catalan fans view on whitehaven
Arriving in town, we had a brief stroll whilst looking for a suitable feeding hole. The town has clearly seen better days. The docks aren't busy these days and for all the trappings of your average town - Costa Coffee and myriad mobile phone shops - there's a run-down feel. Whether that's me projecting or not, I don't know. It doesn't seem to be doing the locals any harm as we found out on entering the Whittington Cat, a pub recommended by a contact we'd made at the club. Drinks ordered and chat had, we surveyed the menu. For a fiver, you could eat as much as you could possibly shove down yourself. A gammon steak with egg came with a mountain of chips that defeated it's purchaser. The all-day breakfasts were a challenge too. You won't get that much grub for a fiver in Leeds, and no mistaking. Seek it out if you're in the area. The locals love to talk about the game as well.
Up to the club for some pre-match drinks. As mentioned, this is a club which has been on the fringes of promotion to the big league on a few occasions lately. However, the ground is clearly not up to code. It's rusting corrugated iron, thick moss on the rooves, shaky looking terracing. It has the feel of a club much lower down the ladder, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There's no pretention. No heirs or graces. It's a good, honest club populated with passionate and caring fans. It's brilliant. There's no ?5 dog burgers for sale, but there is an ice-cream van, no matter how incrongruous three of our party looked eating ice-cream in a force 10 gale and a biblical downpour which started at half-time and hasn't really stopped yet.
And they've got a decent side who pushed an out-of-sorts Dragons all the way. I hope they win the league. They'll need to do some serious work doing on the ground to be admitted to the top flight, some toilets would be a start, but I want them to achieve. It's a great club and I wish them every success. This is what Rugby League is all about.
A huge thanks to Paul at the club for the tickets and hospitality, and to the players and staff of both clubs for stopping and chatting. I half reckon Stacey Jones might still be signing stuff for the local kids.