#leigh beattie

[bradfordzone]

Leigh Beattie Prepares For Final Reserves Test We caught up with Under 19s Head Coach, Leigh Beattie after last weekend's 42-22 victory over Catalan Dragons, as well as looking ahead to tomorrow night's reserve clash with Halifax RLFC at Odsal.

[wobblyheadedbull]

Comfort Eating

I thought seriously about not going on Sunday, not for long, but the idea definitely took a turn through my mind. I tried to rein it in, but this food ban thing really twisted my knickers. Talk of folk staying away, or even turning away at the gate, hasn’t done much to smooth them out either.

I’m not going to rant on, I’ve deleted a few impassioned paragraphs but when it comes down to it I don’t really feel angry anymore, I feel tired, and a little sad. In the end it’s just the latest example of an incident which sits somewhere between another cackhandled PR situation, or a contemptuous mistruth, and after that away kit nonsense I’m running out of benefits left to give the doubt.

Safety and security are important, nobody who’s opened their eyes over the last few months can argue against that - and I think we’re all good with bag searches; pat downs, or even a metal detector or two. Saying no to cans & bottles is standard; unsealed liquids, well Odsal isn’t exactly a passenger jet, but at least there’s a precedent of some sort; food threat, however, simply isn’t a thing.

Headingley let food in, Etihad let food in, Wembley let food in - and that place is more fort than stadium - even Ryanair will let me take a couple of homemade ham butties and a scotch egg onboard.

Ironically, of all the randomly selected stadia quickly Google-checked, the only other place I’ve found which expressly disallows outside food is Spotland - so at least we’re prepared.

They don’t make any pretence about safety though, they simply say its not welcome, which, honestly, is fair enough. You wouldn’t sit down in Wetherspoons and start working through a crate of Aldi lager after all - you might bring some milk for the baby mind, but assuming there’s a sensible approach to that sort of thing I don’t think anybody could criticise a business for protecting its interests, so long as it’s honest about it. I would like to believe there’s a spreadsheet somewhere which maps increased concession monies against lost gate receipts though - even if there isn’t an axis for long-term good will.

That said, I’m willing to take the official line that this was a ban advised by the police / security agency if that’s what’s given. I’d be pretty keen to hear an explanation of why my sausage rolls are dangerous directly from them though - rather than force an already beleaguered club to shove out an unpopular news nugget and then try to hide it under re-tweets and stonewalling.


It’s back to the old echo I guess - honesty is usually the best policy, that, and proper information, proper answers; doubt and confusion only lead to anger and mistrust, and we sure ain’t in a position to be fostering any of that. Maybe this will all slide conveniently under a carpet, but I have a feeling it might float to the surface again before the next home game - as people will want to know if they can bring a couple of cold drumsticks, or a bag of of julienned carrots, as is their taste. I guess it’ll be a tester, with attendances being the stake. I just hope to the bottom of my heart that we pass.

I’m glad I did go on Sunday though, because - with a little time to reflect, it wasn’t that bad a game.

Frustrating, without a doubt, really frustrating - with Featherstone clearly a little off their best we had every chance to take the points, and at half-time even looked like we might.

We lost because we tried too hard, if anything - so many tackle counts cut short though panic - a little calm and confidence and we’d have had it. Well - calm, confidence, and literally anybody being near Lilley when he made his half-breaks, perhaps.

We didn’t get hammered though, and were in the game right up until the last fifteen minutes before it faded away. It felt better than the last afternoons at Crown Flatt or Post Office Road, that’s for certain - and not to forget this was top four opposition, and us playing with one half-back and a rear guard not much older then my nose hairs.

Yes, it was an annoying loss, a far from good enough performance, and another week lost from an ever-shortening window - but on the field did nothing to diminish my fragile hopes, and only served for me as a reminder of how achingly close we are, as a team, to pulling it all together and getting this job done.

I’ll be heading to Rochdale in a state of utter trepidation, but certainly not without belief.

I guess the latest news is that Geoff Toovey’s got his visa and is now officially head-coach. All-in-all there doesn’t seem too much to say about that, it’s a piece of paper which makes all the difference of a 21st Century wedding certificate - we’ve already been doing it, everybody knows we’ve already been doing it, its just now we’re fine to talk about it around Grandma, and people are going to expect us to breed something sooner rather than later.

That said, I’m a fan of his early media rounds, he talks well and answers what he’s asked with a tone that feels like honesty. Let’s just hope on Sunday we can hear a smile, rather than how excuses sound in a new accent.

Tell you what though, after the last eight weeks of unpleasant post-match Beattie’s had to shoulder, if we do hit zero points on Toovey’s first official game, I think he’ll owe that assistant a pint or four.

I think maybe a few people do anyway.

See you at Spotland (bring your suncream - leave your Lunchables at home).