What a turn around that was!

It’s a crazy old game isn’t it! 

On any given Sunday that performance would have been hailed as a sound win against an average team, but under the circumstances that preceded it and the adversity we experienced during the game, it was nothing short of magnificent. We simply showed so much character!

It was a performance full of guts and commitment, against a team who themselves were needing a win after two close defeats. We had to throw some youngsters in there, but the whole team showed what can be done with a bit of heart and a lot of honest graft. 

Around the game no one gave us a chance and few of us FCfans where anything but sceptical about our chances.  However, in the end, it was all pretty emotional stuff really and the sort of victory that as fans, we simply couldn’t have dreamed of. The players took the adversity and the criticism and used it to build some character again. What transpired was as fine an 80 minutes of sheer determination, as we have seen for a long time. 

True, Huddersfield were poor at times but a lot of the mistakes they made were forced by our resolve and the fact that they were chasing the clock. Plus, our defence in that second half was second to none. We scored some great tries, but by and large our rugby wasn’t exactly brilliant for much of the game, yet the spirit and fight was superb and against a Huddersfield team, who just thought they had to turn up to win, our young guns Cator, Fash, Brown, Lane and Johnson battled and battled in a great all-round team effort. It was the way that they did all the little things right that impressed me! But, when you list the issues that we had to overcome both before the game and on the day, they were all heroes, in what was a pretty special showing. 

So, a big well done to all the players and most of all well done to Andy Last , for a good game plan and for having the guts to drop the Club Captain to the bench. That sent out a real message of intent to fans and players alike and brought the desired response from the lads, after Salford and all the virus stuff, it was so good to see!

Well, it looks like we might be back in business again in the next round of Super League doesn’t it!

Meanwhile this weekend the competition continues without us! As we all start to worry about a national resurgence,Summer moves on and as August draws to a close, it seemsthat around the Hull and East Riding region Coronavirus cases continued to stay below the national average and that has to be good news for now at least! 

Of course, that ‘local’ outbreak that shocked us all so much,was perhaps always going to happen somewhere, butunfortunately, it happened to Hull FC and we’ve had to get on with it! 

Again, it’s not been an easy Diary to write, partly because of the delayed shock after what has happened, partly because we are all unsure where we go from here, but mainly, this time around, because there has simply been little if no information around the place. It would have been easy to give it a miss this week but in a quest to get some sort of continuity I’ve had a stab at some of the things I’ve been thinking about over the last few days, so here goes …..

A week like never before??

It didn’t last long did it? One game played and we are struck down with the most dreaded of scenario’s and one thateveryone in the game feared, but I guess believed was likely to happen sometime, somewhere and hopefully to someone else. As I said to a mate this week, it was pretty obvious that if disaster is to strike anywhere, it would probably be at Hull FC, for over the years we haven’t had much luck in that direction have we? 

The situation at the Club is a real worry and my thoughts and prayers and I know those of all of you reading this, go-out to all the staff who have contracted the virus, to their families and to all the other guys,  Adam and Clarky in particular, who are trying to manage the situation. 

After that awful display in Leeds last weekend, which now pales into insignificance, my pal Mike over in Cheshire commented last Monday, “I’d start serialising the final book now Wilf if I where you” for we were all so disappointed and disenchanted. However, unbeknown to him and all the rest of us, things were soon to take a dramatic turn and be about a lot more than losing a game of rugby. 

This is not a time for throwing stones, pointing fingers or chucking accusations about, (although plenty are engaged in doing just that), but more a period when we all have to get behind the club, the players and their families and close ranks to try to get us all through this unscathed.

Back in Business!!!!

In more ways than one! But what a disappointing return to playing that was. 

Well we’re underway and in a strange old world, I guess a sort of crazy 100 mile an hour touch rugby has already been accepted by us all as the norm. All that is, except our lot at Hull FC, who tried yesterday to play 30 mile an hour ‘Radfordesque’ Rugby, against a 100 Miles per hour Salford. 

It was simply a poor, poor performance against a team who had studied the new rules and the need for momentum and who used the whole of the pitch to tire us out. I think attitude wise there is still a lot wrong with our players and quite frankly I saw little different against Salford, than I saw all those weeks ago at the KCom against Warrington. It was really disappointing stuff to say the least!!

 Not that it’s not good to have the game back on TV and our heroes out there performing again (well sort of). It’s been a long time between drinks but at least we now have some rugby to watch to take our minds of what is an international situation that ain’t going away any time soon. 

As a spectacle for the uninitiated first time viewer ,desperately looking for something to watch, the ‘new game’ certainly has it all and our match had plenty of action. It was certainly fast and furious from Salford and the fact that every game is full of incident, makes it (in empty Stadia) a lot better watch, than football will ever be.  

Meanwhile here in the Diary we’re back in some sort of the original format and although I’ll be dropping the Codgers spot for a week or two, because over the past 21 weeks, you’ve all had enough of old games I’m sure, in general I’ll be trying to get back to how we were and including my thoughts and musings on all things Hull FC and Rugby League. 

Here it is, a special additional episode of the Diary and it’s the first time in 17 years of doing the weekly journal that we have had two in one week. But here, for those who have followed the books in these instalments for the last twenty weeks is the final part of 55 years of being an FC fanatic. Thanks’ so much for reading my humble record of just how I saw it, how it affected me just about every weekend of my life and what happened in between.