Having finished early at a couple of business appointments with our new sponsors I arrived at Ravers at 6:00pm for the match against Edinburgh. I hoped to get in and take a couple of snaps of the new stand but unfortunately Ravers was in a state of lock down until 6:30 and only the great and the good of the Blazered community were getting past the over officious security folk.
No big deal for me as I was able to indulge in one of my favourite pastimes of heckling Blazers as they arrived pumped and preening, proudly bearing their club regalia, but a bit disappointing for the number of arriving Corporates who were denied access to their shiny new boxes. Mobiles where whipped out and outrage expressed but Heir Flick refused to be moved from his stance of “Thou shall not pass”.
I was expecting it to end with tears on the Pringle v-necks and a crumpling of the creases on their slacks but even the Corporates calmed down when they saw, so important was this final 15 minutes of preparation of the new stand, that not even the players were allowed in, with Young, Kyriacou and Faloon all being refused entry. All a bit of a farce and exceeding poor PR.
It did give me time to have a quick chat with Blazer extraordinaire, William “Sticky” Nelson of Larne RFC who arrived in a fetching bejewelled number, much to my amusement.
At 6:30 on the dot we were allowed in and surprisingly I was able to make it straight through to the Prom without being snagged by one of those Ulster Credit Card people, perhaps they will now congregate round the richer pickings of the new stand.
It was a delight to be able to promenade down the Prom without the great unwashed from the terrace underfoot with their bin bag water proofs and their begging bowls and I was able to wave at Davy Humphreys and give the players a few words of encouragement, which I know they enjoy. A visit to the bar and a few snaps of the new stand and it was soon time to meet up with my old workmates from the north coast.
We eschewed the bar and took our place opposite the 22 to soak up the pre-match atmosphere and with the new stand glistening and the ground filling up there was a tangible sense of excitement as kick off time approached, but there was still one more exciting revelation.
Now I’m sure it’s purely a coincidence that last year Mike Reid and Sparky were never seen in the same room at the same time, but it is extraordinary that, with Mike’s immanent departure, big fat Sparky has been replaced with small skinny Sparky! Surely not but it is something that was commented on by several of the Promenaders!
And so to the game.
Biff, bash, bosh, kapow, wallop, thump, just about covers the opening exchanges from the Ulster pack as they set about the Edinburgh team in the first quarter and with two tries already chalked up and Edinburgh looking completely shell shocked it looked as though a bonus point was in the bag!
However things started to look a little disconcerting when Edinburgh scored a converted try in practically their only visit to the Ulster half, but things relaxed a bit when Humph slotted over a penalty and as half time approached my only real concern was whether we’d get a bonus point or not.
Ulster started the second half equally ferociously and when Wallace was brought on early in the second half I thought he was just the man to finish off the tenacious Scots. Unfortunately Paddy had one of those games that reminded us why he should only play centre and with Trimble on and miss firing the Scottish halfbacks began to gain a foothold.
I could hardly watch the closing twenty minutes as, with Paddy’s unjustified departure, Edinburgh began to chip away at Ulster’s lead. There was a sense of inevitability as they drew level and then took the lead and despite roaring the team on for the final ten minutes they just didn’t have enough left in the tank for the much needed try.
Deeply depressed at the final whistle I outed my ex-workmates as scuds and banned them from coming back.
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5 Responses to “View from the Prom!”
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After one day on the otherside i miss the little people in the Scoop at least they knew their place.have i made a mistake Yes
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No one buys me pints now your gone!
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I was going to buy you one Dewi, but you refused !
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I know rooster, but it’s not the same unless Youngy is buying. You and I have to work for our money but Youngy just has to count his!
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If i anm allowed back into the Scoop i shall buy you both a pint
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