Quins A View From The Famous

A FIRST WIN IN THE PREMIERESHIP - ONE FAN’S EXPERIENCE

By "JR"

Well - I’d thought about it all week - should I try to go or shouldn’t I? On the plus side I was no longer in pain and I was getting reasonably adept at handling the wheelchair but how easy would it be at Sixways? Anyone who hasn’t spent time in a wheelchair may think we live in a wheelchair-friendly world - we don’t. I’ve tried shopping and going to work (in a building less than three years old) and I can assure that there are more obstacles than you might imagine. To make matters worse my season ticket is for a seat at the back of the West Stand. And then the main obsession - toileting - would I be able to get into them at Sixways - and would I get there in time!! And dare I risk my pre-match pint - after all, I would have to get there extra early and would usually have two in such circumstances.

In the end, it was just too much - and my wife said it was too soon after the operation and I wasn’t well enough and she‘s the driver at the moment. I fantasised about winning a last minute competition for a box in the South Stand but, reluctantly, I found myself kicking my heels (metaphorically) on the morning of the match day - THE MATCH DAY - the day we might have our first premiership win. I couldn’t bring myself to not want us to win (although freezing fog and postponement would have been quite acceptable) - but after fifteen years of watching my team claw its way up the leagues - I am pre-Les Cusworth - and the long wait in National 1 - it was hard missing the big day. Also, although I’m not a frequent traveller to away games, I do manage a few each season and I had planned to go to Leeds and London Irish and had already written those off but home games …..… I had hoped. And all this due to a broken bone in my foot - the same one that all the England footballers keep breaking - that was reluctant to mend on its own and needed an operation and 6-8 weeks in a non-weight bearing plaster. Hence, the wheelchair……..

So what could I do? Well, thank goodness for local radio - full commentary - at least I could follow the game and know what was happening. My normal practice on away Saturdays has always been to keep my ears glued to H & W for their updates (even - via an earpiece - when I was stood on the touchline watching Malvern). And I have to say the commentary was excellent - and I don’t just mean technically - but in the fuller sense of giving the listener a real feeling of the atmosphere and of what it felt like to be there. The commentators’ voices, allied with my familiarity with the pitch and ground, allowed me to “see” the game pretty well although the players obviously had to manage without my personal encouragement - it was wasted on the cat who retreated to her basket in the hall, having presumably come to the conclusion (after the first try) that (a) I had gone mad and was possibly dangerous, and (b) I was unlikely to feed her in the foreseeable future.

The game itself passed in a blur. The early tries - especially the second - sounded wonderful. We then seemed to stick at 14-7 for an awful long time - and the missed penalty before half-time did little for my nerves and made me think that perhaps it wasn’t our day after all. But the third try came - and it slowly dawned on me that - even with two Lions as centers - Harlequins had nothing left - and, indeed, had arrived with very little in the first place. The fourth (bonus point) try seemed a near certainty and the fifth was the icing on the cake. It wasn’t the way I expected to experience our first win in the premiership but it was a hugely enjoyable experience. And I got my beer - before the game, during it and - fairly comprehensively - after it (and the cat got extra milk).

But I’m thinking about the Gloucester game and hope to develop a cunning plan……….

 "JR"