An unloved anniversary

It 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.

There are a few ingrained memories destined to remain in the grey matter for a very long time. One was the amount of charabangs we took. Nearly forty if memory serves me right—certainly thirty-odd. The good luck banner on the Salford/Eccles roundabout. The amount of Salford fans, vastly outnumbering their counterparts. Phil Coussons picking the ball up when he should have left it. Peter Edwards scooting in for a try under our noses. Nick Pinkney’s cross field kick. Losing the plot. Getting back on the coach, desolate, with Perry Como’s ‘Magic Moments’ playing over the radio—bloody Alan Freeman and his pick of the bleedin’ pops.

You’d think that some comfort could be sought from Sheffield Eagles going on to beat Wigan in the final—the greatest cup shock in living memory. But in reality there’s no comfort. It just makes it worse. Not that I think—if the tables were turned—Salford would have defeated Wigan. That’s not the point. The point was just getting there. At the old Wembley. Watching your boys led out by the big man, John Wilky. I really do feel sick.

The one pustule of solace is that John Kear later admitted, in 2005, that ‘Salford were unlucky’. It gives me a grain of something to hold on, a vain notion that, by rights, it was us that deserved to be in the final:

I would say that was the toughest game we experienced in the whole campaign. Salford were unlucky. They played well that day but the collective belief pulled us through.John Kear

Then he makes it worse:

Dale Laughton, completely out on his feet, got us over the line. We were about to take him off as well but he got us to Wembley!John Kear

About to take him off…oh, pass the bucket.