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| The Dentists Diary - 122nd |
Firstly let me say here and now that I did not go to Caravan Park yesterday. Call me disloyal or whatever you want, but although I have dragged the family backwards and forwards across the Pennines to away game throughout the season, I could just not face it!!
I have experienced just two games from the South end of the Vomitarium and that was enough for me, well that, and having the prices to get in hiked from the usual £10 to £17. What a rip off. It did though give me an opportunity to listen to David Doyle Davidson and Rob Chadwick (Who, in my opinion, I have to admit, is coming on as a commentator). After 5 minutes of the other lot, and what I at least perceive as their obvious red and white leanings, I along with, no doubt, many other FC supporters who did not go to the game, tuned into KCFM.
The coverage was good and honest as far as DDD was concerned when he repeatedly said that it was a “Shocking performance by Hull FC”. I was not surprised that Richard Horne was left out, although Gareth Carvell, being withdraw with a groin strain could have been more the result of him side stepping his way through the tables at the player of the year event on Tuesday with a pint in his hand!! We have to get rid there, and free up some cash!
I was also pleased that Webster made his debut and that it would appear that the club is keen to sign him up for next season! He was no messiah yesterday, but as I understand it, Superman would have been hard pressed to attain that status behind our pack! The continued absence of Kingy is an interesting one, I thought he was fit, well, fit enough at least for a run out in the final game! I say interesting particularly if you believe the rumours about him having to catch a bus to the Stadium from the Wembley hotel last weekend!
The bench was for me bemusing though, and again, as last week, I have to question Agar’s selections. Why not play Scott Wheeldon, he missed out on Wembley and would no doubt be keen to impress his new employer’s, then there is Mike Burnett who would also bring some fresh legs, strange team selections aren’t they? I am starting to get worried about the teams we are actually putting out there!!!
As I see it in the cold light of Monday Morning there are three things still going for us, firstly, We have Carvell, and I would get rid straight away, never mind a transfer fee, just get rid, and spend the £120,000 on a couple of big young forwards!! Then I would make Michael Crocker club captain from the off. With no "Friends" and Baggage he will see the problems and get stuck into them, (it is said in some quarters in Australia) that he broke the wrist of one colleague when he tackled him in training, because said player was not pulling his weight!! Then finally I would welcome John Sharp with open arms, he does not accept anything but 100% and he must start (tough) as he means to go on!!!
However for me the main problem is still that we have too many players who have already re signed for next season, who do not seem to want it badly enough and definitely not as much as we the fans do!!!! We need more Motu Tony’s, Briscoes, Yeamo’s, Raynor’s and Berrigans who, whatever else they do, go out on the field intent on causing problems and getting at the opposition!! True they make mistakes, but their attitude is spot on, and they give their all, every game, you can see it in their faces! For me sadly many of the others don’t have that passion. The thing I fail to see however, now that we have most of our squad signed up, is what we can do about it for next season!!
Someone on a message board said it was the worse season for 20 years, who have they been watching in the past, the Dobbins??? I still think it was dire, but I have know a lot worse situations at the club, in the 60’s, 70’s and in his case the late 90’s, but what is so galling is that we have gone from hero’s to zero’s in just one season! That’s the hard bit for me! People will call it a temporary blip but with all the other clubs improving, it is certainly much more than that!!! I think that we can waive goodbye to 13,000 gates next year, unless we see a real renaissance at the club during the closed season, and with the staff we already have contracted that is very unlikely indeed!!
I love my club, and want to be positive, but right now I cannot see much light at the end of the tunnel for next year or indeed the near future!! The players, well the majority of them, are off to Magaluf today and probably care little for us lot facing watching other clubs in the play-offs, and a close season of wondering!! Well that’s how it looks to me at present anyway! With the credit crunch gaining momentum, and season passes going on sale, there will be many fans who will be keeping their hard earned in their pockets until they see exactly what is happening!!!
So to the past week and I enjoyed attending the player of the season awards last Tuesday night at the KC and it was, by enlarge another good night! I have, for many years, avoided these types of things like the plague, classing them rather like the practise of watching home games from corporate boxes. That is to say, more for the hoy palloy and not really for an average fan who prefers to watch games with his pals in the East Stand, and judge his players of the season with his mates in the Pub. However in the spirit of being able to report in the diary just what went on, and also to see just how “The other half live” I have attended for the last two years!
