Mr Cheeky Monkey's First Tigers Match
By Mr Cheeky Monkey August 12 2002
My first Tigers game was an undistinguished occasion. It was in the late 80’s (I think it was 1987) and a home fixture against Wasps. At the time I had a season ticket for a 4th Division football team & had absolutely no idea about the rules of rugby (some might say the latter part is still true).
By Mr Cheeky Monkey August 12 2002
My first Tigers game was an undistinguished occasion. It was in the late 80’s (I think it was 1987) and a home fixture against Wasps. At the time I had a season ticket for a 4th Division football team & had absolutely no idea about the rules of rugby (some might say the latter part is still true).
My Dad had decided that me & my brother needed to be taken to a rugby match, I will be eternally grateful that he decided that my first game would be at Welford Road rather than in Northamptonshire.
I can’t recall anything of the game itself but can vaguely remember standing on the Crumbie terrace near the clubhouse end. I was probably too confused by why a team would name itself after an insect. Although I didn’t dislike the occasion, I hadn’t seen anything to convert me from football.
I may have gone to a few more games but my major sporting memories of the next few years were of men with moustaches & mullets kicking a ball around whilst wearing claret & white.
What really converted me to rugby was actually playing the game myself. The decision to take up the game was not voluntary, a change in schools meant that I had to give up my ambitions to become the next Eddie McGoldrick & instead subject myself to endless hours of tackling practice on freezing cold playing fields.
Once I got over the initial disappointment of having to play rugby I found myself enjoying it & so I started to go to Welford Road more often. Eventually I began to find new heroes on the rugby pitch, in particular the drop goal master himself, Jez Harris (I can remember going to Twickenham one year proudly sporting a ‘Jez Harris For England’ badge).
As time went on I found myself going to rugby more than football & eventually changed from having a football season ticket & going to the occasional rugby match to having a Tigers season ticket & going to the occasional football match.
Thankfully my choice of University meant that I could carry on watching the Tigers as Birmingham was close enough for me to get a day return for less than £4 watch the game & get back by train in time for the Saturday evening festivities.
I was also able to take advantage of a student offer by Moseley & managed to get a season ticket with them for £10. Although this sounded a bargain I quickly discovered that many 2nd tier players seemed to be allergic to catching & tackling. The comparitive lack of skill in Moseley games was frustrating & made me even more appreciative of how fantastic it is to watch Leicester Tigers.
I can’t recall anything of the game itself but can vaguely remember standing on the Crumbie terrace near the clubhouse end. I was probably too confused by why a team would name itself after an insect. Although I didn’t dislike the occasion, I hadn’t seen anything to convert me from football.
I may have gone to a few more games but my major sporting memories of the next few years were of men with moustaches & mullets kicking a ball around whilst wearing claret & white.
What really converted me to rugby was actually playing the game myself. The decision to take up the game was not voluntary, a change in schools meant that I had to give up my ambitions to become the next Eddie McGoldrick & instead subject myself to endless hours of tackling practice on freezing cold playing fields.
Once I got over the initial disappointment of having to play rugby I found myself enjoying it & so I started to go to Welford Road more often. Eventually I began to find new heroes on the rugby pitch, in particular the drop goal master himself, Jez Harris (I can remember going to Twickenham one year proudly sporting a ‘Jez Harris For England’ badge).
As time went on I found myself going to rugby more than football & eventually changed from having a football season ticket & going to the occasional rugby match to having a Tigers season ticket & going to the occasional football match.
Thankfully my choice of University meant that I could carry on watching the Tigers as Birmingham was close enough for me to get a day return for less than £4 watch the game & get back by train in time for the Saturday evening festivities.
I was also able to take advantage of a student offer by Moseley & managed to get a season ticket with them for £10. Although this sounded a bargain I quickly discovered that many 2nd tier players seemed to be allergic to catching & tackling. The comparitive lack of skill in Moseley games was frustrating & made me even more appreciative of how fantastic it is to watch Leicester Tigers.
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