Yorkshire Vikings 146/9-166 all out Leicestershire Foxes, Sunday 16th June 2024

Yorkshire Vikings 146/9-166 all out Leicestershire Foxes, T20 Vitality Blast, Headingley, att. c.2,000

The cricket season started over a month ago and we’ve got 4 days’ cricket for 50 quid to choose; the Roses T20 and any other 3 days. Last Sunday was a possibility, another T20, but it was cold and showery. I’m not going to cricket to sit in the cold (I did that for a season at Durham, but I’m older...and softer...now). With an eye on the forecast, an opportunity arises. Showers are due to be over by the 3pm kick-off time. Kick-off? What’s it called in cricket? I dunno.

I’ve never been to Headingley before. I’ve been tempted by a Barnsley supporting mate. Even my partner’s been, as she studied in Leeds (and, crucially, likes cricket a helluva lot more than me). Maybe life could’ve been very different had my mum agreed to birth me in Yorkshire, as was my dad’s want, on the offchance I’d be any good at cricket. (You had to be born in the county in those days.) Anyway, I wasn’t.

It’s also the European Championships and my other half is pushed for time after yoga, so I treat her to a lift rather than the train. Besides, we want to be back home to watch England FC in the evening. All of which means that I’m having one beer all afternoon, so it better be a good...Northern Monk Faith in the Skyrack, 5 minutes from the ground. It’s surprisingly sparse, but that’s better than surprisingly busy as we have a table to watch the first half of the Netherlands v Poland.

Rules have been read pre-match on what we can and cannot take in to Headingley, so of course the stewards try to refuse our cans of Coke and Lilt entry – unless they opened first. Given I could have brought 4 440ml cans of beer, would they have insisted I opened all of those? Anyway, they knew the rules less than we did, but, of course, they control who gains entry.

We’re with a couple of old hands, Wadd and Moll (plus Wadd junior). Our entry cards say we’re Yorkshire members...shall we go in the members’ pavilion at the north end? Why, of course. We edge round as far as we can go (so we’re behind the stumps) and pass Dickie Bird on the way. He’s well wrapped but looking very frail these days. And why wouldn’t he be? I’m sure he was 70 when I was a kid.

Despite the enforced excitement of whoever’s on the mic, there’s not many here. Is the T20 novelty over? I’ve only ever been used to large crowds at The Oval, invariably on a Friday nite after work. It’s warmish this afternoon. Or it is until the sun moves round and we’re in the shade. (We’re too bone idle to move and accept the chilliness in resignation. I notice Dickie has gone. He’s got more sense.

By now Yorkshire are in, chasing 167 to win. I have no idea whether the Leicestershire score is good, bad or different, but as Yorkshire hit 13 off the opening over, you fancy it’s not enough. And Yorkshire have some (literal) heavy hitters at the top of the order...Dawid Malan, Adam Lyth and Joe Root, internationals the lot of them. Another, Dom Bess, is in their bowling attack. By contrast, I’ve not heard of a single Fox.

And it’s like every other T20 I’ve ever seen. Just as a partnership begins and a side looks on top, he’s out, and the other team look likely. I guess that’s the appeal of a 20 over ‘Blast’ as opposed to 4 or 5 days eking out a draw. The Vikings slowly fall apart and wickets tumble faster than the runs. From 15 overs in it looks all over...and it is. Still, I’ve visited a new stadium and by dint of being in the members’ bit, I don’t have to actually see this stand, a modern day horror show with its triangular bits of shininess (?) at jaunty angles which just looks...s***.

Up the Foxes!

The Damage:
£12.50 ent (£50/4)
= £12.50

I’d have had an ice cream, but the queue was too big. I went to the toilet later and would have had an ice cream, but the queue was STILL too big. There was nobody there yet the ice cream man was doing great business.

Bradford Bulls 36-24 Barrow Raiders, Sunday 2nd June 2024

Bradford Bulls 36-24 Barrow Raiders, Championship, Bartercard Odsal Stadium, att. 2,655

My dad (R.I.P.) always said Odsal was huge. ‘Bigger than Wembley’ he used to say, and I can see why. Built within a natural bowl, this place is VAST. If only someone had the money, they could do a Red Bull Leipzig and build something spectacular WITHIN it...and still have room to spare. A record attendance of 102,569 (the 1954 Rugby League Challenge Cup Final replay) doesn’t do it justice, as the hill carries on above the terracing. These days, with safety concerns and a strange corporate facility at one end, capacity is 22-26,000 depending on the source. However, with incumbent rugby league side Bradford Bulls in the second tier Championship, even these figures won’t be challenged any time soon.