It was good fun and also a tad humbling when it came to one particular award because the presentation of a special momento to Matt Sing on his retirement from the game was quite touching for this supporter. Matt is a man of few words, but on the night he really spoke from the heart about the fans, the players and the memories he will take from our great club. He said that the scariest thing was the fact that he was returning home, not knowing quite what he was going to do! He said he hoped to join the Fire Brigade in Brisbane but said very reflectively, “ Come Christmas I will be up, ready and raring to go for pre season training again but sadly I won’t have a contract!” We may not have seen the best of Matt Sing in the two years he has been with us, but he has always given his all and is certainly a great and very sincere guy!!
It was also good to see Lee Jenkinson our Retail manager receiving the “Club man of the year” award too. I have waxed lyrical on many occasion’s about the great progress our retail operation has made, not because I am particularly friendly with the staff, but simply because I have watched their progress over the months and years and their success has been phenomenal!!! To take well over £1m this year is just amazing and something that Lee and of course his staff should be recognised for!!! It was therefore, I felt, fitting that he receive the award!!
Last season, 2007, was pretty successful in his area, and Lee could have sat back and enjoyed that this time around. However instead he has travelled to exhibitions and to some of the top soccer clubs in the country in search of “Best Practise” and to see what others do, all in an effort to constantly improve our own operation. Something which has now really paid off!! I was really pleased for him!
The rest of the awards were pretty predictable, however I was pleased to see Tom Lynch rewarded for a great season, and for his own personal perseverance, when he received the Reserve team player of the year award for some superb performances in the Under 21’s. Tom has been around the club for 5 years now, and has only just really come to prominence this year. His powerful performances at prop have made him one of my personal favourites and perhaps he should get a full time contract this year! He is a sensible and modest kid too! He is currently at University studying Chemistry, something he just casually shrugged off when Eddie Hemmings mentioned it!! Tom said, “Chemistry’s no big deal really Eddie” to which Eddie replied, “It is if you give someone the wrong tablets”. Well done Tom.
Talking of the infamous Sky presenter, I don’t know what the rest of you lot that attended on Tuesday felt, but I thought that he really spoke from the heart when he described the mammoth effort our “Patched up heroes” put in at Wembley! He did a good job and finished by saying that he was looking forward to the weekend and our participation in what he considered to be “The only true Derby” in our game!!!!.
Finally, I guess, I should mention the other winners, with Berro the fans favourite by a mile, and Briscoe scooping two awards including the try of the season for his 80-metre effort against Rovers! The sharing of the player of the year award between Berro and Radford was a surprise though. It just goes to show that Radders does a lot off the field, much of which is unseen by the fans! He is obviously extremely well respected by the coaching staff. In addition he also got the community award for “Being the player who was always there when there was a community project on the go”. All of which seems to point to the fact that he would appear to be more of a captain than is sometimes appreciated by the average fan.
Talk of the night was that John Sharp had already started at the club with Featherstone’s season having finished, and indeed this was confirmed when Rich Agar admitted that he had been observing from the touch line this week.
On a lighter note, it seems that Gareth Carvell still cannot make his mind up! The players all decided what they wanted to drink and sat down well before proceedings started. By the time the great undecided one had decided to have a drink he could be clearly seen by everyone, ploughing between the tables with a drink in his hand, well after the speeches had started!!!! It was also sad to see James Rule missing as he was unwell, something that thrust some unexpected and unwanted greatness onto our Chairperson who handled proceedings with her usual aplomb!!!!!!!!
It was also great to hear Tom Briscoe saying that he will be out for 6-8 weeks, but back for pre season training and to see Richard Whiting walking without any sticks etc. A good night though and well organised by the club!!
Talking of Gareth Carvell I was quite surprised that he is considering an offer from Australia to join Russell Crowe’s South Sydney. The club has actually confirmed their interest in our Great Britain international, and Shane Richardson must think that he can do something with him! He has recently been linked with St Helens, Bradford and Wigan but all these seem to have been scared off by the thought of having to pay a fee for him. Still a move down under will probably suit his partner! Although as far as I know they “Don’t do” loan deals down under! Gareth is said to be trying to make his mind up what to do! That could take a bit of time!
The news that Scott Wheeldon has moved across the City to join the Dobbins on a two-year deal from next season came as no surprise whatsoever to most FC fans! It was interesting to hear Richard Agar say, “This week we lost a player we would have liked to keep, but the economics of these things means that you have, sadly, to make these decisions”. I will also be sorry to see Scott go because in my limited dealings with him he has always seemed to me to be an OK bloke and one who has his head screwed on the right way. However, I also understand the need to ship some players out and get some new blood into the club and you just cannot keep everyone! He had, I understand, twice been offered a slightly improved contract by FC, and he was also "offered" quite a big raise in pay to go to Celtic Crusaders. The Rovers deal was pitched between the two I hear, and is still a decent offer. If the Bobbins want to pay players more than we as a club believe they are worth, then that is up to them. For me personally, Scott has sadly done little this season to warrant a large increase in salary.
