The Haka

It's one of the iconic sights in international sport, calling on a nations aboriginal heritage and declaring war on the opposition, albeit in a sporting context.



It's most notably performed by the New Zealand rugby sides and on Saturday, New Zealand's rugby league side kick-off a three-match test series against Great Britain in Hudderfield.

I'll confess that I haven't actually seen the "Kiwi's" peform the Haka in person. I've seen the Fijian's perform their versionm 'The Cibi', at the 2000 World Cup and I've seen a spectacular rendition of both the Samoan and Tongan Hakas, performed simultaneously, towards each other, only last year in a World Cup qualifier in Leeds.

But's I've not yet seen the New Zealand version, instead, having to make do with the television:



A lot of opponents have foolishly tried to challenge the Haka, in both codes, non more so than Australian forward Willie Mason, who's probably still suffering the after affects from the 2006 Tri-Nations. It's not big, it's not clever, and more often that not, you end up paying for it.

Tomorrow, I'll be attending the first Gillette Fusion test at the Galpharm Stadium, hoping for a British win of course.

A great sporting weekend

What a fantastic sporting weekend we have just witnessed.....







Now upon seeing that sentence, you'll probably be expecting this blog post to claim how fantastic it was that England's footballers beat a team of Estonian bricklayers and minicab drivers whilst the nation's over aged public-schoolboy squad somehow squirmed their way into the Rugby Union World Cup final against a side that, for much of their history, were merely a Nazi-sponsored band of looters and thieves. (Mike Rylance's book 'The Forbidden Game' will tell you more).

But no. For me, the event of the weekend was the engage Super League Grand Final in which my team Leeds battered the defending champions St Helens by 33-6 to win the domestic rugby league championship.

Before the game it was impossible to split the sides. In the past three meetings, Leeds had won two, St Helens the other. In the league, one competition point split first-placed St Helens from the Rhinos and in the play-off game at Knowsley Road, a dubiously awarded penalty goal was all that split the pair. What we saw was a second-half blitz from Leeds which blew away the current World Club Champions.

It was a fantastic day out in Manchester and, unusually for a Leeds side, a stunning final performance in front of 71,000 people at Old Trafford.

It wasn't just the victory, or the manner of the victory against a side that has really set the benchmark in recent seasons, but there were plenty of other subplots behind yesterday's game.

In the early hours of Saturday, just a matter of hours before the sides were due to take the field, former Leeds scrum-half Jeff Stevenson passed away at the age of 75. During the presentation, Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield paid tribute to the Leeds legend in his post-match acceptance speech.

If their was any other motivation needed for the side, another Leeds legend and perennial gobshite Garry Schofield was busy making himself look an idiot one again and proclaiming how Leeds would get stuffed. As great a player Schofield was for both Leeds and Great Britain, he's a nothing pundit. Anyone inside the game knows that, the fans know that and the press know that - it's just that he can always be relied upon to make a stupid headline grabbing comment at the expense of his own dignity - as was the case this weekend and many weekend's before it.

It was also the final game in charge of Leeds for coach Tony Smith - and what a final game. After joining the club in 2004, Smith has guided Leeds to three Grand Finals in four years, winning two of them and in his debut season, brought Leeds their first title for 32 years. Smith will now take the job of national team coach.

So all in all, a fantastic sporting weekend only dampened by Farsley Celtic's unlucky 1-0 loss to Oxford United.

Football Fortunes

After a summer of turmoil, Leeds United are appearing in a live televised game for the first time this season.






OK, so it's the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, the butt of all professional football jokes since it's inception in 1983, but they face Darlington tonight on the road to Wembley. It was almost inevitable that the match presenter opened the programme with "Seven years ago, Leeds were in the Champions League", but playing in the football league trophy is hardly the worst thing that could have happened to the club lately.

After being all-but relegated last season, the club exploited a Football League loophole and entered administration due to the long-term debts the club accrued in an ill-fated drive for the Champions League, with unsecured debts totaling £100m at one point before a succession of chairman chipped away at the debt.

Football League rules meant that Leeds incurred a 10-point penalty for their financial situation but, as they were effectively relegated anyway, the club faced the wrath of fellow Football League members.

As it emerged, it was all one big debt avoidance scheme by chairman Ken Bates, a man who himself resides in the tax-haven that is Monte Carlo.

Creditors of the club were vast, ranging from a local mobile DJ, a balloon supplier, St Gemma's Hospice and the St John's Ambulance but it was four main parties that were of major interest in this remarkable saga.

Whilst their was a number of creditors, the bulk of the debt was owed to four parties. Astor Holdings, Krato Trust, Forward Sports Fund and HMRC - the tax man to you and me. But here's the twist: Nobody had ever heard of the former three firms, they were based at various parts of the globe, including the British Virgin Islands, where businesses can set themselves up almost anonymously. The link was that Bates was attached or associated with the three firms all along. He was in a win-win situation. 75% of a creditors vote was needed for a new ownership of the club, yet Bates himself was attached to 45% of the creditors.