Today the Bulls are hosting Barrow Raiders and with two and a half thousand fans rattling around, I’d expect it to be quite eerie. Far from it. It’s a warm, sunny day and fans are out in a variety of replica shirts (none of which are the ye olde Bradford Northern shirt I take a shine to in the club shop). Perhaps fans are just happy to have a club (the Bulls having gone into administration 3 times since 2012 before being liquidated in 2017), or perhaps it’s just the weather. The team, although above halfway 9 games in, are well off the pace if they want promotion. Wakefield are 9 and 0 and looking good for a return to Superleague. Still, a far cry from the Bulls golden era, winning the World Club Championship 3 times between 2002-2006. How the mighty fall.

It’s also Armed Forces Day. I know this because I am challenged upon entry. ‘Why are you taking photos?’ What can I say? I like visiting stadiums (stadia). ‘You’ve been reported.’ Basically, while I was at the main entrance taking a photo, a steward asked if they could search my bag. ‘No’, I said. ‘I’m not going in yet.’ As it was, after a peruse around the outside of the stadium, I went in an entrance further round, but had evoked enough interest for people on walkie-talkies to be on the lookout for me. Far be it for me to suggest there’s something wrong with the British Army if they’re running scared of me, but if I was a terrorist I’m not sure I would target a second tier rugby league match. After a cursory bag search I was allowed in.

Entering from behind the goal, the whole stadium lies before you, below. Climb down the steps to the terracing below. How many could this possibly hold if you include all the grass banking above the terracing? A mini rugby post is placed on part of the banking for youngsters to have a go at kicking over it. I’d love a go, but I’m not sure the two blokes administering it would appreciate it. Besides, they’ve probably been warned about me...

Part of Odsal’s vastness is the fact of it possessing a speedway track around the pitch perimeter. As such, the terracing arches round behind this goal. It’s roped off, I suspect as much to encourage the crowd to shuffle closer together on the long side, as much as safety. Oh, and is it a speedway track if there’s no longer speedway? I should say ‘stock car’ track, as there’s ‘Yorstox’ events here, as at Owlerton, Sheffield. And thank goodness, as without it, Bulls couldn’t afford the rent and moved out to Dewsbury in 2021. What did I say about the mighty fallen.

There’s a large white building covering one corner. I have no idea what this is, but during the second half I realise one of its functions is to house the scoreboard. As the tries and kicks totted up, I thought it was strange there was no apparent way of communicating the score to the spectators, as I couldn’t keep up. (From my vantage point past the halfway line, I couldn’t see said scoreboard.) Surely folk weren’t expected to REMEMBER the score? This isn’t football, where you’re lucky to see a goal. Here, if you went to the toilet, or bought a burger, you were sure to miss some addition or other to the tally. Or you might miss one of the three mascots (Bull Man, Bull Boy and Bull Girl) cavorting with the crowd, taking the kids’ (and my) mind off the rugby for a minute.

I’d walked past the refreshment stands to find a pew at the far end of the terracing, at the back. Here, most folk sat down, basking in the sun. And despite the speedway track, the view was alright because of the height. The Bulls stampeded into an early lead, looked by far the better side, before allowing the Raiders to come back into it slightly as half-time came into view. Bradford were attacking the Corporate End (my name for it), a two tier tin structure built above the old terracing and arching around the track. It may not be made of tin, but it looks like it. Maybe made by the same scrap metal merchants who built something similar at Wakefield Trinity. Cheap as chips, but fairly busy today.

Half-time came and I climbed the hill to the toilets, which looked remarkably like overly large World War II Anderson Shelters. Another reason to love this stadium. Opposite, is the Main Stand, a large modern cantilever construction which holds 4,000. I walked around for the second half, but, in shade, it wasn’t the same. (I suppose it’s the opposite on rainy days, everyone clambering to be in here.) I wanted warmth, and after 10 minutes or so of the second half I ventured back out. Still, it’s nice to have the option.

In the meantime the Bulls were making the game interesting, a player being sent off for throwing a punch. What’s it coming to when you’re not allowed to punch someone in RUGBY? I thought that was the whole point of the game. Said player trudged off despondently and punched the wall of the tunnel as he went. (The tunnel is built INTO the hill the terracing is on, the perfect nuclear bunker. Well, with Russia invading Ukraine, one has to make plans.)

There is a short Barrow spurt before Bradford get to grips again and run out easy winners, 36-24. Not that you’ll see it on the scoreboard. The Bulls score a kick as the whistle blows and the 2 lads in charge of the scoreboard instantly pull the numbers down and replace them with ‘0 0’, ready for the ladies game afterwards against Leigh Leopards, who joined me on the terrace earlier for a couple of minutes. I like the sound of a double header, though I’ve had my fill for today.

Oh, and this wondrous stadium? Bradford Council have plans to turn it into the largest permanently covered stadium in England, holding 25,000. I can’t see it happening anytime soon though. The council has no money, Bulls have no money...

https://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/article/1660/bradford-council-unveil-odsal-plans#:~:text=The%20plans%20would%20lead%20to,such%20as%20the%20semi%2Dfinals

The Damage:
£23 ent
= £23