The facts of the matter are that he and his girlfriend have just bought a house and he does not want to leave the area. From the Dobbins point of view he was a shoe in, judging, that is, by the avarice they always display when it comes to our players. For me Scott was never going to be a first choice starting prop for us, because his form seems to have ground to a halt this season. It has also to be said that in my opinion he was another of those Sharpy favourites who seemed to get a lot of game time when our ex coach was around the place. Rovers have been interested for a while, but only firmed up their offer when they missed out on Kyle Bibb at Wakey! Nice Kid though and Good luck to him I say!!
So Adam Dykes now needs to have an operation on a “Busted knee” which seems, we are now being told, to be well overdue. He helpfully explained last week that, “I did it in the first warm up game against Huddersfield and I should have had an operation pre season to sort it out”. It seems to me, that there have been one or two unfortunate “Goings on” with our previous coaching regime which seem to be coming back to haunt us as they slowly come to light! It is rumoured that he was very upset and stormed out of the team hotel when he was not picked for the final, although at Brantingham on the Thursday he could hardly walk! I still think myself that we could do worse than put all our eggs in the Webster basket for next season!!!
There is also a strong rumour about the place that there is a slight disagreement between the club and the player as to where he does his rehab after the op. Dykesey wants to go home and do it in Aus. whilst the club want him recovering here, under the watchful eye of our own medical staff!! As I always say however, that’s just another rumour!!!!
I really welcome the experiment of the last weekend to use a Video ref. at none televised games because I truly believe that the move is long overdue. I am told that several of the referee’s were against the change, even as an experiment, probably, I would suggest, because it diluted their “I know best” powers at any game they are officiating at! For me though it at least gives a second opinion of what has happened, and will, I believe plicate those of us that feel sometimes referee’s just do as they like. I am not saying that we will not still disagree at times with even the second opinion, but I also believe that with this scheme in place there will be a greater feeling of justice being done.
Of course the referee still has to pass the decision up stairs, and can still do his own thing without doing that. However I think, should this idea be adopted at all none televised games next season, then it will be a massive step forward towards straightening out one of our great games major problem areas. You see, for me, the inconsistency of refereeing across the game causes a lot of animosity, with the media, on the terraces and after the games in the pubs and clubs. This idea when adopted won’t get over that completely, but it will help a lot, and I for one will feel a lot better, if a decision that has gone against us, has at least been ratified in this way!
In addition if it happens next year we will be seen, as a sport, to be, once again, in the vanguard of innovation and it will be interesting to see just how long it is before the “Ra Ra” boys follow suit!!! It follows other such developments over the years like the introduction of substitutes, video referee’s, salary caps, Franchises, the quota and the bloodbin. This is just another good idea to improve our game and one I think all us fans should press the RL to adopt across Super League!
On a lighter note, I noted with interest that in an interview this week Rich Agar said that we could have a resolution of the Carvell issue before the end of the next week. He said, “Then we could have a bit of Brass to spend” which means for me that he could definitely be off!! Agar then laughingly remembered what happened last time he said things would be resolved by the weekend, and quickly retracted his remarks!!!
It was great to see Mobilepoint our collar and Media sponsors back on board again for another season. I say that because for me they have quite simply revolutionised our media operation since they have been involved at the KC. As well as the Mobile set up by which we get breaking news and team updates etc. they were involved in setting up the E commerce shop for the retail operation where you can now buy FC stuff on line, and also FC TV. The staff at the shop tells me that in the run up to Wembley more and more folks exiled around the country and the world were buying FC shirts and Cup final stuff on the net. The FC TV part of the web site is also first class and certainly worth a look one wet afternoon!! The recently added trailer for the Wembley Video featuring ace camcorder operator, Ewan “Francis Ford Coppola” Dowes, is great and really worth a watch!! In fact the revamp of the club web site was also all down to a subsidiary of Mobilepoint so its really good to have them back on board for 2009.
Contrary to what I said last week about Jamie Thackerey retiring, I hear from my contact in the West Riding that he was on John Kear’s wanted list for next season along with Steve Snitch from Huddersfield and Simon Worrell from the Rhino’s. However since the RL revised its rules on foreign players everything is back up in the air at Belle Vue, as the club continue to review their options. Kear now says that, “Early signings are now unlikely." And Worrall in fact has resigned for Leeds. So what next for Jamie? Well I am now told that he is off to Wigan and was over there last week for talks with the Lancashire club!!!!
