Official West Hartlepool RFC

A very very sad day indeed for the lads and for West Hartlepool rugby club! In a difficult climate for club rugby in and around this level clubs have to be able to offer and inspire something different and appealing to the lads playing unfortunately for the first time in as far as I can remember this hasn't happened. There are many many reasons why and in my opinion and also that of other long serving 'club men's', could have been rectified on several occasions throughout the season to give us a much better chance of avoiding this current situation. Sadly this was never addressed and we are now down and we will most certainly be 'out' unless big changes are made in the club's approach to senior rugby. No doubt this post will be deleted or edited despite being a very diluted version of what I would like to post. Make no mistake, this is the worst day for the rugby side of our club in the 'amateur era'.Carlo

Just to add this was in no way directed at the players (especially the 8 out training) who have given the best they could in the situation they were in, they deserve big credit. Carlo

Well said Carlo03, a steady demise that hasn’t been addressed by the rugby management......actually who is in overall charge??.. would be interesting to see what they say & more importantly how they will change things going forward.

Back to basics and rebuild, hopefully with a structure, plan and playing ethos that runs throughout the club from minis up to first team and back down!!!

We have slept walked into this believing all season we are too good to go down. Well those who said it were wrong.

What support have the coaches been getting? Stu Hardy is missing half the time because of his job and Stu Waites has had to do too much on his own when he basically just wants to play.

No coach can do anything with only eight players at training but apparently we have had 43 lads who have played first team games and we have some good young players getting a lot of games like Siddle, Linighan, Peacock and Checksfield and they can only get better.

Roni C is right.

Mathematically Percy Park could still stay up

You were bound to achieve your natural level sooner or later>>> and its cheered a lot of people up in the rest of town >>>

I'd hoped the idiot had been banned.

To get back to things that matter I've not travelled this season but we have played some good stuff at home. We also have some good young players coming through as has been mentioned.
Sadly both sets of coaches of First Fifteen and Second Fifteen seem unable to get players out to train, and in the case of the Seconds to play on a Saturday as I turn up and there's often no game on as it has been cancelled.
Why is that? We have had 43 players playing first team apparently and that is enough for two teams?

The time for lamentation and regret is now....but we must not dwell on it too long, there are many factors we as a club need to resolve . A plan in place to resolve as many issues as possible to ensure we have no recurrence next season.
This club does not lack passion and commitment, we can play terrific rugby on our day....sadly it's not worked out. We need to learn from this experience.
It's not a crisis, but a set back which we can resolve

Quite often the only coach who is at training is Stu Waites. The Stags coaches don't take training.

Like I said earlier....."Back to Basics"

We are a "Rugby" club and Rugby has to take priority, there's no reason why we cant bounce straight back up.

I watched the U14s win the County Cup yesterday as underdogs and also watched the Firsts at Leeds on Saturday....unfortunately one team was beaten before starting the game the other couldn't be beaten (not yesterday anyway).

The U14s had 4 coaches in attendance all patrolling and prowling the touchlines barking out motivation and orders throughout the whole game (and all looking smart in their new tops)

The firsts had 1 coach, trying to be heard and trying to encourage and motivate his players (also looking smart may I add)


The U14s had organised 2 coaches for the trip to Gateshead which led to superb support for the team with the most vocal support from a West crowd heard for a very long time......they definitely made a difference!

The First had their obligatory 1 coach with players, coach, Physio and Committee members on board and a very small smattering of support. For such an important must win game could we not have encouraged more support and taken a half decent crowd to help the team and try to make a difference???

Hmmmmm.........ENOUGH SAID I THINK (Stu you deserve a medal mate, many people would have run a mile...........and obviously have)

LETS GET BACK TO BASICS FOLKS.......ITS ABOUT RUGBY!!!!!!!!!

Parental unit not sure what the issue is around stags staff not taking training, this has never been the case. We would previously attend to support the first team coaches and to do the team runs with the stags left over which as mentioned has not been the case this season. The reasons for the lack of numbers is a different issue.

Take this the right way but I think you’ll be in for a shock next season in dn1.
This season has been very tough and next season’s line up is even stronger.
Everyone always raises their game and wants to beat Rovers, especially those clubs that have risen up the leagues or where they used to play the Heughers, it has chance to be even worse for you.
Don’t underestimate the division.

Whenever a sports team is relegated it's because it isn't good enough, and usually there are a number of reasons for the bad results.
The same applies to West ... some results might not tell the full story, but league tables don't lie and West are where they are because over the season they have not been good enough to be any higher.
Carlo doesn't make clear who he believes could have done what to prevent this happening and I agree the players shouldn't carry all the blame. But when only eight are turning up for training you have to ask why, and while the players rightly get the praise when they do well, they should carry the can when the team plays badly.
You can't blame anybody else for missed tackles and wasted scoring opportunities.
But of course, it's an amateur game at our level and the players are there because they want to be ... let's hope next season is more enjoyable for them and everybody else.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 16/04/2018 18:29 by Rozzy 1.

Passions are obviously high and so they should be - it shows that people care.

It's all been said above really so I don't see the point in repeating anything.

One thing I would add though is luckily for me I have been able to watch a fair bit of home and aways this season. There are positives, esp the fact that we have had six (if you count Jordan F) youngsters playing regularly who have not looked at all out of place.

I don't actually know why training turnout has been so low - the four Uni Players obviously have some impact on that but de minimus really.

I don't know what the solution is actually but like Roni I come from a background that lives or dies on it's values, structures, lines of command and accountability and so instinct if you like tells me that's the starting point.

There will be no doubt a review at some point which is good. However it's also a time for forensic analysis and calm heads.

As the great Dr Steven Covey once said " Tinkering with things without tackling the major issues of structures and leadership is just like re arranging the deck chairs on The Titanic" 😉

Stand fast everyone - No Surrender !

We should also echo Roni's words regarding Stu and also Gez, regarding their commitment to the cause. Both always there - Tues, Thurs, Sat grafting away, often against the odds; both Rock Solid; Stood Fast; Never Surrendered !

If three north eastern team are relegated will a side be moved to the Yorkshire league?

Yes. Middlesbrough will have “served their sentence “ as well so could come back to DN1.
Guisborough and Acklam are in Yorkshire.

I think you may find that it may turn out that THREE teams would have to transfer. Squeaky bum time for yourselves! Not more away days in Yorkshire and people unwilling to travel, surely?! 😮😮



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 17/04/2018 18:23 by Andy Gomarsall.