Ok, ok, I know. Wembley doesn't have twin towers anymore but it was a convenient comparison. We could also ask, a stroll along the Golden Mile or a strut up Wembley Way? It's a few hours now since the Challenge Cup draw. My Leeds Rhinos got Wigan at our place. Not the best draw ever but not the worst.
I recently read about a football WAG who had expresses a desire for her fella's team to fail to make the play offs. Middlesbrough it was. The reason behind this apparent lack of support? She wanted to get off on holiday a bit earlier. This is surely the sentiment of a one half of a couple with way too much money coming in. There is also the chance that she made this comment with her tongue firmly in cheek.
In rugby league we all most definitely want to progress as far as we can in all cups and competitions. Firstly, because ambition and pride are at stake. Secondly because in some cases we can't afford much of a holiday unless we win summat.
So what so we do if we get ousted from the competitions early; Challenge Cup, Northern Rail, Grand Final Play Offs? We certainly don't get all the weekends off when subsequent rounds are played. They players are often brought in for training to make sure that they're not having too much fun. But usually we'll get one weekend to have a break and feel sorry for ourselves at missing out on a big event.
One year there was a BBQ at Keith Senior's house. Me and another wife who shall remain nameless decided to have a nosy round his house. We got our just desserts when his massive rottweiler bounded out of one room to protect his territory from the sticky beak intruders. Busted! I have rarely been so embarrassed.
Last year we went out of the Carnegie Challenge Cup rather early, thanks to Saint Helens. Quite a few of us ended up booking a weekend at Center Parcs. Is seems other Superleague teams were like-minded. We bumped into Richard Agar and the Huddersfield Giants' doctor among others. It was like a losers convention in the subtropical swimming paradise.
I have watched the Challenge Cup Final in various dreary B&B lounges on the west and east coasts and would always have much rather been watching the spectacle in the shadow of Wembley's two towers (or arch thing as it is these days) than the Blackpool Tower.
This year, as I click on 'publish post', this is still a possibility for me and my Leeds Rhinos. Here's hoping for zero chance of a holiday til November.
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