365 Sporting Days

After watching one of my rugby league teams lose by just the 82 points I was very much looking forward to seeing London Broncos get a win.  Well, I was hoping that would be the case anyway!
 

Having had a taste of Spring on the Saturday, Sunday morning was glorious in Chelmsford!  I dressed accordingly and took Shirley (yes that’s a dog) for a walk before I left.

And this is where a schoolgirl error came in – it is generally a good idea to check the weather forecast when going to sport – well outdoor sport anyway!

I had a pretty decent drive to The Hive – still moaning to myself about all the 3rd land drivers!  Why???  There is no glass honestly  you are allowed in the 2 inside lanes!  When I arrived – the sun had departed!  I was in for a chilly afternoon!

I met my Broncos friend Shaun, having been able to get him a ‘bring-a-friend’ ticket and we headed for the bar.  One thing that is refreshing at The Hive is the food offering – I can’t give prices the time – but I can recommend lunch before the game.  I had a cheese and ham baguette and very nice it was too!
 

The bar area is, let’s think of a word, convivial I’d say.  Decent, comfy leather sofas, decent food, big screens and for those that want it, beer etc on tap.

One nice thing about a small crowd is that you get to know people, and often to a degree through Twitter meeting fans of the opposition team.  We all have one thing in common, a passion for our team and also for the game of rugby league as a whole!

London Broncos had faced some trauma with the delightful Joey Grima leaving the club during the week before the game.  I don’t think I’ve met such a sunny character before – I wish him so much luck in whatever he does next!

Andrew Henderson had taken over, a man with a huge depth of experience when it comes to playing the game playing in both the Superleague and the Australian Premier League.

It was going to be interesting to see how Broncos fared with 2 losses and a win behind them.   Workington Town with a fixture less had a win and a loss to their name.

I am going to write a full match report so I’m not going to write too much here.  The game was very enjoyable, both teams played some good rugby.

One thing I’ve noticed about myself at the league is that I behave totally differently, wow I had a bit of a sore throat before the end of the match.  It’s not that I don’t shout at union – but boy I yell at league!  Maybe because in general it’s a much quicker game?

I’m already noticing that some big names are turning up in Championship teams, but I was pretty surprised to see Logan Tomkins playing in a Workington shirt.  Several players shone during the day – he was most certainly one of them!

More detail to come on the game – but, one controversial comment that may upset my fellow Broncos fans – in my opinion the final try of the game scored by Iliess Macani was held up, not a try at all.  I can fully understand why the Workington players were perturbed!

The game finished with a good victory for the home team – London Broncos 34 Workington Town 16.  A reasonable gap that was possibly unfair on the visitors, they had many positives to take from the game.

As a Broncos fan I am going to confess I was delighted by the win – we had just the one last season, beating Leeds – you would have thought we’d won the league!

I left the ground hopeful that the 2015 season will see more than a few wins!  A quick getaway to get back to see my son on his birthday, with fixture clashes it’ll be a while until I see Broncos again.

The journey home was a smooth one – yes, still with the middle lane huggers!  Favourite music on the journey was:  Beyonce – Love on Top – I sang every word at the top of my voice! Naturally!

A few facts – more to come next time

• Cost of Ticket       Season Ticket £174.00
• Cost of Parking                 £    5.00
• Estrella (what is it?)          £    4.00
• Becks Vier                          £     3.80
• Strongbow                        £      3.90
• Soft Drinks                       £      2.00
• Ladies toilets – plenty of them, soap, but only one drier – a snag with 5 people to dry their hands!
• Safety – no problem at all, a safe environment

It was much more entertaining to watch a competitive game of rugby league, it’s going to be a tough year in the Championship for every team, it’s a much grittier league if that makes sense?  Looking forward to it!