GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

A look back to the missing festive games.

‘Tis the season to be cheerful, but not if you were expecting to see some live rugby between December 13th and January 3rd at any level below level 4 (National 2 North). You could select a match in the Aviva Premiership or a handful of games in the Championship, all full time, paid players note, but after that you will be struggling. The days of the ‘derby’ encounters, no league points at stake – Gloucester v Lydney, Moseley v Coventry, Camborne  v Redruth (more of these later, as I can include them all in my portfolio!), not to mention the local rivalries – have gone, leaving deserted clubhouses for the best part of three weeks.

Before even considering the failings of that anonymous body, affectionately referred to as ‘the fixture planners,’ there is one simple reason for this shutdown: players do not want to go out and play at this time of the year. Be it a change in social habits, a cultural switch, the need for a mid-winter break or whatever, the last thought in many minds would be a game of rugby. Football, admittedly all professional players, crams as many fixtures as possible into this holiday period, resulting in grounds packed to the rafters; the money made at this time of the year is the decisive factor in guaranteeing that the English clubs do not join their European colleagues in putting their feet up for a couple of weeks. Yet there was something altogether different in rugby, apart from bar profits, about the Boxing Day, New Year or interim period matches which attracted the spectators. Basically, everyone was delighted to get out of the house, anticipate a possible dust up on the field and enjoy the special atmosphere in the clubhouse.

I vividly recall refereeing Gloucester v Lydney for the third successive year (well might a spectator have confided “no-one wants to do this game down here”) and after an almighty flare up, from which I couldn’t have been further away, resorting to the standard “two captains, come here,” (no independent touch judges or TMO’s to lend assistance then). The esteemed Gloucester captain summarily passed it all off with, “it’s f...ing Boxing Day isn’t it ref?”

In a moment of weakness, or madness, I once agreed to a request which caught me unawares in September, to travel to Camborne for the traditional Boxing Day ‘friendly’ with Redruth. Talk about it seeming a novel idea at the time; as the day dawned, it no longer appeared quite as enticing. No matter, there in just over four hours on the day of the game and back the following day before going to Moseley to do a game against Llanelli. Can you imagine doing that nowadays as part of your holiday fun? Stangely enough, referees are more willing than players to answer the call to turn out on unsociable dates and for unusual kick-off times, just one of the quirky characteristics needed to do the job in the first place.

Another feature of the Christmas/New Year period, long disappeared, is the programme of schools Under 18 and Under 16 County fixtures which highlighted the season. These keenly fought contests within the Northern Group drew large crowds, again eager to escape the house, the wife, or simply to get some fresh air, leading to North trial matches and subsequently England selection for those players fortunate enough to make the next step. I wonder what the chances of putting that lot together in 2014-15 would be.

So, into 2015 and something resembling normality resumes……..until Easter when, apart from rearranged league games, the players down tools and we can replace the moaning about no Christmas holiday matches with “ we used to play three games in four days, why no more Easter tours?”

David Matthews