Bates promptly made an offer to creditors - you would get 1p back for every £1 you were owed. That meant that a local hospice, who were owed more than £800, would get little more that £8. However, in line with Football League regulations, all 'football creditors' had to be paid. That meant that former players, owed hundreds of thousands of pounds, would receive every penny.

The offer didn't go down too well with the tax-man, who challenged the resulting CVA.

I could go on here but I'll bore you. Long story short, the CVA was scrapped, against Football League rules, and after much uncertainty over whether the club would be allowed to compete, they were eventually, at the eleventh hour, granted entry to League One - with a 15-point deduction and no FA membership.

There was one other Yorkshire side though who weren't so lucky.

Scarborough FC are another football club who had been teetering on the brink of collapse for a number of years.

As the debts mounted, the solution seemed to be to leave their home at Seamer Road and move to a new, purpose built ground on the outskirts of the city. There nothing wrong with the McCain Stadium, I went their myself whilst following Farsley Celtic last season and as a Conference North ground, there few, if any that were better. But the site was prime land for property developers. Flats and apartments were starting to surround the ground and the "Seadogs" wanted to cash-in on the housing boom.

But local politics got in the way. A covenant existed on the site that restricted its use only to sporting activities. There was no way that the site could be sold to a property developer without the covenant being lifted. Despite the club's best efforts to convince the authorities that this plan would save the club, Scarborough Borough Council refused to budge.

Inevitably, the club was wound up. A new club has formed, Scarborough Athletic, in the Northern Counties East League and the club, an offshoot from a side that was facing Chelsea in the FA Cup in 2004, will face Kirkbymoorside this coming Saturday as part of a league campaign that will take in Rainworth Miners Welfare and the Leeds Metropolitan University team.

There are probably intricacies and details that I'm probably not aware of in the case of Scarborough FC, but from the outset, it seems a shame that a local authority was so short-sighted when it came to the state of the club. After insisting that the site at Seamer Road could only be used for sport, they now have a site with no sports team which will, in all likelihood, be sold off to a property developer.

I also type this just hours after Widnes Vikings RLFC themselves entered administration.

In the chase for promotion, they banked heavily on a result which, on Sunday, never came. Today the club are counting the cost of that ambition and, although it would seem unlikely, the sport could lose one of it's great names.

The rugby league authorities are introducing a franchising system from 2009, which would eliminate automatic promotion and relegation and force clubs to build a long-term plan and prove that they are capable of competing in the elite division - both on and off the field. It can't come soon enough.

A Plea

On Friday night, Leeds Rhinos ended their home campaign by booking their place at the Rugby Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford.

A 36-6 victory over Wigan in the Final Eliminator of the play-offs means that Leeds will now face St Helens at the home of Manchester United for the right to be crowned Super League champions and after queuing for around 2 and a half hours from 7:50am on Saturday, I had my match ticket in hand.

The Grand Final itself is a fantastic concept and a great day out. The game is played in the sports traditional heartlands, Manchester City Centre opens up it's bars to supporters of all clubs without the need for the heavy police presence that accompanies certain other sports and the game itself is as tense as anything ever seen in a sporting arena. A full season of work comes down to 80 minutes.

That photo was taken in 2004 - when Leeds won the championship for the first time in 32 years and it was an unforgettable day. It also showed that even Leeds' rugby team can do something that Leeds United can't do - win at Old Trafford. ;)

But there is one downside. One blight on the evening that spoils the day for all involved - air horns.

Despite the various signs displayed at every turnstile informing you that such items are banned from all British sporting stadia, street traders the length of Sir Matt Busby Way will be peddling these infernal horns to people stupid enough to buy them. As soon as the gates open and you reach your seat, you are guaranteed to be sat in front of some brat who insists pointing his new-found toy directly at your ear lobe.

Some of us see sense. There is a bloke selling the same offending articles at Headingley, standing on St Michael's Lane before every home game. Despite this, I have never heard an air horn sound in the ground for as long as I can remember - and I don't think that's down to the eagle-eyed stewards telling purchasers where to shove the offending object before they enter the ground. Quite how that seller earns a living is quite intriguing.

So anyway - it's time to take a stand. If you're going to the Grand Final on Saturday - don't buy air horns. Don't even think about it - just don't.

I even made a crappy photoshop banner to start my campaign. Feel free to steal it if you wish.

The Wembley Way

The new Wembley was finally opened a few months ago and after a succession of football matches and rock concerts, it was the turn of Rugby League to grace the new £800million venue.



