A Bit of a Reality Check??

I think so don’t you??

For 40 minutes we scrapped and scrapped and despite showing little idea of how to break down the Champions and constantly shooting ourselves in the foot, amazingly we went in 6-2 up. We had injuries, but both teams had players out and so there can be no excuses, we did it tough in the first half before in the second they drained us and were allowed to score 4 tries on the bounce, without us even touching the ball. 

The game swung on a couple of stupid mistakes from which the visitors scored and from then on they never looked back. Their speed and shape simply blew us away, in a game when I guess looking back, we were generally second best. Worrying injuries and a possible appearance at the Disciplinary Committee followed and even more concerning was the apparent lack of any sort of leadership on the field once the wheels came off. 

In hindsight, I guess that losing by 14, to the benchmark team in the league, isn’t, on face value, that bad, but we just couldn’t handle the Champions who were I thought, off it a bitthemselves as well. After that Leeds game, when everyone knew their jobs and penalties were kept to a minimum, poor discipline and disorganisation is creeping back into our game again. 

It’s going to be a long old week ahead and no doubting the fact that already it’s going to be a big ask at Wigan!!

“It’s a Derby and I’d much rather Win Ugly than lose Pretty!!!!”

On Friday It was always going to be tough playing against a team relishing their under-dog status and running on a wave of adversity inspired passion. 

The game was no doubt hard to play in and it was certainly, at times, excruciating to watch, but we have got four points from our first two games including a win against the old enemy, we produced some well-constructed tries and really dug deep at times and all that after a deal of adversity in the build-up. In addition, two players that were called on to play, hadn’t had a minute of competitive rugby of any type thus far this season! So, it was a pretty pleasing display! 

You have to admit that on Friday night, it was a brilliant atmosphere and a great showcase for the game of Rugby League. No monotonous mind-numbing drums, no bloody screeching trumpets, just tons of passion, anxiety and excitement and for all ages and inclinations, the sort of occasion that our game really needs!! It was a case of flags for the kids, big hearts for the players and sedatives for the rest of us!!

I hate Derby’s!! But you know that anyway! Yet the 236th one was a great event and for the neutral a smashing showcase for everything that is good about Rugby League!! But for me, as I squirmed and stressed my way through another 80 minutes that seemed like 800, it was, as they always are, tough going. In fact I was still catching those kicks aimed at Jamie Shaul, as I lay awake in bed at 2-00am on Saturday morning!!! 

But in the end WE WON, our resilience has come on leaps and bounds over pre-season and you can tell we are now a much more grounded side. In the two previous seasons we have struggled to stay in the arm wrestle in big games, but on Friday despite being below par at times, we showed we’ve found some bottle and ‘the balls’ that could take us a long way this year. 

So, we move on, there are 27 rounds left to go, we squeezed a victory and in the process beat the Dobbins and that, however it comes, is all that really matters. As for me? Well on Saturday tea-time I went out and had a few pints just so I could revel in that wonderful glow that’s has always come after winning a Derby. It’s great that however old you get, there are some things that never change! 

With our biggest Headingley win in 36 years and where the hell did that come from???

Man, what a great start that was!!! That victory was better than I could ever have hoped for and although some say that Leeds were poor, they only played as we let them, for we controlled just about every facet of the game both in attack and defence in dry conditions and in the rain. At the end the sodden fans danced and celebrated and hoped against hope that at last,  things are on the change!!

At Hull FC, after 5 months of inaction, hope, countless dollops of pretty meaningless rhetoric, speculation, hope, rumour, supposition, opinion making and yep .….. more hope, the talking is over and at last the FC Faithful have witnessed the first-round proper of the 2020 season. 

What a great occasion to open the season it was as well, as the administrators of Super League pushed the boat out to try to create a spectacular weekend to impress those TV companies. The Wigan v Warrington game was a cliff hanger, Saints v Salford was business as usual and as for Hull FC, well what a message that sent out to the rest of the game!!! I thought it was a fabulous performance and the first time for ages that I guess if you stepped back from all the stress and emotion of real time rugby, we never really looked like losing.    

With television deals to be negotiated, a World Cup to be staged, possible private equity investment to be considered and expansion to be handled, it’s most certainly a critical period for the whole game and as for Hull FC well there will be disappointments, injuries and bigger battles ahead, but, just for a couple of days at least, lets enjoy it, for what a start and what a performance that was.

The FC Fans Have Done Good!!!

That has to be the message to the game in general and what’s more, the FC Faithful should be congratulated as after a really disappointing couple of seasons, we approach 9000 season tickets sold, we’re apparently selling merchandise like never before, we’re heading for a massive Derby gate and we’ve sold out the away end at Leeds for the big first game of the season. Meanwhile, as if to consolidate the loyalty and passion of our fan-base, several intrepid FC fans are walking all the way to Headingley before that first game, in an effort to raise money for the Rob Burrow appeal. 

Later in here, in the company of Club statistician Bill Dalton, I’ll take a look at our fortunes at home as a Club over the last few years, which includes stats that make those efforts from some wonderful supporters even more incredible and a real tribute to the resilience of the FC fans who have once again, defied logic, stumped up and come back for more.  

If ever it was timely to say to the players and officials of our great Club, ‘Right Guys we have done our bit, now it’s over to you!” this is the time to do it!! As the excitement grows for the season ahead and optimism abounds in the rank and file of the FC supporters, it’s now or never, for the team have to deliver. 

But, as fans, it’s great to have our appetite back and feel the great expectation that surrounds a time of the year, when we all believe that anything is possible; The players look fit, the squad looks better than last year and as for us fans? Well, let’s face it you can’t be moaning about a loss when you haven’t played a game yet can you!!!

