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New Brighton

Football Club (R.U.)

Letters and Editorials

Saturday 31st March 2001

Rugby Referees

By Joe Pinnington

RUGBY REFEREES

March 2001

"The Ref's terrible" - words we often hear from players, coaches and supporters,provokes the questions:-
1. How many mistakes have the players made?
2. Does the accuser know enough about the laws to make a valid accusation?

Regrettably, referees are leaving the game in droves. The main reason being the continuous abuse they are subject to during, and after the game. We have heard many times that we can't play without them. Well we cannot!

It has been discussed that owing to the lack of officials there may be problems providing National League 4 with RFU Officials next season, which would mean going back to local referees and club touch judges. Club touch judges! What an awful thought.

I'll come clean and state that I have never refereed on a regular basis, in fact I was probably put off for life after trying to control a match in Sweden, between clubs from Scotland and Germany. Let me explain

I had made it quite clear at the outset that I would not tolerate punching or kicking an opponent, nor would I accept any dissent. Ground rules are essential.

Considering the backgrounds of the sides, the game was going well. Until I awarded a penalty against the Germans. My decision was questioned to which I responded with the great deterent of a 10 yard march upfield. This had little effect and the process was repeated several times until I was under the German posts and the Scots scored a penalty.

I am not sure of the German for "you *****,*****English ****, but I,m pretty sure I heard it that afternoon. And this carried on throughout the game. Being a sensitive, well, not over sensitive person, I finished the game with nothing but a feeling of dissatisfaction. And we do these things for love of the game, don't we.

So do referees every week of the season, travelling miles, giving up their afternoons, nay whole days in fact, so I believe they deserve a little understanding. I accept that these League matches can be extremely tense affairs and it is unreasonable to expect spectators to remain restrained for the full eighty minutes. In fact, most referees will accept that they, to a degree, are 'fair game' while the game is in progress. But, if you do feel like making a comment, why not try a little wit rather than resort to boorish abuse? An objective comment is far more acceptable than a vulgar insult!

In recent weeks, in various parts of the country, referees have been assaulted after a game, they have been threatened and abused. In some cases even club officials have been the perpetrators of this treatment.

This cannot be right!!!

Most people reading this will have played the game and understand the difficulty of trying to keep 30 players within the laws of the game. So give it a try, be a wit, make us laugh, but ask yourself --- 'could I do better?'

Why are we playing Australia every year? The answer is regrettably quite simple Money. I accept that it is vital for England to be playing the Southern Hemisphere giants on a regular basis but without the revenue these games generate there would not be so many games.

This brings me to another point Can we really afford not to have the Big Three here regularly. The interest they have aroused in our game has been fantastic this last month but regrettably, for the vast majority of sports lovers the world of rugby goes into wraps for two and a half months when the Six Nations raises the profile of Rugby Union again.

I am not knocking the premiership rugby as they have made great strides in attracting bigger gates but the greatest profile we have is with the internationals. So, why after years of playing the games from mid January to mid March when there was very little sporting events clashing do we move the games to end in mid April? By that time the spring weather is with us, gardens need attention and other sporting events are there to drag the attention away from the Six Nations. Ie. Grand National, Golfs Masters,Semi finals of the FA Cup etc.

To give Rugby Union the best possible coverage with virtually no competition, lets go back to the old dates. This will also encourage larger crowds to go and see their own clubs when the weather improves. That way everybody wins especially the game of Rugby Union.

JCBP.

Saturday 31st March 2001

Reeds Lane Review

By Geoff Stone

A very warm welcome to Reeds Lane, especially to the players, officials and supporters opf Nuneaton, our very old friends and advesaries from the Midlands.

We also welcome today's sponsorsled by Rob McKenzie Associates, (Consulting Engineers). It is always a delight to welcome Rob and his friends and we trust that this seasons bar bill will be up to it's usual standard!

Also sponsoring is a group of New Brighton members, aka the Sunday School Choral Group who gather every Sunday to sing the praises of the 1st XV over a few pints. Prominent among them is Brian Liversidge who, fifty years ago made his debut against none other than today's opposition! Brian has always regretted that, as a young 18 year old, he was in no position to buy the opposition a drink on that occasion and so if any of the gentlemen of either team are present, he will put things right this afternoon.

Turning now to today's game,we certainly have every reason to win, not only to avenge our recent defeat at Nuns a few weeks ago, but also to stay in touch with the two clubs above us. Last week's defeat at Sedgley Park means that for the first time this season we must rely on others to get into the promotion places. There are plenty of opportunities for either Sedgley Park or Stourbridge to slip up, especially as the end of the season congestion approaches. We must not forget, of course, that we, in turn, must win all of our remaining matches to be able to benefit from any 'slip up'.

