Recently there was an opportunity given to me to write a 600 word article for the Leigh V Warrington match day programme. They were asking for fans to write about any rugby league related topic and I got given the task. Unfortunately after Leigh's home friendly to Salford got cancelled again, the club has decided to recycle that programme with a few minor changes so it can be sold to us on the 17th January. Anyway instead of letting that article go to waste, I thought I'd publish it on here instead. Enjoy!
If you reading this it must mean that the match has been given the all clear, and the powers that be have put the UK back outside the Arctic Circle. That’s a good thing from a Warrington point of view, as this is our first pre-season game before the start of the season. We will need to be at the top of our game if we are to defeat Harlequins in round one, as their round three fixture against Wakefield is being brought forward three weeks so they can play Melbourne Storm a week before the World Club Challenge.
It appears this has been the worst winter for some time. We have had sub zero temperatures, 11 inches of snow and we’ve had to put up with Rage against the Machine being the Christmas number one. Rugby League has been affected too, with countless matches for both amateur and professional teams being postponed due to the adverse weather conditions. The entire amateur programme was postponed the weekend before Christmas due to the frost, while two of the three county cups were originally postponed the day after Boxing Day. The entire Challenge Cup programme fell foul of the weather as we welcomed in 2010, while very few scheduled games went ahead elsewhere across the country. Warrington’s pre-season plans have already gone pear shaped after our extravagantly titled ‘World of Beds Cup’ match against Widnes was cancelled on two occasions leaving us with one less game to give the reserve side, plus a few familiar faces, a decent run out. Alas, it would have been nice to celebrate another cup win.
Of course we are not alone in cancelling fixtures. The not-so-friendly friendly between St Helens and Wigan was called off along with what would have been Salford’s visit to this wonderful new stadium. Amazingly there were some friendly matches played over the festive period, all of which seem to have been played in Yorkshire. In all honesty I would have thought that would be the first place to call a game off in the middle of winter, considering I have seen it snow at Belle Vue in the middle of April. Leeds and Wakefield managed to play their Boxing Day contest on the same day Dewsbury and Batley gave their pitch the all clear. The following day York City Knights played against a York Select XIII consisting from players from the local amateur teams. But overall the amount of games called of due to the weather has been alarming this year, and begs the question why the RFL insist on starting the season earlier and earlier each year.
Gone are the days in the summer era of rugby league when the Challenge Cup would signal the start of the season before the league kicked off a week later. The season is starting earlier each year, with Celtic hosting Leeds two weeks after this game in Super League, while the Northern Rail Cup commences with Leigh travelling to York on the 31st January. For me growing up in the nineties and remembering very little before Super League, it was all part of the romance of the Challenge Cup that the season would often start with the fourth round tie. It meant spring was just around the corner and the start of another rollercoaster season was waiting for us after several months without rugby. Of course it wasn’t so romantic if you drew Barrow away only to find there was more water floating down the main road than there was in Morecambe Bay during a heavy spell of rain. Summer rugby, eh?
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