Good afternoon and a very warm welcome to Old Brodleians for another very important League match for our First XV as we continue to strive to move ourselves away from the relegation area of Yorkshire 1. Brods themselves sit pretty in fifth place in the League having recently won bragging rights against near neighbours Old Crossleyans and they will no doubt be looking to continue a run of victories which stretches back to the turn of the year, their defeat against close rivals Heath being the only reverse of 2019. Our last match certainly went down to the wire with the last kick of the game, a penalty from Harry Cruise, stealing a victory away at Guisborough who at the time had failed to win any of their League games this season. They managed to rectify that just last weekend when they scored a famous victory over Middlesbrough in a game which had been re-arranged following floodlight failure on the original Friday of the fixture. Our win gave us a one win cushion over Old Rishworthians and a 1 point margin ahead of Hullensians, but with away games against both still to come, the end of the season promises to be every bit as exciting as it has been for the last few years, but still for the wrong reasons!

However, with the RFU looking to a re-organisation of League Rugby in the North, final League positions could eventually turn out to be largely irrelevant for us, with one of the options looking at creating 3 Northern Leagues at Level 6 which would see no relegation from Yorkshire 1 if it were to be introduced for the 2019-20 season. Of course we would not wish to rely on such hypothetical possibilities to do us any favours and I am absolutely convinced that our players will not give it a second thought until the final whistle of the final game has been blown.

Away from the First team, there has been some excellent news amongst some of our other teams,with Eddie Brown making his debut for Yorkshire Under 20s in the recent Roses match which Yokshire won 35-25 and no fewer than 6 of our Under 15 Girls also representing the County against Lancashire at Castle Park. Congratulations from everybody involved with the Club go to Izzy Sturmey, Abi Moore, Erin Bradley, Ella Parsonage, Isla Ramsey and Dani Moore. Last Saturday also saw us turn out a 5th Team against Castleford 3rds, even though it meant I had to dust off my boots, the average age of the Front Row was 53 and half backs and inside centre totalled 154 years of age between the three of them!! Nevertheless everybody involved had a great afternoon and it is in no small way thanks to the efforts of Chris Young, our 4th team skipper that it took place at all.

In conclusion, I would like to offer a gentle reminder to everybody taking part in or spectating this afternoon’s game to please show respect to the match officials, players from both sides and other spectators. There is nothing better than a hard fought game of Rugby played out in front of a knowledgeable and friendly crowd and we all have to play our part in ensuring that everybody here this afternoon can go home afterwards having enjoyed some great entertainment, whether a player, flag man, referee, water boy, allickadoo or a member of the paying public. We have a duty to all visitors to Sandhill Lane to ensure that their afternoon is not ruined by the actions of one or two individuals and that everybody adheres to the RFU Code of Conduct, so I would ask that everybody makes sure that they behave in a manner befitting our great game.