“It’s time to make the KCom a fortress!!”

So, said Adam Pearson in his Christmas Day message to the fans and perhaps after all the claims and promises that have been made throughout a period of rhetoric, meaningless media comment and now pretty tiresome trivia, for me, that statement has come through as perhaps the most pertinent point to date! 

So at last we are up and running and in producing this first Diary of the new decade, I’m conscious that after all the hype, promises, speculation and hope that always surrounds the selling of season tickets, a new campaign at last beckons and brings to us all renewed hope and a deal of expectation for our club’s future and the success of our team. 

So, with that in mind, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I’ll take this opportunity to wish you all a belated Happy New Year, what’s more, let’s hope that for all us FC fans, it’s a great and memorable one. 

Hello and Welcome to the 15^th Dentists Diary Christmas Edition! 

It’s that time again when there’s chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Halls decked with Holly, children with faces all aglow and turkeys everywhere….(not just at Caravan Park).

It was 23^rd December 2005 when the first regular Diary went out and no doubt some would say that they have been steadily and progressively going downhill ever since. Thanks to the efforts of Joe and his predecessors at blackandwhites.com the journal of a totally biased FC supporter has soldiered on through good times and bad and I must thank everyone who has taken the time to read all those rants, dreams, whiffs and conspiracy theories for their support, patience and understanding over those years!

2019 was by and large an arduous, lengthy and challenging year for the long suffering FC fan, but although we came through a difficult and erratic season a little disheartened and a little disappointed, some great signings have reignited the interest and resulted in excellent season ticket sales. Therefore, I guess that the majority of the Faithful fans have at least emerged with their hopes and dreams intact. Once Christmas is out of the way the pre-season games begin and all the crazy stuff is back again. There’s quite a bit of FC news around at present so here goes with my final offering of 2019!

Rugby League news: Sean O’Loughlin’s replacement, Hull KR’s Toronto trip, Warrington Wolves star has bike stolen!!

Not much happening at present? Well perhaps Warrington Wolves star has bike stolen at the head of a piece including all the happens in one day in Rugby League, says it all really!! That and of course a discussion on the FC player’s shoes sizes is about all we have had to talk about really. Have you seen anyone who wears size 17 rugby boots?

So, once again, it has been a quiet couple of weeks, when it seems to have done nothing but rain incessantly and with little news coming out of the club, even season ticket sales seem to have slowed a bit. Still Mahe’s arrived to great welcoming from everyone and the squad is slowly taking shape again, but I for one can’t wait now to get some action under our belts and to see some games again, because for this fan it seems to have been such a long closed season already!!

Two weeks into pre-season training and it seems it’s all going pretty well so far, whilst off the field both shirts are now out and season tickets are not far off topping a very respectable 8000 sales. 

Scott Taylor was in the gym the other day chomping at the bit to get started today (Monday) and with him being joined by another 3 returnees’ and the fixtures now confirmed, its all moving along and we now know what we are doing in 2020 and when we’re doing it. 

As for those fixtures well it’s certainly a tough, tough start to the Super League campaign with the first 4 rounds against Leeds, Rovers, Wigan and Saints. What’s more time is flying and already today (Monday) it’s trombone time, with just 76 days to that first game at Headingley. That’s under 11 weeks and counting and yet it will probably be another 5 weeks before we have everyone in camp and training for the new campaign and that in turn is likely to be just 3 weeks before our first pre-season game! Although its been very quiet, times flying by isn’t it?  

Welcome to what is another Milestone edition of the Dentists Diary! 

It’s 14 years almost to the day since the first one and since then there’s been 650 editions, over one million hits on the site and over 4 million words written. In fact, there’s been enough words to fill 5 bibles (and the content has been no doubt at times far more difficult to understand than the eminently baffling Book of Ezekiel you’ll find in there!!). And all that just to talk about the Club with whom I’m obsessed and whom I have loved all my life. 

Yep, this week, once again, we’ve all made it to another landmark edition of the weekly Journal of an ordinary fan, with an extra ordinary fixation for his and his families rugby league team. For me it’s certainly been a great ride and a wonderful experience, furthermore I’ve really enjoyed writing it and linking up with all the friends and acquaintances I’ve made along the way. 

But, enough of that (although there’s a bit more later on), because life goes on and probably because Radders and the rest of the coaching staff have been on holiday, the Club has again been quiet in the last 14 days. None the less, the fans have still been busy showing their amazing loyalty and in so do have taken our season ticket sales up to almost 7,200 after just five weeks of them being on offer. Thankfully for the news starved supporters, tomorrow sees the fixtures published and this morning (Monday) 80% of the squad are back for kitting out before they launch into the start of the pre-season grind, as the hard yards and the hills of Brantingham and Beverley Westwood beckon again.

Hello Again and Welcome to the annual, ‘Everyone’s away on Holiday’ edition of the Diary!!!

Two weeks on from the last one, there’s plenty of controversy to talk about across the sport, but news wise at Hull FC it’s been pretty quiet, most of the players are missing as are the Coaching staff, but with season tickets selling well and already only around 3000 behind last year’s total and the new home strip revealed last Friday in Princes Quay, things are bumping along towards the International games and the start of pre-season. 

Somethings however never change and as such, the great and loyal FC Faithful have once again put disappointment behind them and risen to the occasion. As we all prepare to go around again with hearts full of hope and heads full of dreams for 2020, (which will no doubt be a real crunch season for the Club), I believe that it’s been made clear at the club that it’s do or die for some!