I want to just lay down from where I am coming from.
I left from the UK to Aus 2 days after we played Hull FC in the 2007 season. Back then we had a team which was looked upon by all other SL sides as a bit dangerous, and by no means easy pushovers. A team that included LMS, HP, Mclinden, Tye Smith, Scott Hill, Chris Melling, Clubb, Matt Gafa, Hecks, Purdham, Hopkins, Danny Orr. Allow me to emphasis the point I am trying to make here. I remember in the 2006 season I went to see the Bradford match at the Stoop, we were 36-0 down at half time, and I think the score at the end was 60ish - 4, I remember Lee Hopkins saying repeatedly that as long as he was in the team that kind of result will never ever happen again. The whole team was shell shocked, even Mike Worrincy. I remember was in the Kings bar head down and just unable to comprehend what had just happened. Mclinden who always was a brash type of fellow was very annoyed and visibly angry about the performance his team had just produced. I talked to Gafa, and he said that if this had happened at Canberra the players would be bricking themselves at the possibility at being put in front of the raiders fans after the match. But he said that Quin RL fans (thats us) had taken it very well, he suffered no abuse, no 'what the hell were you doing out there' or 'your 5h1t'. If he would be in Canberra they would have been lynched.
The fact is that Quins RL/Broncs fans were quite blasé about a performance like that as we would know that things would be put right in the week and they would come out firing the next week with 3 weetabix inside them, and firm kick up the you know what and a rocket inserted up there whatsits!!!
When I left the UK, Quins RL were a force in the super league, and as such we had very high expectations in getting a result against any team we played (especially after beating saints AWAY on the first game of that season in 2007). Now, lets fast forward to July last year. I came up to the Hive (Hated the ground and it is was a pain in the booty to get there), I watched the Saints game in which we got really battered. Compare our team and performance that day to where we were in 2007, we are light years apart!
But I met up with some fans that I used to go to the games with in 2007, and it seems that they are broken men, very grounded down and really at rock bottom. There was no life in their eyes, there was no enjoyment like we used to have in 2007, the reason they went was only for the beers and company.
THAT IS OUR PROBLEM. For gutters and Rooster who can attest to this, I get to see my dad every 2 years, my sister can't see it but I can see noticeable change in my dad's sharpness and health, he still gets along but a little bit slower and ditherier than he did 2 years ago. That’s how I see you lot who still attend games. Please take no offence to what I have just said or take me out of context. I see you guys as loving our club, but a hard life over the past few seasons has taken the enjoyment out of what you are doing. You have become stuck in a rut and bereft of any life in following the Bronc's. Perhaps this is why the clapping still goes on, perhaps it is going back to the rare dark days in the middle part of that last decade where you know the Purds, Hopkins and HP will fire in the next week and put things right.
Sorry for the long post, I wanted to write something similar to this after the St Helens match last year but couldn’t be bothered!!
