Back in May 2002 a party of then GHK P6 players led by coach Jim Gossman
and accompanied by various hingers on (aka dads) embarked on a hugely enjoyable
end of season weekend to Cheltenham.

We stayed in jockey's quarters at Cheltenham racecourse, and yes 6' males
did manage to fit into jockey size beds.

Our hosts arranged for the party to attend a local rugby match on the Saturday
afternoon at Kingsholm in Gloucester - their version of Rangers v Celtic
(without the violence) - Gloucester - v Bath. What an eye-opener.

We arrived at the ground about 1 hour before kick off. The club shop, selling
replica jerseys at ?40 a time was crammed, strips of raffle tickets were
on sale at ?1 a strip - prize money ?250. Our host reckoned the club took
in approximately ?12,000 - ?15,000 in raffle ticket sales each game. The
club house was jammed packed. The queue for the bar, where at least 6 bar
staff were on duty was, 4 deep and outside there was already about 2000 in
the ground with the food stalls around the ground doing brisk business.

The "shed" where the hardcore Gloucester support were stationed was solid
with red jerseys. Gloucester came out for their warm up. Not in ones and
twos, but the squad en masse - out the tunnel, across the halfway line straight
for the "shed". The noise from the "shed" was incredible and didn't abate
until the squad returned to the changing room.

Kick off - Kingsholm is solid with 11,000 spectators, 95+% being Gloucester
supporters of whom almost all are wearing club jerseys(at ?40 a time) - that's
approximately ?400,000 to the club. The pace, skill levels, commitment and
atmosphere was beyond anything we had witnessed back home, including Glasgow
games. I don't remember the score, but Gloucester won.

After the game the clubhouse was a solid mass of bodies again, and 30-40
minutes after the final whistle there's still hundreds inside the ground,
in the clubhouse, sitting on the pitch enjoying their pints while some Gloucester
players mingle with the supporters.

On Sunday the boys played 3 games against Cheltenham, who were the county
champions at that age group, and GHK won all 3 games.

All the Cheltenham players had full kit, including training kit, match kit,
tracksuits, shirts, ties etc provided FOC by the club. The club itself had
been taken on by Leicester Tigers as a feeder club with Leicester supplying
training gear including tackle bags etc and coaching.

Our reaction then was what chance has Scottish Rugby. Does Brian Simmers
know what he's letting himself in for?

The reason for this ramble is that a couple of nights ago my son, Stuart,
now hooker with Hawks Under 16s , was going through some old rugby programmes
and came across the Gloucester v Bath programme. He drew my attention to
an article about two highly rated Gloucester props. One named Mark Irish
and the other Nick Cox. It couldn't be THE Nick Cox? Well there does seem
to be some likeness, although the article doesn't mention any diving skills
(you'll notice I didn't use the term "belly flop" ).

I've attached the article, although you'll have to magnify it to be able
to read it.

Gordon

This article was posted on 29-Sep-2006, 17:09 by Hugh Barrow.