Join london rugby league

London Rugby League

Join our Clubb

05th June 2013, 4:55

A week is a long time in London Rugby League!

Just days after talking to Tony Clubb about becoming captain of the Broncos, we hear that Craig Gower has played his last game for the club and is on his way back to Australia.

Gower will be missed, his wholehearted displays, often in a losing cause, have been the highlight of his sojourn in London.

But the captaincy could not have gone to a better bloke than Tony Clubb. What you see is what you get with Tony. He’s such a proud local boy, the first ever to lead the club, and I wish him all the best.

Despite his elevation, expect his “messing about” to continue. He likes nothing better than pulling down the shorts of his team mates – which he thinks is hilarious – and pranks like sticking someone’s trainers to the ceiling or covering everything in sticky tape.

The Roehampton training ground should be renamed Boot Camp, given the number of players in surgical boots down there. It seems to be the latest fashion accessory down in SW15.

It’s funny the people you meet at Rugby League matches. Down at The Stoop on Saturday I had a long chat with the chairman of Sweden Rugby League. Turned out to be a bloke who used to play for Skolars called Scott Edwards and he’s doing his best to establish the game over there.

You’ve got to hand it to these guys, it’s tough enough starting clubs in the South East where they at least know what a rugby ball looks like. I tried to show off my knowledge of Scandinavian Rugby League by mentioning the Tromso Polar Bears – big mistake! The Polar Bears are from Norway.

I suppose it must be a bit like calling people from St Helens scousers (don’t ever do that within my hearing!). Where’s Danny Kazandjian when you need him?

At least I didn’t mention Abba, although Agnetha’s new single is pretty good.

I noticed that another new club played their first ever game of Rugby League at the weekend. The Thames Ditton Tigers lost 30-28 to St Albans Centurions A in an Entry League fixture. Thames Ditton is a village on the river in Surrey just down the road from Hampton Court. They even have their own regatta.

It brought to mind a discussion I had with a journalist at the Magic Weekend, who suggested that the Broncos should move to the East End given that Rugby League is a working class sport.

It may be a product of the industrial North but it’s nonsense to believe that it should remain entrenched in working class enclaves. League supporters are always carping on about how rugby union is able to attract top line sponsors but if we’re still fighting the class war, then what chance does Rugby League have of attracting them.

Here endeth the lesson!

Incidentally there’s another new club, the Beckenham Bears, who hail from yet another leafy suburb on the outskirts of London. Did you know that the St Helens club was founded by a chemist from Beckenham called William Herman? So much for our working class roots!

Must get down to Thames Ditton sometime and watch a game. I’ll be the one in a striped blazer and Panama hat sitting in a deck chair with a jug of Pimms.
Source : http://www.londonrugbyleague.co.uk