Monday 20 April 2015

Sporting Heaven!

Saturday was one of those days when the sporting gods were smiling.

My firm has been a long time sponsor of Westcliff Rugby Club and their last game of the season took place this weekend with the team realistically needing a win to avoid relegation. Against a strongly performing Barnes team, and in demanding and windy conditions, the team played magnificently to snatch a well deserved win by 8 points to 7. With a nervous wait for other results confirmation was received that they were safe. The team played some great ruby and fully deserved their success.

This was followed by news of an essential away win for the Baggies at Crystal Palace which represents a further massive step to retaining their premiership status next year.

Finally Gloucester Rugby played an epic semi final against Exeter to reach the final of the European Challenge Cup. Their play was amazing although not resulting in the points their superiority deserved until the last few minutes. The final now beckons at The Stoop on Friday week but having tried to get tickets I can’t help but be staggered by the decision to hold the final of this important European tournament at a stadium with a capacity of just 14,000.

I believe the clubs have so far been allocated about 2,500 tickets each – wholly inadequate - and Ticketmaster is suggesting the event is sold out reflecting that the seats have been on sale for some time in circumstances where the finalists have been unknown. Surely a stadium with a capacity nearer to 35,000 or 40,000 would have been appropriate to accommodate fans from both clubs as well as the inevitable number of neutrals. It is the club fans who provide the colour and atmosphere to events like these and they need to be given full opportunity to attend.

So it looks like the final will be enjoyed “Chez Holdcroft” with a large group of Gloucester following family and friends and in the meantime we will be at Kingsholm on Saturday to shout the club on in their premiership game against Newcastle.

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