Despite the three pages of speculation in the Sedgley Park programme last weekconcerning the fulfillment, or otherwise, of this seasons fixtures, everyone is still very much in the dark. There will, no doubt, be an announcement in the press shortly and we will all be able to debate the issues and injustices to the full.

Today's New Brighton side continues to show changes. Sadly Nick Allott, who was due to return to the side today has a medical problem and looks like being out for the rest of the season. His place is taken by Jay Stirrett and Phil Gazzola again takes the place of Huw Thomas whose shoulder injury is still causing him problems. New signing, Kiwi stand off, Clint Beauchamp sustained an injury in the recent match v Orrell 2nds and remains unavailable. Steve O'Connor remains to fill the stand off spot and Julian Williams is part of a reshuffled 3/4 division owing to Marcus Coast unavailability.

Our team of officials today is headed by Dave Edmunds of the Liverpool Society who is assisted by regular visitors to Reeds Lane, Paul Meehan and Bob Cooke. We hope that they have an enjoyable day with us.

League Table Home

Monday 2nd April 2001

Completion of League Fixtures 2000 - 2001

Doug Thorpe

The RFU have acknowledged that, due to the Foot and Mouth emergency, some clubs will have difficulty, and for some it may be impossible, to complete their league fixtures by the end of season date 12th May. The league season has,therefore, been extended to 19th May and play offs, where appropriate, must be completed by 2nd June.

An Emergency Task Group has been formed to oversee the completion of the season and take any decisions necessary to decide promotion and relegation in the event that some games remain unplayed on 20th May. Organising Committees will continue to be responsible for the management of the remaining league programme and are urged to prioritise fixtures affecting positions at the tops and bottoms of leagues to be completed fairly for those concerned.

To clear the congestion and achieve the completion of as many matches as possible, Clubs are expected to seek such alternatives as, play on a neutral ground where their own facilities are not available, play mid week, Good Friday, Bank Holiday Mondays and even play two games over a weekend (Saturday and Sunday.) League fixtures are to take precedence over all other County Cups and the County Championship.

In Summary

The Action Plan set down by the Emergency Task Group to enable the League Season to be concluded is summarised as follows:

After Easter, League matches have priority over all other club matches. and the Organising Committees' on dates will be final.

Organising Committees may prioritise League fixtures to achieve satisfactory 'League Outcomes'

Every effort must be taken by participating clubs to complete the League season by not later than the 19th May, including playing at 'neutral' venues.

Play-Offs must be completed by not later than the 2nd June.

If any League is uncompleted by Sunday 20th May, the task group will make such decisions on promotion, play-offs and relegation as are fair and reasonable.

After Easter, League matches have priority over County Cup matches unless the Organising Committee agrees otherwise.

The arranged County fixtures will be played where possible but only as friendlies and there will be no knock out stages this season.

Yorkshire will play an English County XV at Twickenham on the 26th May.

The Final of the Tetley Bitter National Under 20 Championship will take place at Twickenham on 26th May as planned.

The number of rounds of the County Sevens to be played at Twickenham on 26th May may be extended to create more involvement and interest for as many Counties as possible.

Twickenham will be a very busy place on 26th May. Watch this space in case there are any amendments later.

So far as the situation at the top of National League Divn. 3 North is concerned the following matches are scheduled.

New Brighton.
Bedford Athletic, 7th April at Bedford.
Morley, 14th April at Morley.
Cheshire Cup Semi Final, 17th April at Stockport.
Cheshire Cup Final, 24th April at Chester.
Whitchurch, 28th April at Whitchurch.
Tynedale, 12th May at Reeds Lane.

Doncaster
Walsall, 7th April at Doncaster.
Sedgley Park, 14th April at Sedgley Park
Aspatria, Date TBA at Aspatria.
Whitchurch, Date TBA at Whitchurch.
Tynedale, Date TBA at Doncaster.

Sedgley Park
Doncaster, 14th April at Sedgley Park.
Tynedale, 28th April at Sedgley Park.

Stourbridge
Liverpool St Helens, 7th April at Liverpool St Helens.
Bedford Athletic, 14th April at Bedford.
Aspatria, 28th April at Aspatria.

League Table Home

Wednesday 4th April

Academy to play Worcester

The LEES LLOYD WHITLEY Rugby Academy will face another stern test at Reeds lane on the evening of
Wednesday18th April 2001
when they play the Worcester Youth side. It will be interesting to see how the side is developing since it's first match against the Leicester Development Squad. Watch for further information.

