365 Sporting Days
Sharing a passion for Sport!
On 25th September 2020 the worst thing happened to Police Sergeant Matt Ratana, he was shot dead inside a police custody facility in London. The New Zealand born officer had served 30 years in the force and was nearing retirement. Matt was born in the Hawke’s Bay Region and was of Maori descent. But he was so much more than […]
In late 2019, before Covid Life struck , I met with Joeri Peperkamp, the Founder of a project based on rugby and its values in Holland, aimed at helping young people onto a different path. At that time he was hoping to start the project in the UK after it had proved to be a success in his home country. […]
I was looking forward to a game of rugby union between England and Scotland A at Welford Road in Leicester, but woke up to news that the game had been cancelled due to positive Covid tests in the Scotland camp. London Skolars were away in Keighley, a long trek, but happily Broncos were at home. I bought a ticket for […]
I don’t quite know how to describe the weather for Round 7 of the cricket. Rugby weather might be the best way to put a name to the rain and wind that descended on most of the country. The first round of games since 2019 to see members allowed back meant warm, waterproofs were needed for those lucky enough to […]
Saracens Women play Loughborough Lightning for a place in the Final
Monday 17th May saw new freedoms in most of the UK, it also saw rugby at the renamed StoneX Stadium! I was one of the lucky season ticket holders to get my hands on a ticket. I couldn’t have been happier or more excited to be at a game of rugby, and I’ve been at some memorable occasions in the […]
We all knew the weather in April was too good to be true! And so those April showers have rocked up in April. The rain was the biggest winner overall sadly. Durham v Worcestershire – Emirates Riverside, Durham. Joe Leach won the toss for Worcestershire and put Durham in to bat. A win for Durham by 258 runs. Durham 246 […]
It’s been a torrid few weeks to be an England and Saracens fan, a time that started with such hope saw a crowd of us rock up at Allianz Park at 8am on a Saturday morning to watch England win the World Cup. That didn’t quite go to plan as South Africa pretty much did to us what we did to the All Blacks, perhaps Warren Gatland was right and England had put in their all in that astonishing semi-final. Losing Kyle Sinckler after 2 minutes didn’t help. But the match literally personified the rugby saying – The forwards decide who’s going to win the match, the backs by how much – England were out muscled from minute one. Although […]
This was one I couldn’t write while I was watching, the long awaited match between Pakistan and India. I drove up from Taunton through torrential rain, heading to Manchester a place renowned for rain at the best of times! Saturday evening was spent with some of my Stani Army friends at a restaurant in Wilmslow, Lal Qila followed by ice […]
Friday September 17th heralded the start of the new Premiership Rugby season and Saracens first game back after their exile due to Salary Cap breaches; I’ve written all about that so I’m not going to comment further. As I drove the 4 hours it took me to reach Bristol I wasn’t sure what to expect either on or off the […]
I found myself sat in the pavilion at The Oval for the first 2 days of the match between Surrey and Essex, so, that means it’s going to be photos from that match for you to digest. I took over 4000 over those 2 days with probably over 1500 of one Sir Alastair Cook, due to the fact that he […]
The start of September brought with it – SUMMER! Hallelujah! It also brought the second round of this new phase of the County Championship, with many members struggling to understand what on earth their new tables were telling them, that is if they could find them in the first place! It’s not been easy to find an explanation online – […]
The last round of Phase One of the County Championship finished on July 14th – Nearly 7 weeks later the second phase started on August 30th after a summer (of sorts) filled with white ball cricket, with Glamorgan taking the Royal London Cup home, with some test cricket thrown in. I wasn’t able to write up Round 12 at the […]
Due to other commitments this would be my last game at the New River Stadium, results wise it hasn’t been the best summer for Skolars, but I can honestly say I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my rugby league in 2021! Before this match Skolars had 3 wins from 14 and Cougars 7 from 14. Sadly, as a Skolars fan, this game went […]
After Armageddon style rain a day at the County Ground was on the cards. The day dawned early for me as I did my Mum’s taxi duties, and the weather was promising, it improved as game time got closer. Having been 38 for 3 against Durham, Alastair Cook and Josh Rymell had a much better start, with some classic ‘Cook […]
Another afternoon at the New River Stadium and another crazy, action filled game of rugby league, many of my rugby union fan friends are pretty dismissive of the ‘other code’ – most of course haven’t watched the game live! It was hard to keep up with everything in this match, as I was taking photos, making notes and tweeting, all […]
A second visit to the county ground in Chelmsford in a week, what a treat! The day promised no rain, which meant a bigger crowd than the one that came to watch Essex beat Middlesex. Tom Westley won the toss and put Worcs in to bat. With Sam Cook away with the Trent Rockets and Jamie Porter presumably injured the […]
Oh the absolute joy of being able to go to the County Ground and choose where to sit! I’d applied for every day possible but only been successful for the T20 match against Sussex. I travelled up to Derby to watch my first County Cricket for nearly 2 years only to find the match was abandoned. I had a lovely […]
These two teams played each other by way of a warm up match, with the home team scraping a win by 2 points. Things hadn’t gone too well in the season proper, with Raiders propping the league up and Skolars just one place above them. Skolars had 2 wins to their name, with one of those being against Raiders at […]
To my absolute delight I booked 2 days at Derby to watch Essex play Derbyshire, my first County Cricket for nearly 2 years! I rocked up to the ground at around 10am to be asked to sit in my car. The news at that time was that Derbyshire wanted the game abandoned due to ground conditions and that 2 officials […]
Round 10 saw my team Essex sit out as they’d planned to play an India team, Covid put paid to that, it also saw England having to put the whole squad picked to play Pakistan in an ODI series into quarantine after 7 people in the camp tested positive. That meant an opportunity for several uncapped players and most teams […]
At last I received the much awaited email to tell me I could go and watch my county, Essex play a game of cricket! The opposition were the Sussex Sharks, a very good white ball team, with a powerful bowling line up, missing Jofra Archer, but still full of speed. Also featuring 16 year old Archie Lenham who’d taken 3 […]
2 nights after watching Sussex beat Essex they were at my second Countu, Surrey. Both teams had a good start to the T20 Blast, having played 3 and won 3. Weather allowing one would lose that winning record. This was my second visit to the Oval since 2019 having been lucky enough to be at one of the trial days […]
Round 2 of the Championship play offs saw Saracens taking a 60 point lead into the game. With a prize of Premiership Rugby and European Challenge Cup Rugby on the line these 2 matches probably constituted the most important fixtures in Saracens’ history. Failure to make it back into the top league could see the club cease to exist in […]
The visitors for this match, Barrow sat unbeaten at the top of the league after going unbeaten in their 6 games. Skolars had been beaten by Hunslet the week before, with the visitors putting 62 on the board to Skolars 10, some score to come back from. A surprise inclusion on the Skolars team sheet was Head Coach, Jermaine Coleman, […]
