Close cropping

During the first half of the Wales v England rugby union game a couple of weeks ago, my friend Dr Phil posted on Facebook that he thought the England players were all lads from Buckinghamshire, coerced into playing rugby at Eton, and they needed to strengthen the squad with some door staff from nightspots my student and postdoctoral friends go to long after my bedtime. There was one flaw in this analysis - none of the squad are from Buckinghamshire, and none went to Eton.

The sociological aspect of rugby union merits a few reams of academic literature, but the perception (never more than partly true) that the game in England was a public school preserve was a source of derision to our neighbours, particularly in Wales. In the professional era, whilst the majority of the starting XV against Wales (eight players to seven) was educated privately, this was mainly Millfield (on sports scholarships) and local independent grammar schools.

Of the comprehensive educated players, three came from a few miles away from where I grew up. My school offered football and rugby: the latter's players seemed more (but definitely not exclusively) drawn from those whose parents attended a state grammar school. Such schools when they existed in our area mainly played rugby. I avoided the conundrum by being hopeless at controlling a ball, but having a half way decent turn of speed up and down a 1 in 9 hill (for those in the know, Mossley is a mere bagatelle at 1 in 13). On the other side of the hill was Warlingham RFC, where a number of our school team played their club rugby, and current England captain Chris Robshaw played as a boy.

One group largely absent from the England squad, and I am not sure whether it was a significant group in the amateur era, was from the farming areas of the South West and East Midlands, where the game attracts support across the community, possibly because local games are a good excuse for a scrap with the next village.

The following morning, I found Prescot Cables' football game at home to Salford City was postponed due to a frozen pitch. It had been sunny the previous day, and not freezing overnight; however, there is an area in permanent shadow, which was still frozen from Thursday night. So, I headed off to table topping Birkenhead Park, who used my photos last season. I am not sure about the social makeup of the club, but being next to Birkenhead School and with a grammar school system in part of the Wirral, I suspect it is similar to that back home. The visitors, second placed  Kirkby Lonsdale, are from the solidly farming area of Westmorland.

I could have gone to a game a couple of weeks previously if Darlington had not been gung-ho about the state of their pitch, giving a wasted journey to County Durham. I would then have been able to join in their commemoration of Park and England captain Percy Kendall, killed in action in France 100 years ago.

One of my photos from the corresponding fixture last year was on the programme cover...

... a more closely cropped version of this one.

I generally regard including the ball as a minimum requirement, but the closer crop works quite well in the context of the cover.

The away side's colours always look bright on a grey day.

The away supporters seemed dissatisfied with some of the refereeing decisions, although not always being on top of the laws meant I was not able to offer an opinion. Here the ball carrier seems intent on letting everyone get on with their maul without him.

The hosts looked to be at a disadvantage with a man sent off just before half time, but maintained their lead with solid defence...

...driving forward when they had the ball...

...and a conversion accompanied by what sounded like a tile slipping on the changing room roof, the landing point for a fair few successful efforts.

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

Final score: Birkenhead Park 20, Kirkby Lonsdale 17.