And that was the day it snowed...
Published Date:
05 November 2008
Seasoned TV commentator John Helm cannot remember the match details.
But, like so many people who were there, or who watched later on YTV's "Scrumdown" he can recall the weather that day.
The occasion was Halifax versus Widnes and the sight of football matches being abandoned last week due to snow brought back memories of 17 years ago this week, Sunday November 3rd 1991.
The bald match facts are that Fax beat the Chemics 28-14 at Thrum Hall thanks to tries from Greg Austin (2), Dave Watson, Mark Preston and Roy Southernwood and four goals from Greg Pearce.
It was no mean feat for a newly promoted team against a side who had been world champions two years previously and the match was remembered vividly by Paul Moriarty.
When he came back to sign for Halifax on a balmy Thursday afternoon in July 1994 he remarked that it hadn't always been as warm there in his experience….
It was an up and down time for Fax.
New coach Roger Millward had signed virtually a new pack since the team had gained promotion in April.
In had come Karl Harrison, Gary Lord, John Fieldhouse and Pearce and Roy Southernwood had been converted to hooker from scrumhalf.
A young boxer/actor called Adam Fogerty had come on trial in August and soon found himself in the first team which meant that realistically only Peter Bell and Richard Milner remained of the "old guard".
Strangely enough there were several former Hull KR players around the place in those days who had played there under Millward, lads like Austin, Watson and Jimmy Irvine – yet all had preceded him to the club, Watson by only a matter of days.
The most colourful was probably Watson.
He only had the one season at Thrum Hall and shortly after the match in question was to spend time in Hull prison.
By the end of the season he had found himself sacked after failing a test for social drugs after a cup tie against Bradford and by October 1992 was ironically a Northern player.
Perhaps the club were at fault for taking a chance on a player who was already branded as too hot too handle and his subsequent escapades proved what a loose cannon he was.
Yet his first game after signing for Halifax was at stand-off for New Zealand as they won an international in Sydney and he received rave reports.
And, despite an erratic lifestyle, he produced the goods on the pitch week in, week out for Millward, until his dismissal, in a variety of positions.
Back to Sunday November 3rd 1991…and it was a blustery, cold day from the start.
The clocks had changed the previous week and the new £30,000 floodlights were switched on before kick-off due to those TV cameras.
Just before half-time it started to snow and there was the usual bolt of fans into the Bottom Stand and the Grandstand paddock.
Luckily the pitch was wet and so the snow didn't stick but visibility was poor as the wind whipped the blizzard down the slope.
Widnes set off back home straight after as there were rumours the motorway was closed.
You seldom see such conditions now.
Global warming, anyone?
The full article contains 552 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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Last Updated:
05 November 2008 8:46 AM
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Source:
n/a
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Location:
Halifax