Sometimes forgotten about in Wembley history, the Rugby League Challenge Cup final has been played at the national stadium since 1929. There have been some memorable events that have taken place at the old Wembley stadium that, unfortunately, tend to get buried under the hysteria surrounding the equally famous football and music events that the venue has hosted.

The picture above was taken at the 1999 Challenge Cup Final. It was the last rugby final to be played at Wembley before the twin towers were demolished and it was the first time I ever saw my side Leeds win a major trophy in the flesh, after plenty of final defeats it has to be said.
Then Leeds captain Iestyn Harris (on the right) is pictured with man-of-the-match Leroy Rivett, who became the first player to score four tries in a cup final. His career has since nose-dived and the last I heard, he was working at a bowling alley in Leeds City Centre.
He was present at Wembley last week, as part of a parade of Lance Todd Trophy winners, although he should have probably asked someone about the expected dress-code.

But there has been many more memorable events that go down, not just in rugby league history, but in sporting history. Take Don Fox's missed goal in the 1968 final that handed Leeds victory over Wakefield. The day when Bradford's Robbie Paul became the first scorer of a hat-trick at Wembley - and still ended up on the losing side as the Bulls went down to St Helens in 1996.

In 1998, it was the Sheffield Eagles who caused one of the biggest sporting upsets ever seen as they beat the mighty Wigan Warriors in a final that some regard as the greatest ever seen in the cup's 110 year history.

And it would have been an upset of similar proportions last week had St Helens fallen to the Catalans Dragons, the first ever non-British side to compete in a Challenge Cup final.

The Dragons, only in their second year in existence in their current guise, were massive underdogs and so it seemed only right that I became a part-time bandwagon-jumping Dragon for the day.

Here are a sample of photos from the day:

Some people were warned about staying in Leeds until 4:00am when a 7:00am departure was planned. Unfortunately, your's truly got conned into driving so couldn't enjoy himself the night before. Whilst I was awake, driving, these scenes were also repeated on the M40 / A43 / M1 on the way home.

Walking down Wembley away, this at about 11:00am.

Bobby Moore's statue


In my defence, I'd not bought the Catalans shirt just because they got to the final - this was a souvenir from my trip to Perpignan last season. I've even been to a Catalans game in England (vs Bradford, albiet on a freebie) so that doesn't really make me a bandwagon jumper.....


View from on high....


And again....


The match kicks-off.

Impressions on Wembley? Very impressive. For some, it will take some getting used to and it does lack the ore and sentimentality of the old stadium but in terms of facilities, it's infinitely better. The concourses are wide and surprisingly light for a fully enclosed walkway, the views are impressive (the above photo doesn't do it justice) and in terms of architecture, it's a far cry from those IKEA flat-pack retail park football stadiums that are unfortunately, becoming increasingly common in this country.

The only gripe is the location. I could have come up with a more imaginative place for a national stadium than a North London industrial estate, but that was as much a problem with the old stadium as it is with this one. They are regenerating the immediate area, although my suspicions are that theses will be no more than yuppie apartment blocks. We shall see.

The atmosphere was a bit flat, but I don't think that two sides so far apart, both geographically and playing-wise, would have generated an electric atmosphere. The noise does carry around the stadium well though.

All in all, an enjoyable day out. The result wasn't what I hoped but I wasn't overly fussed. I'd certainly go again, hopefully it will be Leeds there next year!

A Lazy afternoon

With the beautiful weather that fell upon us yesterday, it was rude not to take advantage.

And so what better way of sitting on a hill, with a few beers, watching Bramley Buffaloes beat Gateshead?

Certainly one of the better ways to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon in the sun. Now I just need to nip back outside to enjoy what remains of today's heatwave.

Welcome to Wakefield

When Peter Kay wrote 'Phoenix Nights', he wanted to characterise a shabby, ramshackle, badly-run, social club in the North of England (Bolton to be precise). What he probably didn't realise is that is writings would just so aptly depict an entire city.

Head south from Leeds and you'll eventually reach a signpost for Wakefield although, unlike Phoenix Nights, it isn't wired into the lamp-post and won't tell you to "pull up into paradise".

Many people have questioned the merits of Wakefield's city status, and Friday night's visit to the city for Leeds' game with the Wildcats hasn't converted me into thinking otherwise either.

Firstly, the city centre completely closes at 5pm and given that have of the retail units have the words "Closing Down" white-washed on them, I don't imagine that it's the hive of activity before that time either. If you want a under-cooked kebab, items costing £1 or a (possibly) stolen mobile phone, then it's probably the place for you but if you actually want something useful, non-poisonous or legal, it's probably best go somewhere else.

