Let’s give a warm Anselmian welcome to Glossop Rugby Club from the edge of the Peak District. “Crikey!” quips fun-sized Chairman Geoff Smith, “It’s even further away than Dukinfield!” A long way indeed. Long standing supporters are advised book their Sherpa for our reciprocal visit to the wonderfully named Nab Hill in January. In Geoff we trust.

The Glossop RUFC website makes a tenuous claim to the club starting in the 19th century but, really, the club has been active for the last forty years and has a similar profile to ourselves. It’s the usual story of a group of players, a lot of hard work by a dedicated few, struggles with officialdom and the herculean task of raising money for a new clubhouse. The difference is that they have done it. Let’s ask them how.

Every rugby club boasts it’s “characters” and, reading about Glossop’s “Oaf”, I was reminded of our own. In recent years we have lost Paul Close, Terry Cooke, Johns Casey, Moscrop, McDonough and Ray Nugent.
One of Prenton’s finest was Old Rockferrian Dick Walker, a firebrand socialist and very funny man. He died in the close season but I only found out recently. Dick produced a weekly broadsheet of scurrilous gossip, insult and libel which was genuinely offensive, but nobody seemed to mind. I remember his solution to the dilemma of naming the new club after the merger of Old Instonians and Old Rockferrians in 1992. Anxious to avoid either club losing status in the new club structure, Dick came up with the perfect solution.
“Simple. We will take the ‘Old’ out ‘Old Instonians’ and the ‘Rockferrians’ out of ‘Old Rockferrians’ and called the new club, er…’Old Rockferrians.’”
Rest in Peace.

Touchline punditry hasn’t really improved over the years. Will Carling’s “Old Farts” have always been with us.
The 1st XV haven’t played at Eastham since the demolition of Dukinfield three weeks ago. We scored over fifty points against Glossop’s neighbours but “didn’t play well,” apparently. Two disallowed tries and four drop goals meant defeat at Ormskirk despite dominating the game and having 80% of the possession. We “played the wrong game,” apparently. Last week at Warrington we won a second away game but, “the score line flattered us a wee bit,” apparently. One spectator told me that we scored eighteen points in the second half and “I can’t remember any of them.”
How long before some wag asks “Is it a sign of a good side not to play well and still win?” Or the timeless “Call this first team rugby? They wouldn’t have got in the first team when I was playing!” Please remember that the older we get the better we were and there are less people around to contradict us.

Players must wonder what they do it for sometimes. By all means strive to be better, but just occasionally can we celebrate achievement and congratulate Simon Mason, his coaches and the players for their efforts? There’s a big difference between not playing well and playing badly.

Ask the Glossop travelling circus about their team’s record of two wins, a loss and a draw with Ormskirk last week. I wonder if they are as critical as we seem to be.
As the congenitally intolerant Jim McKenzie often says, “Everyone’s entitled to my opinion.”

Let’s hope both sides do themselves justice this afternoon.