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Sunday 8th April 2001

Floods and Pestilence
Backlogs Promotion Programme

Colin Bentley

Torrential rain flooded the pitch at Bedford Athletic causing the last minute cancellation of New Brighton's crucial league game on Saturday. Next weeks scheduled game away to Morley is the last on the regular fixture list this year but with floods and pestilence ravaging fixtures all over the country, the Blues are left with four games still to play, away to Morley, Whitchurch and Bedford and a home tie with Tynedale.

Tynedale, close to the centre of the source to the Foot and Mouth Crisis, have no less than 8 games outstanding with restrictions even preventing them training in recent weeks. Similarly affected are Cumbrian based Aspatria who also have 8 fixtures outstanding. The RFU have extended the season to May 18^th with the instruction that all games have to be played at whatever venue is necessary, strong words but 8 games in less than 6 weeks with no sign of the restrictions being lifted is a tall order.

New Brighton were looking for LSH to do them a favour against Stourbridge last Saturday but this game fell victim to the rain. Doncaster still have to go to Sedgley Park where a slip by the home side would let the Blues in for promotion should they win their remaining games. It is all nail-bitingly close but frustratingly on hold as the backlog lengthens. It could be the calculator and slide rule that decides promotion and relegation in this seasons topsy-turvy League competition. Clubs around the country are left wondering just how the RFU will sort the problems out.

Whoever comes second in Nat. League Div. 3 North will face a `Promotion Play off' clash with whoever finishes second in the Nat.Leagues Div 3 South. At the time of writing, a trip to Launceston or Penzance seems favourite, the game to be played on the weekend of May 25^th. With the season so dramatically extended it is doubtful that clubs will be able to retain their full squads with business, holiday and other commitments already made, the Blues having a Cyprus tour planned in May.

Rumours abound with suggestions and advice to the RFU. Currently, Nat. League 2 is fully National with Division 3 being divided into two sections, North and South. An idea being favourably received is that of `Regionalising' Nat. League Div 2 into North and South sections. Under the current system, the team progressing to the play off stages look to be decided on point's difference. With the present crisis of delay and postponement this does not appear to be a very satisfactory arrangement with lady luck playing a huge hand in the final outcome, after the teams have battled fiercely for near 9 months.

However, should the Nat. League Division 2 be rationalised into North and South Divisions, there would need to be extra teams promoted from the current Divisions Three North and Three South. The idea is not as complex as it seems and it presents significant logistic advantages in travel. Northern clubs travelling to Devon and Cornwall and visa versa presents a major demand on the resources of both players and finances. Regionalising the Nat. League Division 2 would save on those demands and also generate attractive fixtures for fans to relish. Similarly a regionalised Div 2 would relieve the pressure on the RFU to sort out Div. 3 relegation issues.

If Nat. League Division 2 is regionalised by the RFU the prospect of New Brighton, Preston Grasshoppers, Sedgley Park, Doncaster, Kendall, Harrogate, Wharfedale, Fylde, Otley. LSH, Morley, West Hartlepool together with Dudley Kingswinford, Nuneaton and maybe Nottingham presents a very attractive option for the fans.

The possibility that Division One relegation candidates, Waterloo and Orrell, could also be joining this group makes it more attractive still. Should either or both these clubs fall they will probably welcome a reduction in travelling expenses as each would lose circa £120,000 in income from the central sponsorship budget.

The more I think about it the more the regionalising of the Nat. League Div 2 into a North and a South group makes sense at this difficult time Unfortunately, common sense is something the RFU have failed to displayed in quantity in recent years, so we are all left waiting to see just how the officials and the clubs will overcome the serious problems imposed by flood, pestilence and a backlog of games that would test the ingenuity of Noah and the patience of Job.

Meanwhile Coach Connor called his squad in for extra training on Saturday as the Blues continue to give themselves every opportunity of promotion, no matter how the RFU solve the current dilemma.

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Sunday 22nd April 2001

BLUES LAMENT LIVERPOOL ST HELENS LOSS.

Colin Bentley

Liverpool St. Helens went down 48–16 against Stourbridge on Saturday in a result that severely dents New Brighton's promotion challenge. It is possible for the Blues to win the league should Stourbridge slip up in their only remaining game against Aspatria and Sedgley lose against Tynedale. In reality these games are hardly likely to be played, as both Aspatria and Tynedale remain blocked by the foot and mouth crisis with a backlog of 8 games each still to play in a season officially over last week!