Some of those problems can be put down to the neighboring city of Leeds. Many of the locals work in Leeds, a city which has built a heavy proportion of it's economy on retail and the city centre. There has even been talk of Wakefield becoming part of a 'Greater Leeds' district, which would be a bad thing for all involved. Bad for Wakefield, because it would cease to exist and bad for Leeds because it will be the geographic equivalent of growing a hemorrhoid.

Anyway, onto the rugby ground itself. It's a shit hole.
There is literally no other word to describe the venue and when you actually see Belle Vue for the first time, it's no surprise that Wakefield is officially the "worst city for sport" in the UK.
It's crumbling, pot-hole ridden terraces and dangerous exit system make you wonder how the ground gets a safety certificate in the first place and it's missing a few of the 'mod-cons' you might expect to find at any mid-table Unibond North League football ground such as roofs, draught beers and a scoreboard (although one helpful chap does put numbered cards onto a hook if you happen to lose count.)

Throughout the game, the PA operator couldn't get the hang of making the music system play at the right time to perform some pathetic jingle for Wildcats player Jamie Rooney and the constant yelling of "MAKE SOME NOIIIIIIIIISE!" over the tannoy soon got irritating.
Needless to say, the 'Belle Vue experience' is one that is endured rather than enjoyed.

So after that experience, onwards to sample some of that Wakefield night-life that we'd heard so much about and yet again, it proved to be an anti-climax.

Walking along the famous 'Westgate run', we encountered nothing but half-empty chain bars, seedy heroin houses and boarded up boozers. The 'place to be' on a Friday night in Wakefield appeared to be Flares, which tells you more or less everything else you need to know.

One person on the trip described the town as a "poor man's Bradford", I'm not sure if a more derogatory statement has ever been made.

My Sportingo Debut

After getting an e-mail a few months back inviting me to sign up to Sportingo, I've eventually got round to putting an article up.

It's my preview to the new Super League season which kicks-off on Sunday (one of a couple on there) and you can read it here.

Return of the Rugby

Friday nights are back! Last night saw what, for me at least, was the unofficial start of the new Rugby League season.






With the change to summer rugby, with the season starting in February (Rugby League does unusual things like that), the pre-season campaigns are already underway.
Most clubs so far have run a few friendly games, but mainly involving the academy players. Last night however, Leeds' first team took on their Huddersfield counterparts at Headingley.

The game was a joint testimonial game (Rugby League does funny things like that) for Paul Reilly, who was celebrating 10 years service at Huddersfield, and Keith Senior, who wasn't celebrating 10 years service at Leeds.

Senior had instead been awarded a 'four month' testimonial (Rugby League does funny things like that) "for services to the game". To date he is the only player to have played in every year of Super League, is the Super League top appearance and try scorer and has been a Great Britain regular. His testimonial was fully deserved.

Over the testimonial period, the players essentially try and raise as much money as possible and a nice little kitty. Some donate the money to charity, others use it as a way of funding a career away from the game. They'll usually hold a dinner event, golf day, release a special edition shirt and hold their own benefit game - hence my attendance at Headingley yesterday.

In essence, a testimonial game is an opportunity for the marketing men to dress up a pre-season kick about as something much more important. Aside from the extra fanfare before and after, they're pretty run-of-the-mill.

Anyway, Leeds won 50-0. They scored some cracking tries (especially given it's pre-season) and on this form, will challenge anyone, expect it's Leeds we're talking about, so the form will probably last until the last two months of the season.

The Super League season kicks off proper next week, with Huddersfield playing St Helens in Round 3 (Rugby League does funny things like that). At least I'll have something to update The One Pointer with.

Who to Support

Today see's the finale of the engage Super League season with the Grand Final at Old Trafford.





After the National League's wrapped up their season last week, now is it's the turn of the countries elite league.

But as I take my seat at the home of Manchester United this evening I'm left with a conundrum: Which team do I support.

A Leeds fan at heart, I'm now faced with the decision between today's finalists, St Helens and Hull FC.
I think I'm plumping for St Helens. I don't particuarly like either side, but Hull less-so (and a Hull fan's feeling towards Leeds will be similar).

The Saints are going for the treble, after already wrapping up the Challenge Cup and Minor Premiership and play an outstanding brand of Rugby, so I'll probably be a Saint for the day.

It'll be a cracking game though so make sure you watch it. If you haven't watched Rugby League before, have a gander at this - it'll beat that gash on Prem Plus this evening.

Oh, and make sure you read my match preview as well ;)

No Rugby for you Here

Some of you may have noticed a lack of Rugby League content of here lately. That's because I've decided to move it to it's own dedicated blog. It's been listed in the links section for a while now, but I figured that not all of you would look there. In fact, I know few of you look there, because my stat counter shows that very few of you have found it by clicking the link on here. So because of that, I'm thrusting this advert right infront of you!

If you haven't visited it yet, I think you should.

Happy reading!