Mavericks v Oxton Parkonians

The Mavericks welcomed Parkonians for their first visit to the new home of Anselmians Rugby. The weather and the crowds created a fabulous atmosphere and the touchline was a crowded place to be and it was a welcome sight to see so many people wanting to watch The Mavericks, especially bearing in mind the first team were entertaining St Benedicts on the upper pitch.
So the game eventually got under way after a 15 minute delay due to delayed Parkonians players arriving late. We the assistance of Mike Potter and Christian McIvor who put their hands up to play for the opposition, never an easy volunteer when you know the power and the strength of your opposition, so a massive thanks to Mike and Chris following the true Mav spirit. Later in the afternoon Harry Hopwood donned the Parkonian colours to help out in the closing phases.
Now, the final score is a matter of some conjecture and the final score of 84-5 was actually 10 points shy with the 14 tries and 12 conversions all adding up to one of The Mavs biggest ever victories and their biggest ever league victory and a 94-5 scoreline.
To provide a blow by blow match report would serve little purpose on this occasion. Parkonians kicked off we caught it and we scored with one exception when Chris Mcivor broke the hearts of The Mavs and scored for Parks (only kidding Chris). Instead of the blow by blow account I thought instead to focus on individuals.
Firstly, a word from The Gaffer….
When Nev Pickard and I (and a few others) first started down this road and branded the Anselmian 3rd team as ‘The Mavericks’ little did we know where we would be ten years down the line. Yup, this season is the ten year anniversary of the founding of The Mavs. The Mavericks were founded in the basic principles of social rugby where the game was important but there was so much more. The brotherhood, the supportive, welcoming and inclusive nature of rugby. It didn’t matter whether you’d not played for twenty years or whether you were the current first team captain you were treated exactly the same, given the same game time and expected to pay your dues at the bar.
It has been the most fabulous ten years, full of ups and downs full of stories, curries, tours and shits ‘n’ giggles. More importantly it’s been about the people, the players and alacadoos who’ve passed through the ranks. Club captains and team captains, club presidents and club chairmen, committee members and bar staff and the regulars, the players and those poor poor unfortunates who find themselves being ‘dropped’ from The Mavericks to play for the second or first team. All those who have graced the ranks and can call themselves Mavericks.
The right of passage as dads and lads has become a tradition within the team and The Bramhalls, The Brookes, The Hearns, The Williams and the Elwells all bear testimony to this fact.
So, the history of the Mavericks stems from a drunken night in a Newcastle bar with two drunken Norwegian sailors and a ceilidh band (you needed to be there) and Nev telling me “You know, we should definitely do this more often” and so the dream was born, the Newcastle ‘Old farts tour’ of 2010 led to the 2011 birth of The Mavericks . There are far far too many stories from the Maverick History book to go into here. Buy one of us a pint and I can guarantee the stories will appear and be grossly exaggerated and there’ll probably be a lot more alcohol, dwarves, small furry animals and explosive materials involved, however, despite all the shenanigans it has been an absolute honour to play a small part in this amazing group of people. The best ten years, the best people and the greatest of clubs. Here’s to the next ten years of Maverick rugby and for those people coming next to take up the mantle of playing and managing. We’re all still staying put for now but a message to all you young, fit athletic, healthy players. Look around you next time the Mavs are at home because this is your future, you too will end up over 40, complaining and bitching about referees and how “it was never like this in my day” and “why can’t we dance on people in the ruck”. Enjoy it while it last young ‘uns cos it only gets better. I could wax lyrical all day long about the fabulous friendships, the experiences and the challenges but I’m pretty sure I’d prefer for you to make your own. The Mavs are only as strong as the people who form it. We’ve got that spirit back this year and it feels exactly the same today as it did 10 years ago and that is only down to the people who make it possible. The second team ‘influencers’ of Tom Redfearn, Matt Brookes, Martyn Brown and Chris McGowan have had a massive impact on The Mavs over the years and none would forgive me if they didn’t get a mention.
Our current Captain Fantastic Andy Smith is the latest in a long line of Maverick skippers and he upholds of The Maverick ideal but we could not commemorate the event without a special mention to the founding father and the guy who started it all. Nev Pickard, himself an oversees player (or so he’ll have us believe) had been captaining and running the 3rd team for some time prior to establishing the Mavs and with the help of the initial legends including the lasting the summer wine trio established what was to become The Mavericks of today.
So congratulations on the 10 years and thanks for the memories. It’s been emotional.
Oh….. I nearly forgot…… Parkonians !
The game provided an opportunity for individuals to add to their impressive try count with Jack Hancock coming out on top with four well executed tries, still managing to avoid the jug though (which is confusing) next the Eve impressive Chris Ford who continues to blaze a trail through opposition defences with a well earned hat trick of tries. Ricky Evans next with two barnstormers from second row. Rick and Tom showing that they are without doubt the best second row in the league with some brilliant individual performances that made Parkonians think very carefully before entering the contact area. We then came to the individual try scorers with Andy Smith, Dom Murphy, the 5 from 5 Harry Hopwood and a debut Maverick try from Matt Hall at 10. Great to see so many individual person performances coming together to beat Parks today. A massive thanks to Parkonians for playing in the right spirit. We know only too we’ll what it’s like to be on the wrong end of a high scoring loss so thanks for playing and was good to catch up with you all.
Difficulty to pick a man of the match today, however, we did. Step up Jack Hancock with a superb performance from the centre of the park, 4 well taken tries and a constant thorn in the Parks side.
A great day for everyone, the Mavs continue at the top of the table and a trip down the road to Sunlight next week.
The futures bright, the futures blue, white and gold.
LYLAB
Semel a Mavericus, Semper a Mavericus.
The Gaffer