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Hull Ionians v Macclesfield Programme Notes        Report     Photos     MM Photos

Introduction by Rugby Manager

Coming to terms with not playing rugby again can most definitely be a case for the psychiatrists couch.
When you have to roll out of bed on a Sunday, walk with aching muscles and take a week to recover, then old father time has finally got you. How on earth can we begin to cope without the weekly infusion of deep heat, comradery and laughter from the boys, that magical match day atmosphere and the beer that always does taste better when you have played. The laughter, the jokes, and being with a true band of brothers whom you bathe with, is unrivalled and certainly not understood by ‘her indoors’.
Whilst our partners fail to fathom or embrace any of this, they will relish the amount of Saturday shopping jaunts that will now happen, as your days of relentlessly chasing that piece of white leather around the field, have finally gone.
So what do you do when age and perhaps not injury, has called a halt to your weekly fix ?
The answer most definitely is to continue to stick around, supporting both the game that has given you vast amounts of physical pleasure, and the club that has been your true Masonic lodge. Hundreds of players have donned our famous shirt throughout the years, and sad to say, the majority have walked away afterwards, never to be seen again.
Coaching is always an option, but you will need experience, the ability to grow the skin of a rhino, and understand the complexities, moods and unpredictabilities of refereeing - not easy.
Teams undoubtedly need backroom support, not water carriers, but those that can provide help with equipment and player organisation, traditionally the role of the all embracing skipper. At present our senior teams are constantly in need of extra help and assistance, particularly the Hawks, where manager Dave Wilson has single handidly, done every role, including washing shirts, organising fixtures and driving the bus! Marking out the pitch is still his aim.
You don’t have to be experts to help, but an enthusiasm and a desire to put something back into our club and this great game should be your driving force. Your reward may not be financial, but the beer will taste better, you will enjoy the atmosphere again, and your shopping safaris a thing of the past.
If you want to make a contribution to rugby of any kind, our jobs are many, and our ears are always open.

Grahame Simm.     Rugby Manager.

Welcome to Macclesfield
Once again we welcome Macclesfield to Brantingham Park and follow our 20^th anniversary theme of looking up historical items. Hull Ionians first played Macclesfield at their ground when they came up into North One in 1995. Since then we have met 23 times in the cup and league apart from the three seasons 2002-2005 when we gained promotion a year before them then slipped back again for two years while they moved up and stayed up. Interestingly 12 of our matches have been within a single score while our last meeting here last April was a 22 all draw.
Searching through my archives I have found several old match programmes of our matches including our first meeting at Brantingham Park in February 1997, a day when roles were reversed with Macclesfield fighting for survival not us. A good end of season finish secured their position and they have never looked back. The teams that day follow, at least three of ours are still active in the club and one now has his son playing.
Hull Ionians: Dave Redford, Simon Cowling, Mark Swift, Andy Jenkinson, Gareth Townsend, Ben Medhurst, Carl Norfolk, Darren Farnsworth, Mike Pearson, Neil Lyon, Dominic Thompson, Antony Philips, Mark Neighbour, Jason Nicholson; Rep: Karl Wigglesworth, Jon Barratt, Mark Randerson & Phil Medley.
Macclesfield: John McCreery, Dean Crompton, Rob Oliver, Gavin Price-Jones, Kris Crompton, Steve Burnage, Rob Unwin, Steve Manion, David Taylor, Matthew Harding, Steven Henshall, Jeremy Bostock, Iain Marshall, Peter Millington, David Worthington; Rep: Chris Hehir, Mark Droy, Dave King, Jamie Nocker.

Match Officials
This week we were notified of a change in referee on Tuesday and our referee today is our old friend Andrew Vertigan, who travels from Wetherby, who happened to referee Macclesfield last week too! We met up with Andrew quite frequently in North One since he started refereeing in 1994, before his promotion to the RFU panel in 2001 where he had mostly been refereeing National 1 & 2 matches since 2003. Andrew has worked for the last 18 years as a minister of religion within the Salvation Army. He is now responsible for several growing churches. He also has responsibility for training and mentoring ministers. Andrew played his rugby in the back row in various Norfolk and Yorkshire clubs. He is married to Andrea and has three children Aaron, Nathan and Esther.
Our assistant referees today are Fraser Gill and Peter Scott, also regular visitors to both clubs though we have not seen either at Brantingham Park for some time. Fraser travels from Whitley Bay and Peter also comes from Wetherby, but is not allowed to car share with Andrew as any travel problem would stop both of them!

Player Profile + Action Photo

Match report
It was quite clear several weeks ago that these three weeks were going to be a string of challenging matches with two away games against two strong teams and now a home match with Macclesfield.
Three weeks ago we met a Leicester Lions side recovering from injuries and finding form and lost by four tries to two. Danny Smith and Oli Marns raced in the tries in the closing minutes and Iain Gordon kicked a penalty and conversion.
Two weeks ago at Fylde we set off on the wrong foot kicking the ball deep to Nick Royle who had just come back from injury and was wound up to score his traditional hat-trick against us – he did not disappoint his home crowd, try no 1 in the first minute! Once a team gets a confident start like this it is frequently an uphill battle and this was no exception. To the teams credit they competed for the full 80 minutes and the game went from end to end, but Fylde had the cutting edge to score 4 tries to nil, and yes Royle did get his hat-trick - again!
Last week at Caldy saw a good performance defy our league position and after an hour the score reflected the play at 24-23 to Caldy. Gary Stephenson scored an early interception try from his own 22 and a good run from Oli Marns then quick ball in the tackle saw James Ferguson send Rob Whittam weaving under the posts. Iain Gordon struck both conversions and 3 penalties but a later penalty and converted try saw Caldy take the points to maintain their joint leader status.