When Hull’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2017 was announced
as being successful there was some ridicule from the Metropolitan Elite. It wasn’t confined to London and the South
East, even further North there was some scoffing but probably of the more good-
natured sort. Ironically much of the criticism
and putting down of the city comes from people who have never been here. Hull is a city of culture though and I am
confident that we shall show the rest of the UK what they are missing. It is also a great city of sport with Hull
City top of the Championship and two teams in Rugby League’s Superleague. Whilst they have not sampled much by way of
success and trophies they have vociferous and loyal supporters.
Forty years ago I was rugby league mad going to all Hull
Kingston Rovers home games and away games when we could organise transport, not
easy without a car. This phase went on
until a disastrous challenge cup final defeat against Castleford in 1986. By then teams were changing from being mainly
local lads to a mix of players from all over the North, Australia and New
Zealand and more seemed to be playing for themselves (and the cash) than the
shirt. Work and studying for
professional exams started to get in the way and so I felt if it didn’t really
matter to them then it didn’t matter to me.
Perhaps that was petulance on my part in not moving with the times. I did occasionally go but I’d lost the bug.
Financial problems then came and the plan became to sell
Craven Park the ramshackle but full of character ground on Holderness Road to
the Co-op so they could build a supermarket and relocate to a new ground off
Preston Road. Funnily enough the location was my old Greatfield High School
playing field. The ‘New Craven Park’ or
to give it its official posh title the ‘KC Lightsteam Stadium’ was opened in
1989. This coincided with a poor period
on field but a lot of hard work Superleague status was achieved in 2007.
In the 30 years that have passed since I was last a regular
match goer the game has changed significantly and in my opinion often not for
the better. The scrum is a joke and
there seems to have been a switch from skill, guile and technique to more power
and pure athleticism. Steveo and Eddie
do over do the flogging of the game on Sky, largely by going on about how
brilliant Wigan are, but I decided to bury the hatchet this season and get a
season ticket.
Today is the first game of the season and seemingly fitting
that it should be against Castleford who we gave Wembley victory to on that day
30 years ago.
Before kick-off Andy Bell or Erasure fame came on pitch to
sing Respect, the song of theirs which was covered as the official Hull Kingston
Rovers Wembley song. He gave a spirited
rendition in the cold weather and was well received by both sets of fans. Again the 30 year theme coming back with
Erasure just starting to become a big time act around then.
The first half started fairly evenly. Then around ten minutes in the rain started
and the swirling wind made conditions very difficult. My local school days knowledge told me that
the wind tends to blow in a Northerly direction and this played a part in my
seat selection in the North Stand, row J.
Sure enough the wind blew the rain in under the roof but it didn’t quite
reach row J! On field Castleford were
coping better and Solomona went in after a neat move and the try was
converted. Rovers on the whole tackled
well but were making too many errors.
They did persevere though and Donaldson force over just before
half time. Mantellato added the
extras and they went in 6-6 at half time.
Time for a reviver!
As it was a special day I had a wee dram of something special in my
pocket; Clynelish 14yo. Not a whisky you see often in supermarkets
and one not easy to get much south of £40 a bottle. Just the sort of thing you need on a cold
day! The taste is vanilla with hints of
citrus and a spicy finish but little or no peat.
The second half started badly for Rovers with a string of
mistakes leading to a simple try for Webster a former Red n White himself. The suitably named Gale added the conversion
and Castleford were 6 points up again.
Rovers battled on and were rewarded when a good passing move put Mantellato
in at the corner but he failed to add the extra 2 points. Castleford remained the better side but
Rovers tackled well and put up dogged resistance until Webster went in for a
second but this time the conversion was missed.
The 6 point lead restored. Then
perhaps the key moment came when Solomona tried to barge his way over for
Castleford from a short way out and was held up well by Cockayne who had previously
made costly errors in the match.
Rovers looked tired and disorganised but there was still a
few minutes to salvage something from the game. That happened with little more than a couple
of minutes to go when Mantellato was sent in at the corner for his
second. As he was teeing up his
conversion the klaxon went so he had this kick to salvage a point; which he
did. A point stolen by Rovers and a
point carelessly thrown away by Castleford.
The conditions prevented it from being a great game but it proved to be
one with some drama.
So what do I conclude from the match?
Poor game management continues. On what was a tight match both teams had many
chances to drop a goal which would have proved the winner but neither even
attempted one.
Rovers need to work on cutting out the errors and trying to
speed play up, though the Referee Mr Silverwood didn’t help by being very
lenient on Castleford’s holding down in the tackle something he didn’t allow by
Rovers. He remains frustratingly
inconsistent.
Sometimes even stealing a draw can feel like a victory!
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Hull KR (6) 16
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Tries: Donaldson, Mantellato 2 Goals: Mantellato 2
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Castleford (6) 16
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Tries: Solomona, Webster 2 Goals: Gale 2
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Teams
Hull KR: Sio; Cockayne, Minns,
Thornley, Mantellato; Blair, Kelly; Tilse, Lawler, Allgood, Horne, Clarkson,
Greenwood. Replacements: Mulhern, Donaldson, Green,
Boudebza.
Castleford Tigers: Dorn; Monaghan, Crooks, Shenton, Solomona; Roberts, Gale;
Millington, McShane, Cook, Holmes, McMeeken, Jewitt. Replacements: Boyle, Milner, Moors,
Webster.
Attendance:
11,011
Links:
BBC (thanks for the team details) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/35475053
Hull Kingston Rovers http://www.hullkr.co.uk/
Castleford Tigers http://www.castigers.com/