Great to see Airlie Bird in the flesh (As it were) at the awards ceremony last week, he went dressed as a Penguine, (Well Dinner Suite actually) very smart!!! I was told by our feathered friend, who has again done a terrific job for the club this year, that although he has no trouble donning his outfit before games, it took two females to dress him for that big night!!! Lucky Fella!
I watched the Saints v Wigan game on Friday and would draw everyone’s attention to two points that really interested me. Firstly a try was given to Saints by the Video referee although due to the naff floodlighting at Knowsley Road, 2 foot of the field of play and the touch line itself was in deep shade. This meant that the Video referee could not clearly see where the player’s legs were when he went over! They may be the best team in the land and they may be getting a new stadium….eventually, however that is just not acceptable. Secondly, for me, it is also about time that the RL introduced a post, like the corner flag, on the touchline, at the end of each twenty-meter line. This would greatly assist the linesmen when they have to make a 40/20 decision from a distance. In fact it would also allow the camera’s to judge these kicks, as the ball could be seen to either go in front or behind the post on the TV. The flags could be the flexible type used for the other line flags on the pitch! Common sense really!
This week, Billy no mates that I am, I went to the Player of the year awards on my own, and sat with a couple of guys who seemed to want to do nothing but reminisce all night!! That of course, suited me down to the ground, and we discussed all manner of FC history from the days of Pyne McMillan, Colin Hutton and Bruce Ryan (which was well before my time) up to Charlie Stone, Peter Stirling, Andy Dannett and Steve Prescott! We wiled away the time during the meal talking in some detail about specific positions in the team and the legends that occupied them like Terry Kirchin, Kieth Boxall, Terry Devonshire and Chris Davidson!
But by the main course had arrived the discussion had got around to full backs, and we all agreed that we have, over the years, had some fantastic exponents of the last line of defence in our ranks at the Boulevard and the KC. There was Shaun Briscoe, Garry Kemble, Colin Hutton, George Robinson, Peter Bateson, Steve Prescott and Paul Woods, all of whom in their own way had somehow managed to get stuck in our FC memory banks! But, there was one player who everyone present agreed was the best full back that we had ever pulled on the irregular hoops. That of course was the great Arthur Keegan.
What a fantastic servant to the club he was!!! We have never had a more loyal and popular player than Arthur, who made the number one shirt his own after a brave performance for the black and whites in the 1959 Cup Final at Wembley. However, even before that, Keegan made his RL debut for the FC, after signing from Dewsbury Celtic in 1958, as a late inclusion in a game at Headingley that we won 32-7. So late was his inclusion in fact, that he had actually paid to get into the ground when a tannoy announcement 15 minutes before the game was due to kick off, summoned him to the Changing Rooms!!!
After that famous Wembley appearance he was called up to do his national service but on his return he became a fixture in the FC side snatching the number one shirt from Peter Bateson and making it his own for the next 13 seasons!!! His main asset was his ability, (despite being the last line of defence), to stand players up in the tackle and clamp the ball so that they could not release it. Add to this his last ditch defence, great hands, ability to take the line on and consistent good form and you had the lot!!!
Arthur was also a useful goal kicker and in fact scored 318 in his career. If any indication of the love that we the fans at the time had for this great full back, was needed, then just consider this: Keegan was voted the supporters club player of the year for 8 seasons on the trot! In 1965/66, I remember, he also became the Yorkshire Federation of Supporters clubs “Fairest and most loyal Player” So I think you can see just what a phenomanum Arthur was, playing as he did in what everyone would agree was a poor FC side!
Arthur was club captain for several seasons and was also known as a bit of a comedian on the side. There is one famous story about a game that was played on a Hull v Rovers rugby league promotional tour of Devon and Cornwall. This took place after the season finished in 1962. In one game Keegan mishandled a towering up and under and a voice from the crowd shouted out “Bring Back Peter Bateson”. Arthur ruefully observed “ Bloody Hell, all this way and there’s still someone from the Threepenny stand here”. Arthur had a well-earned testimonial year in 1969.