In theory the Blues could create history by recording a 323+ winning margin in the two games they will play against Whitchurch and Bedford. However, flying pigs are a rarity seldom seen in rugby's modern era and the reality is that New Brighton will tie on points with Sedgley Park and finish third in the league on points difference, with Stourbridge `probably' lifting the championship and Sedgley `probably` progressing to play off with Launceston for the other promotion spot. I say `probably' because the RFU's dilemma sorting out the promotion relegation issue presents them with a very serious problem.

It is a tragic reality that thousands of cattle and sheep have been slaughtered due to the Foot and Mouth Crisis. It is an equal reality that Aspatria and Tynedale will not satisfactorily complete their fixtures this season leaving the league incomplete. The easiest way out of the problem for the RFU is to rationalise National League Division 2 promoting extra teams from Division 3 North and South to make a 14/15 team league and have no relegation from Div 3 North & South this season. Should the RFU seek to relegate teams at the bottom of the table because they have fewer points due to un-played games, one can see the effected teams going to law to protect their interests.

New Brighton travel to Whitchurch next week in a game they must win to keep their promotion hopes alive. As long as it is mathematically possible for the Blues to go up the pressure remains on the RFU to solve the promotion relegation issues and a rationalized Nat. League Two North & South currently appears the best option

League Table

Friday 4th May 2001

The Telegraph gets it wrong again

By Neville Waters
Chairman of Rugby

After the recent gaffe by a Daily Telegraph reporter who falsely claimed that New Brighton had attended an unofficial meeting with Stourbridge and Sedgely Park to agree the outcome of the top end of National 3 North, a meeting to which New Brighton were not even invited, another of their reporters, Rob Wildman, has again totally misrepresented the facts.

Wildman claims that New Brighton are insisting on playing two of the outstanding games at Bedford Athletic, tomorrow and Whitchurch next week, in order that they be given a chance to make up a 222 points difference on Sedgely Park. Nothing could be further from the truth.

First of all let me say that the RFU competitions committee have an unenviable task in deciding the outcome of many of this year's leagues, which have been disrupted by both floods and pestilence. With both Tynedale and Aspatria with 8 outstanding games and Whitchurch with 5 it will be impossible for the competitions committee to make decisions that will not leave them open to possible litigation.

At no time have we insisted on playing any games. We are required to fulfil our fixtures and not do do so would risk the deduction of league points.

It is the RFU competitions committee who are insisting that, since there is a mathematical possibility of New Brighton overtaking Sedgely Park, we must play as many games as possible in order, I suspect, that any decision they finally make will be regarded as less contentious. Similarly with other outstanding games near the bottom of the league. We have not been consulted, or given any choice as to whether we play any of our outstanding games. For the record we have only found out this week, from Whitchurch not from the league administrators, that Whitchurch have been told they must play Bedford Athletic on May 12th, New Brighton on May 19th and Doncaster on May 26th. Today we were informed that because of Foot and Mouth Tynedale have again postponed their match at New Brighton scheduled for May 12th. It seems unlikely now that Tynedale or Aspatria will play again this season.

The idea that we would insist on playing these two last away games at a time of the year for which most of our players had made other plans and with all the attendant expense involved for the unlikely outcome of scoring over 200 points is frankly ludicrous.

If asked, the only grounds that we would contest the present league order being the basis for all promotion and relegation decisions is that to do so on incomplete information is patently unfair. The very nature of sport is its unpredictability, for example, the result of Stourbridge's outstanding game at Aspatria is not a foregone conclusion. As any team in the league will attest, winning at Aspatria can be extemely difficult, particularly if they are fighting to avoid relegation. On the other hand, how can any of Tynedale, Aspatria or Whitchurch be relegated when they have so many games unplayed through no fault of their own?

Of course it may be that the competitions committee are considering restructuring the leagues in some way. The proposal to regionalise National 2 into North and South sections and even to go further and regionalise National 3 into North, Midlands, SouthEast and SouthWest would certainly resolve all of the this year's problems. Apart from the huge savings in travelling costs this would create strong regional leagues which would be more easily marketed and would increase local interest and revenue for all clubs as outlined in the RFU's Strategic Plan

Letters and Editorials

Rugby Referees

Reeds Lane Review

By Geoff Stone

Completion of League Fixtures 2000 - 2001

Academy to play Worcester

Floods and Pestilence Backlogs Promotion Programme

BLUES LAMENT LIVERPOOL ST HELENS LOSS.

The Telegraph gets it wrong again

Floods and Pestilence
Backlogs Promotion Programme