Volume 4, Chapter 1
I fell off me 'orse. And I'm finally back in the saddle
A “w”. Yes. We got one.
So, after an indecent period where we didn’t bother the results sheet with a victory, we managed the first First Team win since some of the lesser Gods were in short trousers, this past Saturday when the boys beat Harrogate Pythons by the score of 13-8. Was it Billy Bunter who used to cry “Huzzah” in these circumstances? As I am above average weight, I shall offer my own. Huzzah!
The game hinged on a superb score from Ryan Wilson. It was a piece of quick thinking out on the far touchline that saw Ryan receive a quick throw in around the halfway line with both sets of forwards idling towards forming a lineout. Before the Pythons’ defence had a chance to adjust, the Bees wingman was on his bike and away on an arcing run under the posts.
The rest of the points came from the solid boot of Will Marshall.
This momentous change in the club’s playing fortunes has prompted me to dust off the old quill and relaunch this Newsletter. Why did I stop? You may ask. I will leave it hanging there, as I can’t think of an answer that isn’t “I got fed up”.
There have been various measures of how long it has been since we tasted the cold beer of victory. Most folks of a Wagon Lane persuasion probably considered the win over Morley on 29th February as the last home “w”. Ahh, but if you look at the small print, or indeed can remember those strange times before the pandemic, we played that game at Keighley’s all-weather facility as Wagon Lane was once more hiding underneath the River Aire.
So, although giving Morley a thick ear to the tune of 47 points to 24 was a sweet thing, and one to be celebrated, the club’s actual last win on home sod was three weeks earlier, on Saturday, February 8th, 2020, when we beat Durham City by 20 points to 17.
Looking back through the dusty annals, I found the team sheet from that win over Durham. The side went as follows: 1. Roger Raper 2. Luke Spauls 3. Ryan Wederell 4. Corey Spencer 5. Joe Daley 6 Marko Svagusa 7. Ali MacDonald, 8. Tom Cummins 9. Ben Hockenhull 10. Andy Robinson 11. Adam Sutcliffe 12. James Morton 13. Jack Malthouse 14. Cameron Bainbridge 15. Lance Taylor. The Bench featured Andy Smith, Pete Booth, and Sam Murphy.
Our try scorer that afternoon was Corey Spencer. His memory tells him he outdid Ryan’s run this week and beat 12 players from inside our half to get to the whitewash, so I won’t spoil it for him and I will leave his memory unshattered, (one for the grandkids, Corey!). Our other points came from the boot of Lance “Larno” Taylor, who celebrated his birthday this week over there in NZ.
From that 18, Mr. Spauls has risen to be our current club Captain and the second row combo was the same which defeated the Pythons this last week. The eternal youth, our very own Dorian Grays, Messrs Roger Raper, and Andy Smith are still registered players for us. Ali MacDonald can be heard muttering darkly in Welsh in the dugout come kick-off, nowadays. I will let you fill in the gaps as to the whereabouts of the rest of the squad.
Don’t say it. Don’t Jinx it.
So, we move on to this week’s fixture. This time we line up against another club who are, on paper at least, not having a sparkling time of it, in the murkier depths of Yorkshire Division One. We travel the 72 miles to Hullensians, just off the B1231, for this week’s encounter.
Hullensians sit in 10th spot in our division, having squeezed 15 league points from their eight games played so far this term. A full ten points above us. The club may have only two wins notched in the bedpost, but both were notable victories, with Old Rish being given what for, 55-36, on September 16th and Salem being put to the sword 31-17 on 21st October.
Obviously, both those wins were on home soil, which may indicate a certain strength when they are playing on the familiar green. However, Hullensians have also lost twice on their own patch. They lost the season opener against Keighley, 31-34, and also came second to West Leeds, 11-25 on 30th September.
I have scoured their opposition’s match reports to find any sort of clue to their style of play or any names that jump out as key men, as unfortunately, the Hullensians website does not have any match reports. There are, however, videos of their games against Old Rishworthian and Leos which are available on their website.
Aside from those hours of video entertainment, from digging about on their site, I have gleaned that they have used 29 players already this season in their eight league games, with six players being ever-present. In contrast, The Bees have now used 30 players in eight fixtures, with only four being in the side every week.
I have been looking at player turnover at Wagon Lane and I was surprised to find that our current longest-serving player (Andy Smith and Roger Raper notwithstanding) is Ryan Wilson. Since Ryan made his first team debut, 117 different players have made their debut for the Bees. I am not sure of Ryan’s exact debut, but he registered for Senior Rugby in August 2014 and he is still only 27.
So, you may ask, where did that win over the Pythons come from? Which magic sauce or fairy dust was served up in the home changing room?
Well. to be rather more prosaic in my assessment, there were no sudden and seismic changes in personnel or game plans. Legs had a great game, it was good to see Big Joe back from injury and all in all, every one put in a good shift.
For anyone who has not watched all our games this season, and seen some rather lopsided scorelines, the sudden entry in the win column may have come as a surprise, but for much of the season, the results have not reflected the team’s performance.
To give a couple of examples:
We had pulled the game back to 19-11 at halftime against Wetherby and at least a bonus point looked on the cards. Then, after Wetherby rattled in two quick scores to kick off the second half, the wheels fell off and we ended up losing by 41 points.
We were winning at Beverley with 12 minutes to go. Discussions were being had on the spectator’s balcony about where was the nearest off-license where we might acquire a bottle or twain of fizz…then before you could say “Aldi’s finest”, we were on the wrong end of a 40-points to 20 defeat…
So the question we might ask of the elephant in the room, is have The Bees turned a corner? Is it finally onward and upward? But don’t say it, yet.
This week’s team selection
The eighteen selected for this week’s squad are as follows:
Alex Leadbeater
Luke Spauls ©
Robbie Spencer
Joe Daley
Corey Spencer
Jim Nicholas
Sam Bryan
Harry McEneaney
Dom Walker
Will Marshall
Joe Priestley
Jason Muranka
Sam Lindeman
Connor Capper
Ryan Wilson
Dan Lightowler
Charlie Layas
Luca DeVittoris
I know people like to know these things, so I can say 12 of those 18 came up from our Junior Section and only one player is over 30. Three are still teenagers and the bulk of the squad is between 22 and 27.
Next Up.
Our next game, following the Hullensians fixture sees us locking horns with our second favourite pantomime villain, Keighley. That game is a home fixture, kicking off at 2.15.
The game will be preceded by a lunch. We are trying to raise funds for the end-of-season tour at that lunch, so a fiver from each lunch will go straight into the tour kitty. More information about the lunch will be posted on the club website early next week.
This weekend.
Our President, Mr David Hemsley, will be representing the club at the Memorial Event taking place in Myrtle Park this Sunday. The event is open to everyone and is always massively supported by the good folk of Bingley.
All our Mini and Junior teams are at home this Sunday but will be marking Remembrance Sunday with a minute’s silence on Pitch 1 at 11 am.
If you are wandering about Bingley on Sunday morning, why not pop down to support the youngsters? the opposition is a mixture of Cleckheaton and Roundhegians.
The minis (U7 and U8) are kicking off on the Cabbage Patch at 10 AM.
The Under 9s and Under 10s are kicking off on pitch 2, also at 10 AM..
The minute’s silence will be on pitch 1 at 11 AM.
The Under 11s and Under 12s will therefore kick off at 11.05 on pitch 2, with the Under 14s getting underway on pitch 1 at the same time.
The Junior fixtures are then capped off by the Under 15s playing on pitch 1 with a 1 PM kick-off.