Differently shaped balls

I am not sure whether I should describe my last weekend's sport as a double header or changing horses in mid stream. The former expression suggests going to one game, watching it to the end, then going to the other, whereas I was flipping between the two. Competitive rugby league at Thatto Heath Crusaders coincided with the beginning of Prescot Cables' pre-season programme. As the latter was a four team tournament, I attended the beginning, slipped out in the middle, and returned for the presentation of the cup, named after Dennis Bellairs, who died in December after nearly 50 years' service to the club.

I arrived to find the first game in full swing, between Rainhill Town and City of Liverpool. Whilst I was neutral for this, I concentrated more on Rainhill, as I they probably have less opportunities to get their players into pictures.

We have seen before that purple does not always reproduce well in digital photographs. I have seen the problem with some fabrics and some flowers, so I assume texture is a contributory factor. St Helens Law's advertisement is very a similar colour to City of Liverpool's kit, here worn by former Cables player Francis Foy, but the advertisement (and the sock tape) reproduces accurately, whereas the kit comes out much more blue.

This game produced the shock of the tournament, if anything in a pre-season tournament is a shock, when Rainhill beat City of Liverpool 1-0 to secure a place in the final.

The other semi-final was between Prescot and St Helens Town. It has been one of our most stable pre seasons for many years, and most of last season's squad were back, with some new faces, and a return for one of our own.

Connor Grainger

Goalkeepers never miss a chance to discuss strange goalkeeping things.

I saw the first half and a few minutes of the second, before I used the good offices of the 10A (all human life is there) to go to Thatto Heath. The hosts were ahead when I arrived five minutes into the game. Although many pictures I post are of tackles, it also makes for a good picture when a player sidesteps one and gains valuable distance - even better when the result is the opposition players managing to tackle each other.

The hosts dominated the first half, and had the game sewn up by half time, but, with the visitors playing mainly for pride, the second half was more of a contest.

That probably completed my work with Thatto Heath for the season, as I was mainly snapping for them during the football close season. Having got enough frames, and with the result secure, I left a few minutes early to get the 10A, giving a cheery wave to this chap on the way out.

Back at Prescot, Cables had hit a scoring streak in their semi final, going from 2-0 when I left to win 6-1.

I arrived at half time in the tournament final. Although there were rolling substitutions, Cables were playing separate teams in each half, apart from having Marcus Burgess in goal throughout. Having seen a full half with one team, I was able to see a full half with the other, so I could get most of the players in. Rainhill put in another good performance, but could not translate it into goals.

Andy Scarisbrick

Two goals secured the trophy for the hosts.

Harry Molyneux presents the cup

The end result of the afternoon was that Prescot scored eight goals, of which I was not there for four, and did not capture anything usable from the others, whilst Thatto Heath amassed fifty points, and I did not get a decent shot of any of them being scored. Dennis would have been most amused.

The rest of the pictures from the football can be seen here, and from the rugby here.

Touchdowns, runways and roads

I decided not to travel to Thatto Heath Crusaders' game at Wath Brow Hornets, although with the unexpected good weather, I should have treated myself to a stay at the coast. There was a crop of pre season football games, but I stayed with competitive rugby league. Pilkington Recs were the nearest club, at home to Wigan St Patricks. They had been an option when I started watching a couple of months ago, but Thatto Heath were nearer, and Pilkington had a regular photographer. I am not worried about treading on toes, but at a club without I am more likely to be useful. This was the case with Thatto Heath asking whether I was coming again after my first collection.

This was the official opening day at Ruskin Sports Village, previously owned by the Pilkington glass company, now run by St Helens Council with facilities for Pilkington Recs and St Helens Town FC. I found a festival in full swing, with cricket, a junior football tournament, tennis and bowls in addition to rugby. As I was early, I watched a few overs of the cricket with an ice cream. Some of the first dedicated sports action photographs just over 100 years ago were taken of cricket. This is logical, as for much of the action you can train your camera on where the player will be, and concentrate on the shutter. As I had no idea who the teams were, and therefore where to send the pictures, I decided not to try my hand.

Our game was preceded by a minute's silence for Adam Cooper, who sadly died playing for Culcheth Eagles in a National Conference League fixture the previous week.

This was the first time I have watched rugby on a 3G pitch. There seemed to be more and longer polyester blades and less visible rubber crumb than I would normally expect. The shine from the blades can affect the lighting on a bright sunny day.

We have seen the visitors before, playing in all black.

I have encountered the hosts' colours in rugby union, chosen I suspect because it holds visibility in the mud: less of a consideration for league now it is a summer game. It also reproduces well under most lighting conditions.

With the sun shining strongly from the hosts' end, I took up position near the half way line.

I was right about a resident photographer or two, lenses were being trained from all directions.

The game followed a pattern that has been common for me this season, starting evenly, with one side, in this case Pilkington's, having an advantage at half time, and taking a decisive grip to run away as clear winners in the second.

