WELCOME...to you all, particularly to those of you returning to Acklam Park for the first time this season, or indeed visiting us for the first time ever. The excitement has been building up for weeks as the season approached and reached a crescendo at the end of August with four matches in 11 days. To those of you who attended our cup match with Moortown I should warn you that much of the contents of this programme will be familiar. I apologise for this but such was the weight of demand to be kept up-to-date from those unable to join us last Friday I felt I had no option but to repeat much of the information...It's also a short week for the printer!

WELCOME...to everyone from Heath (Halifax), as we return to Yorkshire 1; it gives me a great deal of pleasure to offer you the warmest of welcomes. During our last campaign in Y1 the games between our two sides were pretty scrappy affairs, although we did manage to win 15-22 at Heath and 21-6 in the return fixture. We finished in fourth place that season, with Heath in 12th place; they improved to 8th the following year and then last year our visitors finished in 9th position. Almost half of the 500 points Heath scored were by one player – Ezra Hinchliffe, their top scorer by some distance these past five seasons.

WELCOME...back to Andrew Baggett, who we are delighted has returned to Acklam Park as our player/coach. (See his contribution to the programme Coach's Comments on page 2.) He left us first for Wharfedale and then Blaydon, accumulating record-breaking appearances (432) and points (1707) along the way. A superb player and highly qualified coach we are extremely pleased he has returned. It's great to see Andy back in our colours, and it's great to see more of his lovely parents Mike and Frances, and Sarah his wife.
Steve Todd completes the leadership of our playing structure as Director of Rugby. Steve has been involved in our activities for many years and is steeped in our history and traditions. The pair make a fine team and replace Shaun Cassidy and Andy Duff, who deserve every praise for their dedication and commitment during the past three years.
PRE-SEASON It's been a great pre-season, culminating in a bonanza of successful activity with four hugely competitive games all played over one-and-a-half weeks at the end of August. Before that we had pleasingly high numbers at mid-week training and then going on to weekend energy-sapping drills in the dunes at Redcar, Our first three opponents, Redcar, Northern and Moortown, are all promoted as table-toppers, whilst Guisborough are rejoining D/N1.
We played Redcar mid-week with a big pool of players from all senior sides, including the Colts, but our visitors came out with all guns blazing and galloped into a 12 point lead before we established some authority to finish with a 31-19 victory. The following Saturday at Northern the roles were reversed; we took a 17-0 lead before our opponents drew level at 17-all (ignore the report in Friday's programme!) but we finished with a flourish to win 17-43. Again we fielded a mix of players, with Sean Moloney at his marauding best to score a hat trick of tries in each match. We then beat Moortown 43-12 in the Yorkshire Shield on Friday night (see below) before completing a clean sweep of victories with a 12-10 result against Guisborough the following day. The starting XV for the Guisborough match included only two players from the cup match the night previous but yet again we saw fantastic heroics on the pitch. The win was secured following a scoreless first period when Jack B and Josh crossed. Eleven days, four games, four wins and game-time for over 40 players; truly wonderful!
It's actually five from five when the 'A' team's 42-22 win over Bishop Auckland is taken into account. Bishop turned up a few players short but in the true spirit of rugby we mixed and matched the teams so everyone enjoyed a proper game.
CUP RUGBY Last Friday night we welcomed Moortown in the Yorkshire Shield, for the first of three competitive games between us this season, as they've been promoted as unbeaten champions of Y2 – it was going to be an interesting guide to the future prospects of both teams. Although we won with what looks like a comfortable score (43-12) Moortown are a big strong unit who run hard and hit hard. That we won was down to one of the best all-round performances from every man and boy in maroon that we've seen for a long time – our best game in 10 years, as one of our regulars said to me coming off the field. The tackling, the commitment, the energy and enthusiasm were all quite remarkable and of the highest standard.
The match started and finished under lights but either side of half time was played on the 1st team pitch, with the unlucky Liam Baxter lying in pain with a broken ankle; we send Liam our very best wishes for a speedy and full recovery. We got off to the best possible start when Brendan Hill touched down after five minutes. He went on to complete a hat trick before half time, which with tries from Sean Moloney and Andy Baggett, plus three conversions by Andy, gave us a half time lead of 31-5. Two second half tries from Ali Lang and a conversion by Andy capped a most impressive display. We will next meet either Redcar or Keighley in Round 2.
LEAGUE RUGBY And so we are back in Y1. It seemed to us that the decision was not a foregone conclusion as the RFU North Competitions Committee said in March they were concerned that the burden of Level Transfer imposed on a single club could be regarded as an unfair and significant disadvantage when other club(s) in close proximity could also reasonably make the required move. Consequently new regulations allow the NCC to vary the strict application of ‘Lowest Total Mileage’ and nominate another club for Level Transfer.
When we queried the decision to transfer us for a second time, quoting this new regulation, we were told that on this occasion the NCC decided not to implement the regulation for the 2017-2018 season, opting instead to consider the end of the 2017-2018 season as the starting point to implement the new provisions. They decided that giving all Clubs at least one year’s notice of the possible change would be a fairer way of introducing it.
CLUB NEWS Many congratulations to Keiran Clark and Conner Foley on their appearances for Durham County in the County Championship last season. Just take a peek of them standing shoulder to shoulder in the photograph on page 9. Keiran has certainly had a stellar start to his playing career. Having played for Durham U18s as a 16 year-old and then for the U20s and the full County team as an 18 year-old. It was also heartening to see former Boro Juniors Adam Radwan and Ben Stevenson featuring so prominently in the Singha Premiership Rugby 7s in Northampton.

I am pleased to report that our 4th Annual BeerFest was another great success; getting bigger and better every year the Exotic Gin Bar did a roaring trade, the Hog Roast sold out and the ciders and beers just about lasted until close of play – even the weather was kind to us and we enjoyed a very pleasant sun-bathed Saturday afternoon. A huge 'thank you' to everyone who came along and joined us over the two days. If you didn't, I urge you to pop along next year, when yet again we will add something new – a prosecco bar!

A couple of weeks before the Beerfest we gathered in the Function Room to surprise Ian Horton for his 65th birthday; an anchor and stalwart of the Club for many years Ian is one of the good guys. He actually slipped out of the country for his birthday, thinking he'd miss any embarrassing celebrations. He should know Kath better than that! He looked totally astonished when he entered the room but he was soon on the floor demonstrating the actions to the Birdie Song. But let me digress just for a moment. My wife Maureen, knowing the high esteem in which I have always held Ian, asked him to say a few words at my 60th birthday get-together in the old Club way back in the mists of time. I'll never ever forget what he said. He said “No.”

REFEREE'S CORNER It gives me great pleasure to welcome Hanson Haigh back to Acklam Park. His first appearance at Middlesbrough as a referee was two years ago when he took charge of our game with Stockton, although he did played here for his club O Crossleyans, where he was what he calls a 'utility player' but what I would call a 'multi-talented player'; he started as a three-quarter before moving into the forwards. Hanson hails from Halifax, has been a referee for 14 years, and is an Operations Manager for a steel stockist. I hope he enjoys his time with us this afternoon.