Keegan’s international career saw him play for Great Britain just 9 times. I remember, best of all, a game that the BBC covered between GB and the Aussies on a snow covered Station Road pitch in 1967. I watched this game, with Mum and Dad on our old black and white Rediffusion TV. He was fearless that day, and although the old enemy won by 11-3, they repeatedly broke through the home defence and it was only the tenacity and bravado of Keegan that kept the score down. That performance got him the man of the match award but because he played for a struggling and perhaps unfashionable club he was dropped for the World Cup the following year with the selectors preferring the option of Bev Risman from the more “Trendy” Leeds club!! GB flopped in the World Cup (nothing new there then) and Keegan was recalled the following year!
I saw some fantastic performances from Arthur and can still see him now in my mind’s eye, from the Threepennies, running at the defence and shimmying past the first opposition player as if he did not exist. Something, I should add, that he did countless times every time I saw him play. He sadly only won one trophy with us, when we beat Featherstone in the Yorkshire Cup final in 1969. Like many players in those days Arthur did not move to Hull but continued to live in Dewsbury and for those 13 years he went backwards and forwards over Boothferry Bridge, three times a week at least, to training and matches.
By 1971 Keegan grew a bit tired of all the travelling because without the M62 it was a long journey to tackle in the depths of winter. He asked the club to release him and a few days later he left to take up the position of Bramley’s ‘A’ team trainer. By 1973 he had risen to first team coach and subsequently led them to one of the biggest up sets in the history of the game, when little Bramley beat Widnes, in Lancashire, in the final of the BBC Floodlit trophy! Arthur then gained hero status in West Leeds, but sadly the resources of the Villagers could not sustain this success, results and attendance’s flagged, and he was fired in September 1976. He then played 6 games for Batley before breaking his jaw and in 1980 he coached Yorkshire for one game. Otherwise he hung up his boots and his RL career, and disappeared into relative obscurity!
I am told that Arthur has recently come on hard times as far as his health is concerned, and was even struggling to recognise Johnny Maloney when he recently went to see him in hospital! I know everyone whom reads this waffle and who goes that far back will wish him well, just as I do. We will all also agree I am sure that although in a winning team, Garry Kemble was the second best Full Back we have ever seen in the black and white, no-one beats Arthur for loyalty, consistency, guts and sheer class. What a great player he was, and how honoured I was to see him play.
What a massive over reaction we saw on Saturday to the fact that Berro’s girlfriend had over stayed her Visa by three days! The whole thing was an absolute farce and must make our gifted hooker wonder just what he has come to!!! It’s a pity that the immigration people do not show so much vigilance at the channel tunnel and the docks around the country!! The Daily Wail enjoyed it too, but fair do’s to them as at least they included an editorial about how heavy handed the whole thing had been!! I hope the person who informed on her got great satisfaction from doing it!
What has happened between the club and GEMTEC? One pal of mine pointed out that on the walls of the function suites of the KC our 2005 shirt sponsors seem to have had their name removed from all the photographs of the lads celebrating the Cup success at Cardiff. Strange that!
So that’s it then, another season grinds and stutters to a halt, with the FC missing out altogether on the play-offs! That’s a disgrace really, but, then again we never really deserved to get a sniff of them, the way we have played for long periods of this year. This has been a poor season, for effort and passion in particular! I for one am glad it is all over and done with and done with and cannot wait for the anticipation and optimism that a new season always brings. Next February the Diary will embark on its fourth season and lets just hope that there is more to look forward too and some improvement to come. A lot I believe hinges on Crocker and the influence he has on proceedings in pre season! In the mean time I will soldier on with the diary until such time as Joe shuts the site down for its winter overhaul, because, lets face it, there is always something going on at Hull FC! As always these ramblings are just my opinion and as I always say at difficult times like these everyone has one!!! In the mean, well done to all those brave souls who went to Caravan Park yesterday, and thanks for reading the Diary, I hope you found something in it to interest you!!
Faithfully Yours
Wilf
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Team |
Pts |
+/- |
| 1 |
Wigan |
42 |
489 |
| 2 |
St. Helens |
38 |
389 |
| 3 |
Warrington |
38 |
383 |
| 4 |
Leeds |
33 |
160 |
| 5 |
Hull FC |
32 |
-11 |
| 6 |
Huddersfield |
31 |
305 |
| 7 |
Hull KR |
29 |
27 |
| 8 |
Castleford |
22 |
-108 |
| 9 |
Crusaders |
22 |
-191 |
| 10 |
Bradford |
19 |
-178 |
| 11 |
Wakefield |
18 |
-198 |
| 12 |
Harlequins |
14 |
-330 |
| 13 |
Salford |
14 |
-413 |
| 14 |
Catalans |
12 |
-324 |
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