Re: Catalans game moved to Esher RFC! : Wed Mar 27, 2013 9:32 am  

Want to clear up a few items here,

The Catalan Dragons did NOT put any pressure on Broncos, its the other way around, They have a big game on Monday, leeds at Home, This is is SOLELY down to Broncos and our club.

The cats are travelling to UK this morning (Weds) and return home on Friday.

Player safety will be issue, are medical facilities up to standard, Stoop doctor area is excellent Easher...??????

how about postpone game till weekend of Exiles game, no clash, nice weather,

Image rights (Broncos is shot to pieces, but the dragons get pulled down to our level)

RFL ( why do they sanction this, I now know why most the french feel the RFL is against them)

I also booked the Travelodge in Twickenham for the night, bang goes easy day out, Essex to Twickenham, Middx (drop bag) back on train to Surrey, all in the name of London, you could not make this up. and thats just one way.

Like Sham 69 once said "Tell us the truth" and they were the original Hersham boys, laced up boots and cordoroy

Give me strength,

Re: Catalans game moved to Esher RFC! : Wed Mar 27, 2013 9:40 am  

Its a shame we couldnt all stand round Richmond College pitch and view this game.There will be plenty of room for all 600 (or should that be 1800) of us and we could have used the facilities at The Stoop.
Simples.
Only joking of course but you need a sense of humour to stick with this.

Re: Catalans game moved to Esher RFC! : Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:00 am  

As someone who used to organise these things, let me assure you that postponing is often too difficult. Hotel availabilty, coach, flights etc. As Rooster said earlier, cast your minds back to our French game that was switched, for those who had booked, would you rather (a) Travel another few miles or (b) Try to cancel flights etc and re-book holidays etc? I know which I would choose.

As for Robertson being out and best we cancel. I wonder what fans would say if Robbo, Dorn, Gower and Dixon were all unavailable for rearranged game and we were flogged. No one likes the Easter fixture congestion, least of all the coach and players but they are happy with the decision, so let it go ahead.

Medical facilities, as SL games must have a Paramedic team on hand, I think this is the least of the problems. I'd be more concerned with the condition of the field.

As to Quins telling them to play elsewhere, non of this is new to the club. We once had to play 5 away games on the bounce for pitch renovations. This was also put in the contract with Charlton, Brentford etc. If Branson couldn't get out of it, I'm pretty sure Gus wasn't capable. Charlton tried to blame us for their pitch being cut to pieces before a Premier league game, when all the damage was done by their reserves. Goes with not owning our own ground unfortunately.

It will always be harder for these two teams to rearrange compared to the northern mob. They just have to go home and try again the next day.

Re: Catalans game moved to Esher RFC! : Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:30 am  

Nudenut wrote:

As someone who used to organise these things, let me assure you that postponing is often too difficult. Hotel availabilty, coach, flights etc. As Rooster said earlier, cast your minds back to our French game that was switched, for those who had booked, would you rather (a) Travel another few miles or (b) Try to cancel flights etc and re-book holidays etc? I know which I would choose.

As to Quins telling them to play elsewhere, non of this is new to the club. We once had to play 5 away games on the bounce for pitch renovations. This was also put in the contract with Charlton, Brentford etc. If Branson couldn't get out of it, I'm pretty sure Gus wasn't capable. Charlton tried to blame us for their pitch being cut to pieces before a Premier league game, when all the damage was done by their reserves. Goes with not owning our own ground unfortunately.

I fully agree! I would just like to know when our landlord told the club that they were withdrawing the use of the ground for Thursday evening! the sooner we get away the better! the only type of ground that is going to really work is like Saracens have with the plastic pitch, will any club we go in with consider that?

Re: Catalans game moved to Esher RFC! : Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:45 am  

A few have mentioned our experience when the Catalan fixture was changed a few years back.......slightly different circumstances I think, it was not an alternative ground, they moved the game day so many of us would have been flying home when the game took place......and Catalan/SKY/RFL gave zero consideration to the travelling fans.

As for `what would we think if x,y,z, players were all not available at the same time on a future date`....

Regarding the state of the pitch at the Stoop and Quins kicking us out......that may or may not have been the case and we will not know for sure unless they do not allow the forthcoming Bradford game. I would not be at all suprised if this fixture is also moved on. Anyway we told the landlord at the start of the season we would not be staying, so why would anyone expect preferential treatment.

Re: Catalans game moved to Esher RFC! : Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:53 am  

As far as the players are concerned, there shouldn't be any problems. Basically the ground is a fairly typical pre-professional RU one - decent clubhouse and player facilities and not much for the very few spectators. Given the weather outlook, I'd expect the Bradford game to have to be moved as well - given that we've said we're off, why should Quins do anything for us? Incidentally, I make this the SEVENTEENTH ground that we've played home matches on

Re: Catalans game moved to Esher RFC! : Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:59 am  

Gus has just been on the telly speaking to Sky reporter re fixture being moved. Broncos only found out 4pm Monday that they couldn't play at The Stoop and have been searching as far as Bath to find someone to host the fixture.

Cant understand why we couldn't simply move the fixture further down the line (we have a very imbalanced fixture list this year...why?...last home game Aug 17th and no home games in July!).

Still, I'm going to cut the club some slack on this as I very much doubt that they are happy with the situation.

Re: Catalans game moved to Esher RFC! : Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:37 am  

Bar a storming run in the CC and `Play-Off` considerations (as if) our last normal fixture is Sunday 8th September....no doubt the players/Gus etc will be heading off on pre-booked holidays as of Monday 9th and did not want to run the risk of a fixture `log jam`by rescheduling the game.

Re: Catalans game moved to Esher RFC! : Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:39 am  

The Clubhouse has Pils in the fridge, and boy gonna need them

Re: Catalans game moved to Esher RFC! : Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:42 am  

Westy--- you always cheer me up!