The Dentist Wilf:Jake the Peg:Rugby Raider:BP1:
With Leigh's defeat last night, next Saturday will see the current top two in SL go head to head. I reckon the last time the pair of us stepped out as 1st & 2nd was Good Friday 1984? Unless any of the old heads can recall such an occasion over the past 41 years!!?
Good Friday 1984 at old Craven Park (Holderness road next to the bus depot!!), and the infamous Len Casey sending off after Fred Ah Khoi baited him once too often and Casey bit, but it was the aftermath of the sending off that caused all the subsequent kerfuffle!!!
Seem to recall those of us stood at the old greyhound scoreboard end going mental as the linesman fell over!!!
We ended up running away with game, winning comfortably by the end, although it wasn't enough to stop them from taking the League title crown we had won twelve months previous.
Fairly sure that was the last time we faced off as 1&2 at the top of the league.
I was at the game too. Think Rovers had already won the league, but Hull destroyed them that day, Fred Au Khoi scoring a brilliant individual try regathering his own kick.
With regards to the Len Casey sending off, he actually pushed the linesman after he got sent off. He was suspended Sine Die (indefinitely), but think it was reduced to 12 matches on appeal!!
I was there too. It was a weird place the old caravan park. I see to remember that there was a train carriage turned into a food outlet at the back of one of the stands
Can't remember us being first and second at a Derby with the exception of 84 The railway carriage was spot on think it was a tote office for the dogs too. Sure was a strange place do you remember the Tote Board end where we all stood behind privet hedges in the late 70's?
We may have been 1st & 2nd the previous year also (April '83), but not wholly sure on that.
The April '83 Boulevard derby was postponed by a couple of weeks, I think, due to our Challenge Cup involvement. We ended up meeting a little later on a Friday night game (possibly?) in what was essentially a title decider. We ended up running out easy winners that night (21-3ish?) and simply strolled to the crown after that.
Being a high-octane early eighties derby, that night was not without incident either! culminating in an all-in 26-man brawl around the hour mark. This resulted in Gary Kemble and John Lydiat being given their marching orders. I think they were dismissed for being the only two players who didn't throw a haymaker during the melee, think all other 24 players landed at least a couple of direct hits on the opposition!!
All good clean fun, eh!! But there sure was some tough hard-nuts on that pitch that night. Heaven only knows what they would make of some of the penalties and sending-offs being dished out today. Most of those early eighties Fc-rovers forwards would be lucky to play half a dozen games per season by today's standards!!
PS I'd forgotten all about those privet hedges, but I can picture them now. We all used to cram onto the crumbling terraces at the Holderness road end on derby day, peering over the top of those hedges!!!
