The Greatest Game In The World and More Ashes
Borrowing some hyperbole from the broadcasting legend Stevo, Saturday’s Betfred Rugby League Challenge Cup final between Leigh Leopards and my old club (administrator not player) Hull KR was an absolute classic. Acknowledging strong recency bias, the game was arguably the best in the competition’s 80 year history at Wembley.
It featured two clubs that had last tasted Cup success in 1972 and 1980 respectively and the first time in 37 years that one of the Big 4, St Helens, Wigan Leeds or Warrington had not made the final
The game was definitely not the highest scoring final, definitely not featuring end to end open rugby or blistering length of the field individual tries. It was more like the equivalent of rugby trench warfare with defences on top but utterly compelling and the commitment from both sets of players absolute.
The trophy looked to be heading to Leigh before Hull KR levelled the game at 16-16 with a try, awarded after a lengthy video review and a goal which was the last kick of the 80 minutes.
Cue the unbelievable tension of golden point and in a frantic couple of minutes there was a questionable penalty call, a missed kick to touch, a failed drop goal by both sides before Leigh won it with a “one pointer” by the coach’s son Lachlan Lam.
It was a fairy tale win for club in its first year back in Super League under the ownership of leopard skin clad Derek Beaumont and although brilliant for the small Lancashire Club, I felt very sorry for my old gaffer, KR Chair Neil Hudgell. Neil has been at the helm of the Club for 20 and his support has ensured that East Hull has a team that it can be proud of – a cup win would have been a fitting reward for the support and investment he has put into the game in that time.
It may have been the 80th time that Wembley has hosted the final but it was the first time that the Women’s final has been at the venue. The live BBC coverage meant that the match had visibility and St Helens beat Leeds 22-8 in a high quality, entertaining game.
Sticking with ex employer’s of mine, it was great to see the Team England success at the recent Commonwealth Youth games in Trinidad and Tobago. Unfortunately losing the Ashes battle at the top of the medal table, they returned a very solid second place with 16 gold and 49 medals in total - an excellent return. There was also very strong performances by the other Home Nations all finishing in the top 10 and a triathlon gold medal for Jersey. Interestingly neither India or New Zealand returned a gold medal.
Among the excellent English performances, a couple of names to look out for in the future are Oscar Bilboa who was responsible for 4 golds in the pool and Phoebe Gill on the track who destroyed a very strong field when taking 800m victory. The Youth Games is a fantastic training ground for athletes, coaches and support staff with Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic aspirations and lets hope that this won’t have been last version of the event!
To wrap up the latest performances of my recent paymasters, Saints drew 4-4 with Norwich, Surrey Cricket lost by 87 runs to Kent in the One day Cup, University of Surrey were ranked 24th in the Guardian’s 2023 UK University guide, up an impressive 33 places on the year before and London Broncos get their season underway next week against Halifax.
Continuing the Ashes theme, a staple of these articles at the moment, The England Lionesses face Australia this week in the semi final of the Women’s World Cup. They were given a stern test by Colombia but, even when trailing, looked the likely winners of the game. They are strong tactically, have a clear game plan and tend to win the key “arm wrestles” and make the right decisions at critical times during the game – something that their male counterparts often struggle with.
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They face a good, but very beatable, Australian team who will be roared on by a partisan crowd. However the team look to have the tools to deal with the Matildas and know, if they win, they will face a team in the Final that they beat on the way to European glory last year. The omens look good.
A couple of other take aways from the quarter final. I would advise Jurgen Klopp to forget about his £100m+ bid for Moises and focus on the Colombian Linda Caicedo who is a better player and that Emma Hayes is by, a very large country mile, the best football analyst on TV or radio.
Her analysis offers terrific, thoughtful insight telling me things I didn’t know or understand and she is direct and unafraid to call out poor play or tactics. She is such a refreshing change to the anodyne, cliqued fan boy nonsense that we are generally subjected to throughout a Premier League season.
My final Ashes observation involves the potential Rugby World Cup Quarter Final between England and Australia. The chances of this happening seems to be lessening with the downward trajectory of both teams leading into the competition. There is the unusual scenario of a coach leaving one team to join another and both are regressing. Unless things improve for the teams in the short time before the start of the event, the chances of one or even both teams failing to make it out of the pool stage is a realistic possibility.
The long summer wait was finally over for all football fans this weekend with the kick off of the new season of the Saudi Pro League. It got off to a flyer on Friday night when a “Scouse Bobby” Firmino hat trick had the fans “dancing in the street of Al-Ahli” following their opening day win over Al Hazm.
Meanwhile back in football reality, my favourite story of the week was the news that my good friend Ian Braid and his consultancy DOCIAsport Ltd had teamed up with SwitchThePlay Foundation to help launch “Half Turn”. This is a new players association focusing on the duty of care for its members from the 83 semi professional teams in the Isthmian League. You can read more about this great initiative here
I also wanted to give a quick congratulations to James Cole and Northern Cricket Club who won the Lancashire area final of the national ECB T20 Knockout at Old Trafford on Sunday mainly thanks to a very violent 108 not out off 42 balls by Alex Vincent. This is a team you want to avoid drawing in the last 16.
Finally returning to the theme of my ex employers and whilst I have never had a job with Stanley, although it would definitely come in handy at the moment, it is, admittedly a tenuous connection to the lyrical genius of Chris Difford and the musical perfection of this classic by Squeeze from 1979 – I give you “Up The Junction”, enjoy!
Olympian, Speaker, Leadership & Culture Coach, Facilitator, Author, Podcast Co-host
1yLove listening to Emma Hayes, you come away with greater insights into the game - rarely the case with many commentators who distract, irritate and offer vacuous cliches and seem to watching things less closely than I am! Huge fan of the work of Docia Sport - this is a great partnership and deserves to be publicised and applauded widely!
Coaching for Public Speaking, Presentation & Pitches | Helping companies develop and express a brand distinction | Marketing & Comms Strategy | Interim CMO | smallbrowndogmarketing.com acuitymarketingandcoaching.com
1yNice one and thanks for the tag. I definitely agree with you on Emma Hayes. How rare to get football punditry that is additive to the watching experience. It really shouldn’t be beyond the wit of broadcasters to see the difference; tell us about WHY things are happening, show us, help us understand. Sadly, what we usually get is a form of patronising sycophancy from people whose presence alone is meant to suffice. We don’t need empty fame, real insight is a far greater currency. Through her clarity of thought and verbal delivery you can appreciate how her Chelsea players are able to absorb and enact what it will take to win.