Wordsmith Entry A

                                                   Saints and Me

This nascent piece has taken me a long time to construct: every time I tried to write something about Saints, my good intentions were effaced by everyday thoughts. So perhaps I will begin with how I feel about the Saints during the summer months, or more precisely, whilst I await the start of the new season.

From the moment that the letter arrives asking me to renew my vade mecum, I feel renewed hope for better things to come. Then begins the Argus eyed vigil for the postie - what is taking so long? When at last my new season ticket arrives, a feeling of anticipation ensues: a felicitous pre-season is needed, by both spectator and players alike. And so it begins. Will our piebald team indulge us with robustuos games, or will they be bootless and insouciant? Who can predict?

So now to how I feel about Saints when the season is under way. Have the pre-season games been of any significant use or are they a harbinger of doom? We shall soon discover! The first home game and I feel excitement growing, anticipation is at a very high level and then the music begins....the teams run out to tumultuous noise from both home and away support. The whistle is blown to signal the start of another season and we're off! Up to this point, anything is a possibility...the pundits have made their predictions, the bookies have laid their odds. But now is when we begin to see who has the best vision in the crystal balls....

A prescient feeling often ensues shortly after the start of the game, usually when the opposition begin to gambol on Piggy's Lawn. The suppositious question of how to staunch the points fest of our adversaries needs answering. Oh to have again a flibbertigibbet scrum half to assist the referee in his penalty decisions!

As an ARSS,I am used to the rollercoaster habit of the Saints - it isn't in my nature to pule over the perfidy of the team - instead, I look forward to those occasions when I become turgid with joyance after a hard fought win, whomever the opponent: the higher our challengers are in the league table, the sweeter the taste of victory. Domestic cup matches were special games, bringing their own allurement. To beat previous champions was always a spellbinding spectacle: to witness their apocryphal reputations lying in tatters on the field of nightmares, their machinations having come to nought, their lascivious dreams of yet another virtu for their trophy cabinet shattered - priceless!

But the league is most important - hopefully the talent inherant in the team will help them through these most recent of difficult times and they can climb from the lowly position that they are currently in. As a supporter,I live in hope of one day soon that I will see the team lift aloft another trophy.Until then I will happily sing and shout and above all, encourage them with every ounce of passion that I can muster...I am confident that with travail, they will succeed. Even after all that I witness at FG or away grounds, I remain an optimistic adherant to the cause.

Kia Kaha.