After the game, I had a choice of cricket - more overs at the ground, or a pint in tip top condition at the Cricketers' Arms. I decided on the latter. Despite the name and some cricket memorabilia, rugby league is a way of life in these parts. The bases of the hand pumps all bear the name of  one of the great St Helens players, and I cannot remember a minute's silence as well observed in a pub as that for Adam Cooper at the start of the televised game.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.

Final score: Pilkington Recs 50 Wigan St Patricks 22

What are Kells?

A number of settlements around the Irish Sea have the name of Kells, with examples in Westmeath, Kilkenny, Antrim, the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and the home of Thatto Heath Crusaders' visitors, near Whitehaven on the Cumberland coalfield. Most derive from forts or raised land (and it is logical to put a fort on a hill). Continuing our references to railway curiosities, the hill on which this Kells stands was once accessed by the Corckickle Brake cable worked incline.

My main photographic customer, Prescot Cables, has had a relatively stable team over the last couple of years, so I have not had to learn the names of a new team from scratch. I do not need to caption pictures for Thatto Heath, but I still like to know who I am watching, and they post the team sheet online, which is a considerable help.

Owen Scholes

Rugby league seems to me the code with least clues as to who might be who when you watch a team for the first time. In football, provided I have a team sheet, I quickly remember the name of the goalkeeper. The full backs take a lot of throw ins and free kicks, and I work forwards and inwards from there.

Jamie Tracey

In rugby union, the scrum half is quite identifiable, and the props, flankers and number 8 will quickly become familiar, as they spend a lot of time on their scrums. The scrum half will also extract the ball from rucks and mauls, and, since they stopped doing dive passes, will probably be one of the cleaner players on the pitch.

This is no help in league, where scrums are uncontested affairs to keep the forwards engaged, giving the side putting in the chance to run. Being clean is not much of a distinction on a hot, dry day - I dread to think what going to a summer game has done for employment among laundry workers.

The same player often performs a similar function at the play-the-ball, but that is less of a photographic opportunity than the breakdown in union - the interest comes much more in runs and tackles.

Sean Kenny

One player will often take most of the kicks in a game - it helps if you have a memorable name, at times I suspect a good and a bad thing.

Bobbie Goulding

As for the rest, it is a matter of matching back and front by boots and haircuts, and, in a summer game with short sleeves, tattoos.

Thatto Heath got off to a flying start, so much so that Dan Birkett scored the first try before I had made up my mind where to stand and was dithering behind the dugout. It was a competitive game, with the visitors scoring two unconverted tries to put them ahead at half time. The lead was exchanged twice in the second half, with the hosts eventually collecting the points.

After the game, the chap who sells the half time draw tickets (which if I win is a donation, as I never remember to check) engaged me in conversation. He initially thought I was with Kells, as I was wearing a shirt with narrow red hoops, like a Lancashire rugby union shirt - although I am not sure any sort of red and white hoops are normal wear in these parts!

As I came to post the link to the pictures on Twitter, I discovered another use of the name Kells - looking for the opposition's account, I had to scroll through quite a lot of people using it as an abbreviation for Kelly before I found what I was looking for.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.

Final score: Thatto Heath Crusaders 22 Kells 16.

In the black

Having had three weeks' practice, I am a little more punctual in my arrival at Thatto Heath Crusaders, and in two of those weeks, I would have been on time if we had Pay-As-You-Go Lobster cards for public transport like in London. As it is, an Arriva ticket on my phone is my best option for the week as a whole, but means I have to let Stagecoach buses (a third of the service on the 10A) go past. It's grim up north.

Play had only just started when I arrived for the Challenge Trophy game against Oulton Raiders. I was not sure from where the visitors had come, but the accents from their bench suggested one of the higher numbered junctions on the M62, and, as I later found, near the former grandly named, but rather less grandly operated East & West Yorkshire Union Railway.

Looking for fixtures online, you can encounter silos, and, had I been relying on the National Conference League, I would have thought there was no game this weekend, even though the Trophy is for clubs in that league. Fortunately, rugby-league.com turned out to be a reliable source of information.

I realised as I set up, that I would have a challenge I had not encountered before, a predominantly black kit on a bright sunny day. I do not come across this in football, as, at the level I watch, black is still reserved for the match officials.

The challenges for the players go without saying, and the water carriers were kept busy. For me, the camera exposed for an average of the kit and surroundings, so I had to tweak the lighting later to avoid a lack of detail, but to do so as not to wash out the background.

The visitors, were wearing light grey, which I have also not encountered before.

I still cannot make my mind up as to whether it is better to photograph from the end of the pitch or the side. I started from the end, as this put the sun behind the camera, and me in some welcome shade.

The unfortunate side effect was that a lot of play was happening with the white walls of the indoor training hall in the background.

I even captured a try under the posts - at least reasonably close to one, the referee was in my way when the ball was grounded.

With the hosts in the Premier Division, and the visitors in Division 2, there was a clear balance of advantage on paper. Oulton kept themselves within range for the first half, remaining within one try at half time. As often happens in games with this gap between the teams, Thatto Heath took a firm grip on scoring in the second. By this time I had moved to the side of the pitch, with the trees making a more manageable background on many of the pictures.

