OK, so finally Sarries have been found out. Finally the RFU have done something. But we have all known, all along, this was the case. It’s a tough pill to swallow. Especially as, even if the current punishments stand, they are hardly tough.
Wray can afford the fine and the points deduction will merely result in a mid-table finish for Sarries instead of top two.
But here’s the thing. I go to Kingsholm for a reason. I go to Kingsholm because Gloucester RFC is different. Gloucester RFC is genuine grass roots rugby. From the tip of it’s toes to the top of it’s hat. From The Tump to The Shed. Since before 1873. Rugby is the heart of this great city. Tens of clubs, dozens of teams, thousands of players and supporters. I’m Essex born & bred but I love my Gloucester. And here’s the thing. Sarries will never have what we have. The history, the brotherhood. They will never have Matson v Coney Hill, or Widden OB v Old Cryptians in the Car Park Derby and so many others.
Sarries will never have the incredible history of our great rugby city. The poor bastards. And so they can never truly understand what this great game truly means to us. And so they spout their rhetoric. We are “neathendral”….. oh the sweet irony they couldn’t spell it correctly.
I recall Laurie Fisher visiting Widden OBs on a cold, wet Tuesday evening on one of his many visits to local clubs coaching in his spare time. Always freely giving of himself. He was visibly stunned by the hundreds of people there. Teams playing, some training, some supporting. A vibrant, lively, active scene. A scene repeated across and beyond our city.
Sarries do not have this. Sarries fans cannot understand what we have and so they cannot understand why what their teams owners have done hurts us so much.
And so I ask one thing. As one of the leading tormentors of Sarries in their darkest hour I ask this. When Sarries fans are beside you in The Shed or on The Tump; Be Gloucester. Be gracious. Yes, certainly, take the piss, they deserve it. But….be gentle. They may be hurting. They may have had an awareness of the cheating going on but it was not them that cheated. Yes they may be vocal in defence of their team but that is just a group under attack coralling their wagons.
People of our great club……..Be humble at what we have and they do not, for they can never understand. Be Gloucester, Be proud.
winnyssite 