Most spors commentators wrote off Dwain Chambers’ attempt to forge playing career in Rugby League as a publicity stunt. Plenty of RL pundits balked at the mere suggestion of any serious intent; some even went as far as to say it shouldn’t be allowed to happen, making a mockery of the game. (No prizes for guessing who those names were!) However, you could argue that all of them have since eaten varying amounts of humble pie. The one commentator who actually talked some sense during the hubbub was (for once) ‘Stevo’.
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E.T’s own bone
August 24th, 200810 years of The Scarlet Turkey
April 24th, 2008Later this year, The Scarlet Turkey celebrates 10 years since the first issue was released. Issue #1 hit the presses amidst troubled times, exacerbated by that Sheffield defeat and the following demise of Andy Gregory. The fanzine struck a chord with plenty of Salford fans who were pissed off and needing an excuse to go to The Willows. That might sound a tad melodramatic now, but times really were bad. Certainly the worst rugby I can remember watching in my 25 years as a supporter. Being able to have a laugh at ourselves in the process couldn’t do any more harm. Read the rest of this entry »
Salford vs. Australia
April 24th, 2008It’s almost 100 years since the Australian national rugby league team first came to The Willows to face Salford. Since then, the two teams have met on 11 seperate occasions, culminating in many historic and memorable moments, and playing host to some of the greatest RL players the game has ever seen. This is the story of when Harry Dally met Sally Solly. Read the rest of this entry »
John Connolly and the ‘personality girls’
April 24th, 2008Ah, that infamous moment when referee John Connolly patted the bums of two women in front of five million BBC viewers—the last bastion of cheeky male chauvinism. It happened during a televised Challenge Cup quarter-final at Wheldon Road in February 1994, between Castleford and Widnes. Silk Cut—then sponsors of the comp—hired a couple of models, or whom they called ‘personality girls’, to flank the tunnel and look pretty whilst the players ran out into the arena. It’s a similar thing to what they do with darts on Sky, a bit of eye candy on the arm of a working class hero. We can but dream…
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An Unloved Anniversary
March 28th, 2008It is ten years to the day since Salford’s Wembley dream died at the hands of John Kear’s Sheffield Eagles. I still feel sick thinking about it. On 28 March 1998, around the time many of you will be leaving work today, Salford were ahead 18–10 in a Silk Cut Challenge Cup semi-final at Headingley. We were on our way to Wembley, the old Wembley, the ‘shitty-looking-let-itself-go-but-would-kill-to-see-Salford-play-there’ Wembley. And then, all of a sudden, the Reds imploded, conceeding two quick tries and unable to find the gumption to respond.
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Tex Evans
March 24th, 2008We can look back and say with confidence that Tex won’t make many legends lists or come close to the Reds’ greats; but, at least, everyone remembers him. I can guarantee that when I bump into an old mate I haven’t seen for a while, the inevitable question rears it’s head: ‘You still watching Salford?’ Said friend follows up my sheepish ‘yeah’ with ‘right, is Tex still playing?’ Happens everytime, without fail, regardless who it is.
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