Being positioned near to Oulton's bench, I could hear they maintained a positive approach, still encouraging the team to keep pushing for a consolation score even when the game was well beyond them.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.

Final score: Thatto Heath Crusaders 36 Oulton Raiders 10

Online oubliette

A number of games covered in these pages fit the description of a bad day at the office, but for one where you not only have a bad day, but are manifestly seen to have had one, rugby, of either code, is the game for you. Thatto Heath Crusaders had been happy with the photos I produced from their game against Wigan St Patrick's, requesting permission to use a couple on the website, and asking if I would be coming again. Given their convenient location, I attended again for this weekend's game against Rochdale Mayfield.

I have still to master the timings for the journey on the 10A, so I was a couple of minutes late, but the teams were also a little late coming out, so I was there for the start. It started evenly enough, the visitors opening the scoring with a try, and the hosts replying and converting. Little did we know the hosts would not trouble the scoreboard operator again in his otherwise busy afternoon.

About 10 minutes in, a mass brawl broke out, with the referee, who looked somewhat inexperienced, deciding after extended consultation with the touch judges to send off one player from Rochdale and two from Thatto Heath. I am not sure about the grounds on which he chose those players, but it was harsh on the hosts, as both sides looked equally responsible for the incident.

I have not made a close study of the effect in different sports of a one man disadvantage, but suspect it may be bigger in rugby league than others. In football, there is the option of accurate long passes into space, and in rugby union the attacking side has some control over the ball coming out of the breakdown. In league, however, the extra man means there is always chance to be in more places than the opposition, particularly after the play-the-ball. The visitors were now able to assert their strength, passing and sidestepping to get 10 - 15 yards per tackle, and tackling the hosts after a couple of yards.

As I positioned myself at the end Thatto Heath were attacking, the kick off after one of Rochdale's relentless scores saw the play rapidly back at the other end with the hosts defending their goal line. This does not make for the best pictures, although got enough for a collection, including those times the hosts were able to break free for a good run with the ball.

A match that looks bound for a heavy defeat can acquire a momentum all of its own, particularly in rugby, with the hosts becoming more error prone as the game went on, and a final score from which they will be keen to recover. Looking online to check the score, I at first thought the game had disappeared from collective memory, with neither side nor the league having it, but I found the RFL has a very comprehensive set of results at rugby-league.com once you have worked out where to look, that link to Kingstone Press Leagues only takes you to the professional game, despite the amateur National Conference being sponsored by, er, Kingstone Press.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.

Final score: Thatto Heath Crusaders 6 Rochdale Mayfield 70.

Eat pies lad, not stones

As I made my way round the pitch at Thatto Heath Crusaders' game at home to Wigan St Patricks, I happened upon a two or three year old boy, who had picked up some stones from the hard standing, and, with the natural curiosity of the toddler, was about to see if they were good to eat. As his father was removing them from his grasp, an older gentleman, whom I took to be his grandfather, chipped in with, "You want to eat pies lad, not stones", advice fully endorsed by this blog.

I was surprised, looking back through these pages, that I have not covered rugby league. The last time I photographed regularly was for Liverpool Buccaneers, who have been defunct for some years, since the Kingstone Press National Conference League joined the rest of the game with a summer season, removing the pool of players who wanted to play in a summer and a winter league. I am not sure why I had not found Thatto Heath before, as they are only a few stops on the 10A bus (all human life is there) from Prescot, and they play on a Saturday, which is my preferred day for sport.

The ground has main and training pitches, a modern clubhouse and an indoor training facility, although with the traditional approach of rugby of both codes to wet weather protection for spectators, i.e. bring your own!

I arrived a few minutes late to find both sides had scored one try each, with the hosts having converted theirs. I took up a position on the clubhouse side, near the end Thatto Heath were attacking. The visitors were the first to score after I had started - the nature of the kick off placed active competition for the ball more or less in front of me.

I have a tendency when following a side to concentrate on their players with the ball, but in rugby in particular there is as good a photo in players making a tackle.

It started to rain towards the end of the first half, and the wind was coming in from the open side, so I went that way for the second half, as rain is easier to deal with on the back of my head rather than the front of the camera.

It stopped after a few minutes, leaving good light conditions. I tried some shots from behind the goal line, and was rewarded with a picture of a try.

One of the main differences between union and league is the absence in the latter of what the former calls the breakdown, the ruck or maul, an opportunity to train lenses ready for the ball to emerge. The play-the-ball, by which play continues after a tackle, is a much quicker affair, indeed it is a foul to delay it by keeping hold of a tackled player for longer than necessary. There is no time for a breather in this game, not even for the photographer.

The hosts had taken a firm grip by this time, securing a convincing win to recover their winning ways from earlier in the season and put them on top of the table.

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.

Final score: Thatto Heath Crusaders 44 Wigan St Patricks 12