MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!
WELCOME I know it's just a little early but this is the final programme of 2019 and I can't let the opportunity pass of wishing players and supporters, members and visitors the compliments of the season. I hope Santa Claus is kind to you and yours. I'm sure those of you who joined us for our Christmas lunch will be basking in that rosy glow of contentment, having enjoyed good food, good wine and good company. A big thank you to Ian, Linda and the crew for looking after us so well. And to kick-start the rest of this afternoon's festivities, I am delighted to welcome our visitors from Barnard Castle.

Our opponents enjoyed their summer, winning both their pre-season games at Richmondshire and Darlington. But then the wheels kinda fell off, and they are stuck at the bottom of the league without a win. They have been close on occasions, losing to North Shields, Medicals and Gateshead by a mere three or four points. However November has not been kind to them. They lost 39-0 to Westoe, 78-7 to Northern, and then last time out 9-26 at home to Novos. We last met three years ago, a season when they beat us home and away to finish third to our fifth in DN1.

THREE WEEKS AGO we stood here on a dark and dreich afternoon anticipating a frenzied local derby with Acklam. What we witnessed was a fine display of lively aggressive rugby, crisp passing played at pace and determined defence from one side – unfortunately for us that side was Acklam. Congratulations to them for a victory fully justified and deserved. Looking for a crumb of comfort I suppose we can argue that we 'won' the second half 7-3, courtesy of a typical Brendan try, and did strive manfully to breech our visitors defence, But we failed and lost 7-13. Our real stars on the day were the children from Marton Manor school, who formed a guard of honour as the team ran onto the field and then provided sustained – and joyfully noisy – encouragement throughout the match. A huge THANK YOU to them all.

It was an entirely different story on t'other pitch, where our Wasps were at home to Blaydon, a side which in the past has scored rather heavily against us. But not this time. When both teams straggled off the pitch at the end they were all covered in mud and impossible to tell apart – other than the broad grin on the faces of our heroic warriors. We adapted superbly to the conditions to lead 12-0 at the break, a lead we extended to 35-7 at the final whistle. Read Jonno's report in this issue.

Meanwhile our 'A' team made the short journey to Stockton, where the home team took a 10-0 half time lead but with an exciting 40 minutes in prospect. However Stockton, fully aware that last season our 'A' team were undefeated champions of the TVL, were fully intent beating our boys. Whilst our 15 players had to play the whole match, our opponents, on a day when their 2nds had no match they were able to change half their side...Eric's report is in this issue.

The weekend was made all the better with the Occasionals – a mixture of our Lions and Vets under the captaincy of Wes Crowther – entertaining Billingham Hippos in their third game of a season in which we all hope will be a monthly run-out for those oh-so aching limbs. You really must read all about the audacious try scored by the still-effervescent Simo the Samurai.

On that ever so busy weekend we saw Teesside United in action. I have previously referred to the fantastic cooperation between local clubs to ensure youngsters get a game of rugby. Nowhere was it better illustrated than three weeks ago, when players from Teesside clubs joined together to form two separate teams. On Sunday morning a mixed Acklam and Middlesbrough U16s side entertained Thirsk, whilst the afternoon game featured a Colts side comprising players from Stockton, Acklam and Middlesbrough facing Hartlepool BBOB. Both 'united' teams won, although much more important than the results is the fact that the young men got to play rugby. It is a tremendous initiative which should be much lauded.

TWO WEEKS AGO with the 1st team bus ready and raring to shoot off to Gateshead we were told the pitch was waterlogged and the game was off. No worries, the following Saturday was free from league fixtures, so the game would just slip a week. There was better luck for the Wasps, who were able to play as they welcomed Tynedale for their second consecutive really tough CANDY League match. Not only were Tynedale unbeaten, we'd conceded over a hundred points, without reply, at Corbridge in October. But buoyed by that impressive victory against Blaydon, our warriors performed absolutely heroically in front of a bumper crowd to win 19-5. Please read the increasingly ecstatic report by Jonno.

The 'A' team were also in action, at home to Wensleydale. Although losing the match it was an improved performance by our lads. It was a pleasure to welcome back our kick-boxing champion Kieran Jones, filling in his time until his imminent knee operation with another gutsy game at scrum half.

AND THEN LAST WEEK was a disaster! Not only did Gateshead again call-off our league match, but Consett cried off their trip to meet the Wasps in a CANDY Cup match, citing shortage of players. It was a rugby-free Saturday! And so today, I'm looking forward to a good game of rugby served up as a delightful dessert to our Christmas Lunch!!

CLUB NEWS Today's launch of our Festivities we have the following events:

Sunday 15th Children's Christmas Party, and Members Grand Christmas Draw
Tuesday 17th Pie Baking Competition
Thursday 19th Christmas sing-a-long, led by Santa Claus
Saturday 21st Lizard Run, Santa outfits to be worn
Tuesday 31st New Year's Eve Party, with singer, and Ian and Linda's buffet

and THEN, to keep the party season rolling along and to brighten up the new year, we will hold a Burns Supper on Friday 24 January!

Incidentally, 47 years ago, on 9 December 1972 (the year we celebrated our centenary) we were represented in the North East Counties side which played New Zealand at Bradford. Peter Nash was No 8, prop Tony Rucklidge was on the bench and AGBO, then at Leicester, was the fly half, and kicked the Counties into a 3 point lead before they eventually lost 3-9. It was a strong All Blacks team, captained by Ian Kirkpatrick and included the likes of Grant Batty, Sid Going and Andy Haden.

REFEREE'S CORNER As we begin to usher in the Festive Season this afternoon I am delighted to welcome Graham Bentley to Acklam Park for his ever visit, despite this being his eighth season as a referee. I'm sure he won't mind me telling you that he's been around a bit – as a player, I hasten to add; he was a centre/full back at Davenport (now Stockport) before moving on to play professional rugby league for Salford and then joining O Brods and finally Otley, from whence he travels to be with us today. Graham is a self employed letter box manufacturer. I hope when he leaves us today he has fond memories of a memorable first visit.

I am pleased that the redoubtable Tim Wear, who has already ferreted out a series of interesting facts for past issues of our programme, has assumed the very important role as our archivist and is seeking copies of programmes for the period late 1950s to the early 1960s – in essence anything pre 1967. If you have any we can have, or borrow to copy, we will be delighted to hear from you.