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.

A trip to the park

A few years ago, I was visiting a friend from school and his young son. He was an intelligent chap (and still is, I hasten to add), and I was soon on my hands and knees showing him how to shunt the carriages on his train set. I was regaled with how, after I left they went to the local park and played football for a few hours, attracting a large group to join in by the end. Then, one visit, he had a video game. Everything seemed to have changed: "Morning Luke" "Mm", "How are you?" "Ug". I thought all was lost, until, half an hour later, he looked up and asked brightly, "When are we going to the park Daddy?".

Last weekend took me to a local park, or at least a ground in one, with the weather making finding a place to watch sport a fluid situation. The report from New Mills, where Prescot Cables had been due to play, was that much work had been put in to the pitch on Friday, but it was likely to be in vain if the forecast rain fell overnight.

When the game was called off before I needed to set out, the options were rugby at Caldy or Birkenhead Park. Caldy were advertising a 3pm kick off, which seemed odd, as I do not recall their having floodlights. So, I decided to get off the bus (it is the same route to both grounds for me) at Birkenhead Park for their 2.15 kick off against Kirkby Lonsdale, with its guarantee that we would still be able to see what was going on by the end.

Birkenhead Park are one of the oldest clubs in the area, with their socks proclaiming they were founded in 1871.

Note the initials over the clubhouse door.

Rugby was the first football code to take hold in the Liverpool area, with many older clubs in the area carrying the suffix "FC". Liverpool FC were less than amused when the exponents of the non handling game helped themselves to their name without so much as a by your leave, and the merged Liverpool St Helens club maintains the "FC" tradition.

The ground is on the edge of the park from which the club takes its name. The park side terrace has become covered with grass.

In football, FA requirements would insist this be fenced off, but rugby is more inclined to trust their spectators to make their own assessment of the state of the ground. I made my way round, as it was less populated than the street side, and gave me freedom to move up and down with the flow of the game.

As it was a cold, damp day, everyone could see their breath, which, when 16 blokes have been running and gather for a scrum, that means a certain amount of steam, all good for a photo.

The ground had floodlights. Although we could probably have managed without, they were turned on for the second half, which made the camera work easier, such as in this shot about half an hour in, so at about 3.30.

The sun made an appearance in the last few minutes of the game, so after the final whistle, I hopped on the bus to West Kirby to catch the sunset.

When I had uploaded the pictures, I sent a link to the club webmaster, who sent a nice note back saying he had enjoyed the photos, particularly as his son was playing, and that he would put them on the website. He also put the programme editor in touch - I am always pleased when a club has a use for my photos. The club have a Pitchero website, which used to be easy for photo sharing, you uploaded them yourself, and the webmaster then approved them for publication. I do not know if they were getting inundated with images, including spam, but you now need to declare yourself a player, parent or official club member (which of course I am not) in order to request permission to upload.

The rest of the pictures from an end to end game, with the teams never more than one score apart, can be seen here.

Final score: Birkenhead Park 17 Kirkby Lonsdale 15.