Presidents Welcome – Saturday 26th November 2022

Good afternoon and welcome to Beechwood for what promises to be an entertaining game of rugby as we welcome back our ‘old friends’ from Manchester, who have done an outstanding job in revitalising their club and slowly but surely progressing back up through the leagues. Their position of 5^th, having won 6 of their 10 games, strongly suggests that they are a team on the rise and Lymm cannot afford any complacency to creep into their run of excellent form which sees us sitting 2^nd.

This week saw the close of one World Cup – namely the Rugby League – and the opening of another with the Football World Cup in Qatar. The two locations and ethos of the two sports are diametrically opposed. Anyone who witnessed the Wheelchair Rugby League would commend the efforts that have been made for inclusivity at all levels.  Who would have thought that a game of Rugby League could be played together by able-bodied and non-able-bodied with such physical force that the turning upside down of a wheelchair in the ‘tackle’ is a normal event?

I look forward to seeing the equivalent commitment in Qatar – from players and officials alike. As a sport we need to rise to the challenges of increasing participation and in my view, Rugby League is showing us (The RFU) the way that new forms of the game can be introduced at all levels and how they should be embraced. As a matter of interest, the main driving force behind the introduction of Wheelchair RL was no less than former Lymm Colt, Martin Coyde OBE . We send our congratulations to him and his 2 sons – one the coach and the other a player.

Lymm’s season continues to go well with some fantastic performances being put in by all the squad. The coaches hard work in the patterns of play in both attack and defence are clearly visible and are producing an outstanding brand of rugby. The performance against Macclesfield, who are the only side to have beaten Blackburn this season was perhaps the best I have ever been privileged to witness by a Lymm side. The brand of rugby was outstanding and certainly represents value for money for the £8 admission fee!

At this point I may be accused of being biased but if I had paid a £150 for the admission to watch England at Twickenham last weekend for them to perform only for the last ten minutes and have the game in their hands with the much talked about ‘momentum’ and the All Blacks down to 14…….. do you honestly think Cormac (or any of our backs!) would have kicked that ball out and settled for the draw!!!!  Unfortunately, I shall miss today’s game due to an unforeseen diary clash that takes me to Poland, so I shall be eagerly following the updates and hoping for a great game and that the results go Lymm’s way.

Cheers

Neil Kelly, President