum of forty nine games this season, probably and hopefully more, and that sounds more than plenty to me.

Some of you may be under the impression that in my last column I expressed the view that the Ashes would be all over by last Saturday night, and that moreover the only good batsman between the two sides was one of them Aussies, and he wasn’t playing. This was clearly a printer’s error, nothing to do with me, and I can only apologise on his behalf; the man knows nothing.

The best two batsmen are of course English, the lad Stokes and the imperturbable Jack Leach. Jack carefully cleaning his glasses before facing some maniac Aussie with a deadly missile in his hand has to be one of the sports images of all time. And it was some knock by Ben Stokes to be fair, and according to the press, signals the revivial of Test cricket, and proof that bashing the ball to all corners willy nilly as in Twenty20 is not the only way to go. They may be right, but I am bound to point out that bashing it to all corners is just what young Ben was doing. 

I had a quick count up this week of the number and variety of North East Counties League teams we have played in the last few years. Silsden, Liversedge, AFC Mansfield, Bridlington (many times), Handsworth, Garforth, Selby, Hall Road Rangers, Tadcaster and no doubt a couple I’ve forget, Keith will remind me, and of course Hemsworth MW. A good few memorable trips amongst them, including the quaint ground and clubhouse at Liversedge, where the barman struggled with the beer, and conversely the fine beer in the pubs adjacent to Silsden and their remarkably good ground and clubhouse, built up from scratch over many years. The very tight Vase win at Mansfield, last minute home wins against Bridlington, and the splendid victory on a great night here in Ryhope over a very highly rated Garforth team. Yes, some good old memories there alright.

I guess I’m like a lot of people looking at the draws for the FA Cup and later the Vase when they first come out, not sure what I want. A winnable game at home with no travelling and home for tea, or a good bus trip with an early start, blind cards on the journey, new sights and sounds and hopefully a raucous ride back with a few pints somewhere on the way. Of course I’ve only heard about those, what with being somewhat static, but even so travel broadens the mind, even if it is other people’s travel. Yes, I think on balance when you find you potentially have a couple of FA Cup games at home it’s a bit deflating. Don’t suppose a replay up the Colliery counts as travel really. By all accounts we played well for a long time up the road, should have had the game well won, and then were hanging on and maybe lucky to pinch it at the death. That’s FA Cup football though.

Well, that was a week and a half wasn’t it? Great, but sad day last Saturday, and a fantastic turn out by the people of Ryhope and the friends, the many friends, of Richie to support his family in their grief. Understandably the game took second place on the day, and it was probably only right that it ended in a draw, it wasn’t a day for winners and losers. The replay took a while to catch light, and was another very tight affair, with RCA probably the better side for the first seventy minutes and the CW coming on strong at the end, and the last few minutes not for the faint hearted. I’m pleased RCA won, but you had to feel for the CW, who continue their steady improvement of the past couple of seasons and will feel they should have won it with that penalty. And we only have to do it a minimum of another three times this season. Can we stand the pressure? Only a fortnight since the start and it feels like a lifetime already.

The season always starts with a rush in August, today is our third game, with two more to come next week, and in total eight by the end of the month. A very early make or break time, particularly with the FA Cup, which carries good rewards nowadays, as well as excitement, publicity and sometimes a decent away trip or two into the strange lands of Yorkshire or Lancashire. And a repeat of last season’s FA Cup derby game today. How unlikely is that? The first of at least four RCA v CW derby matches this season.

A very good start last Saturday against a strong North Shields side despite missing a few lads with holidays etc, but that gave the chance for a couple of good debuts by Max Allen and Henry Dorward, fine footballers names, and promising performances. The North Shields Ultras were out in their usual throng, noisy and giving the officials a hard time, as well as enjoying lively discussions with the locals about the current and new laws; but largely behaved themselves, and certainly did their bit for takings in the clubhouse. They were a good deal quieter as they left mind. Canny lads really.

So that’s that for the season of minority sports, or summer as it is sometimes known. The annual two week tennis season produced an epic final between two of the old stagers in Djokovic and Federer, which unfortunately clashed with an equally epic cricket world cup final. I didn’t see either as I was on my travels, but it seemed a daft bit of scheduling to me. Still, at least England won the cricket, principally thanks to the New Zealand boy they had playing for them as it happens.

All done and dusted by five tonight, and you can all enjoy a few months of summer, while the groundstaff of Graham, Dave and George graft on the pitch. No doubt it will look a picture come August. They love it really, and where would we be without them? They can be a bit grumpy at times, but they are priceless. Anyway, been a cracking season, with a lot of ups and a few downs, so for this final View of 2018/19 I thought I would give you the benefit of my review of the highlights and lowlights of the year.

Best games for me? Well, the trips in the FA Cup and Vase to Clitheroe and Garstang will not be forgotten in a while, great fun and plenty of goals, not to mention a decent pub or two, and that last five minutes down at Clitheroe was something else. And the win in the mist at Shildon, which has been a long time coming, or so it seems it to me. It was fantastic to finally break our Shildon hoodoo with good wins in both the Vase and League, and both away as well. We continued our habit of often being better away from home than at Meadow Park, or it seemed that way to me. Just one of those things I think, but it is striking how often it has been the case over the past few years, and this season was no exception. Good wins as well against Consett, Bishops and Hebburn, with that first twenty minutes against Hebburn at Meadow Park maybe the best we played all year. All three clubs have had great seasons, which makes the wins special, and of course there was  the memorable win over Sunderland AFC in the County Cup, which always looks good on the CV. 

Well, I didn’t expect us to lose at Guisborough! By my reckoning that makes it ten points dropped this season against the sides that are likely to make up the bottom three at the finish. As inexplicable as you can get, especially when contrasted with our good form against the top sides. It’s a funny game alright. Still, it’s a good season whatever happens now, and hopefully next year we will have fewer injuries to contend with. I think that has been a big factor, just seems like it’s been hard to get settled very often.

Congratulations to Dunston on winning the league and heading up to the Evostik East for next season. They have been clearly the best team, and they have the structure to progress further through the divisions. And they are good lads as well, so the very best of luck to them. I am tempted to add congratulations on winning their League next season as well, because I reckon they will be well deserved red hot favourites to follow Morpeth and Shields straight through to the Evostik Premier. Maybe it will be us next!