Monday, May 25, 2009

Bank holiday fun

It has been a good weekend for an unathletic sports fan. OK, Swinton Rugby League Club lost again to Oldham and continue dropping down the table. Oldham were the better side. There a rather a lot of better sides these days. Oh well.

I was delighted to see Hull City stay in the Premiership (sorry Will) despite being totally outclassed by United reserves. It means so much to the city. When I first moved to Hull, all the kids wore Leeds, Liverpool and United shirts, now all you see are the black and amber stripes of the Tigers. Even the lamp posts on the main road at the bottom of my street have black and amber banners on them saying, 'Hull, home to heroes and champions'. (I originally mistyped 'home to herpes and champions' - an easy mistake to make.)

And, on a great day for nostalgics, Burnley have been promoted after thirty three years out of the top division. It marks the return of a small town with a fine footballing tradition. My first football watching memory is of Spurs playing Burnley in the 1962 Cup Final. Best of all, there is something deeply satisfying about seeing a team sponsored by a pie manufacturer reach the top.

1 comment:

Julie said...

Burnley reaching the Premiership.

I heard this 'thirty-three years' thing on TV last night. Made me quite nostalgic till I realised that there was a huge kerfuffle when I worked in the town (I lived above Turf Moor, so I suppose I should know)about them going down from Div One as it was then - and that was in the mid 80s. I remember seeing the billboards for the papers that day: 'Clarets Go Down' Now, I may be getting on a bit, but that's certainly not 33 years ago ... and after all, what would a mere woman who works in the arts know about such things when the BBC always promulgates the truth? So I went to the Burnley official website ... et voila! '... They were eventually relegated in 1979 - 80. Two seasons later they were back in the highest echelon after winning the second division title, but only three seasons followed in the top flight before relegation.' I think someone should tell the BBC (come to think of it, Burnley probably have ...)