Happy Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas!

Sheer Bliss

I started supporting Hull FC in 1979. So to find this small clip was like finding a diamond for me. It shows a try from the side I fell in love with all those years ago.

New signings

Just a short video of the 3 new arrivals from the Hull Daily Mail website. They don't seem to be very good with sound still though lol.


Shaun Berrigan is a bit of a cutie lol.

Binoculars Football!

Someone posted this video on a forum I visit, really funny! Of course from our funny Japanese pals, but quite Monty Python in a way lol

Introducing....

3 of our new signings:


From left to right: Shaun Berrigan, Adam Dykes, and Todd Byrne. As you can see Todd must be a bit hardier than the other lads as he has a short sleeved T-shirt on!
Welcome lads, to the agony and ecstasy that is Hull FC. One thing that will be true, you'll either love or hate us, no in between!
Hopefully I'll have a pic up of the 4th signing Peter Cusack in the FC colours very soon!

Girls Schools!

A remake of the old black and white St Trinians films is released today. Here's the trailer:


Looks a bit of a laugh. I went to an all girls school between the ages of 13 and 16. Amy Johnson High school for girls.
Believe me it was a madhouse! St Trinians isn't so far fetched believe me, I learned quite a few things at Amy I can tell you! :)

John Lennon

Another sad anniversary today is 27 years since the death of John Lennon. I remember so clearly hearing the news of his murder. It was on the radio in the salon where I was having my hair styled, and I remember everyone's shock. I had just started dating my husband at the time, and we spent the evening watching tributes to the great man on TV.
How we could have done with a man like John in these past few years of war and fear. Ok he wasn't a politician but he was a leader, and could rally people together. That's what we seem to be lacking nowadays, a leader and a voice of ordinary people.

King Billy

10 years ago Leeds United's greatest captain Billy Bremner passed on.
Lets hope the great man looks down today on a win for our beloved Mighty Whites.
God bless you Billy, and thanks for the memories.

One of my serious bits

I have a news flash program on my PC that pops up news flashes from the BBC,and this is the one I just received:

Smith plans 42-day terror limit.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced plans to extend the period that terrorism suspects can be held without charge to 42 days.
Ministers have struggled to find support for increasing the detention period beyond the current 28 days.

Previously ministers had proposed extensions to 56 or 58 days

The government tried to increase the limit to 90 days in 2005, but this was voted down by Conservatives, Lib Dems and some Labour backbenchers

Link.

Now I don't know about you, but all this doesn't sit easily with me. Isn't 28 days enough?? Surely if the Police have no evidence to charge someone in 28 days then they should let them go!!
And don't give me all this 'War on Terror' stuff, as I say if there is no evidence at all in 28 days, which remember is nigh on a month, then couldn't it just be the case that the person in question may be innocent???
We have to be fair and balanced in these sort of things, or we become what we profess to be fighting. Profess being the operative word here. I've been a bit of a cynic where the 'War on Terror' is concerned for some time.

Cute cat video alert!

Awww sweet! :)

Roll on the 8th of Feb!

That's our first game of the 2008 season away at Warrington. That is a Friday night so it could mean the game will be televised. I always love it when the fixtures come out, it seems as if the season isn't so far far away!



I was looking for internet TV streams for my daughter (she still isn't good with the lingo enough to follow Japanese TV!) I found a music channel, watched it for a bit and saw this song. Apparently the group Avion are taking a hiatus, but the lead singer and songwriter, Steve Bertrand has just released a new album.
This track is called 'Seven Days Without You' and is lovely easy listening.


If you like it, you can listen to more of Steve's music here: LINK
I don't know if his new album is available in the UK. Will have to do some digging.

Ok, a word about England......

Well, what a load of old hogwash the game was. There was no fight, too many players just seemed to think they were having a kick about at the local park! (I do exclude Peter Crouch and David Beckham from that comment) Steve McClaren just wasn't good enough for the job, and I've always been of that opinion right from the off.
We need someone now with stature, who can inspire respect and maybe even a little bit of fear in the 20 or so millionaires that make up the England squad.
I'd go for Jose Mourinho. But then the bloke isn't daft. According to the BBC news website he has ruled himself out already.
Who will want to take on the poison chalice this time I wonder...........

Confirmation came today that we have indeed signed South Sydney Rabbitohs captain Peter Cusack, whilst showing Hutch Maiava the door for 'gross misconduct'
In a way i'ts quite a relief Hutch started to misbehave off the pitch, so we could get rid of him without (I believe) paying up his contract. He has to be honest, been a disaster. I saw him have one good game (the home win against Saints last season) and that was it.
Tara Hutch, forgive me for not waving you off!

New signing?

It's looking very likely, although I don't want to tempt fate in any way, that we have signed South Sydney forward, Peter Cusack.
I've done a bit of reading up on him on fan's forums etc, and he seems to be just the right sort of player to strengthen our pack. Although 30, he seems to have been free of any serious injuries in his career so far, and of course forwards don't really mature until their late 20's early 30's. At 6ft 4, he definitely seems to be my sort of player !
I'm looking forward to next season, a very good, experienced Hull FC squad is going to hit Superleague, I think we may just stir the pot a wee bit !

Good look to the Mighty Whites at home to Swindon! Another step towards the top lads!

The End of the Affair........I hope!

From BBC Sport:

Cooke suspended over Hull KR move

Hull KR's Paul Cooke will miss the first six weeks of next season after being found guilty of misconduct over his controversial move from Hull.

Cooke, 26, was banned until 17 March for approaching Rovers with a view to joining them without permission from Hull FC, when he was under contract.

He resigned from Hull in April, saying he had never signed his contract.

Cooke, who has yet to comment on the case, was ordered to pay the costs of the hearing. He has 14 days to appeal.

The Rugby Football League accepted his registration and cleared the stand-off to make his Rovers debut on 27 April against Huddersfield.

He went on to make 14 appearances for the club for the club he supported as a boy, including two victories over Hull, which helped keep Rovers in Super league.

In those 14 games he scored one try, 36 goals and two drop goals.

Hull KR were cleared of any wrong-doing over the affair, and have given their public backing to the player

Link: BBC Sport

I'm sick to death of the bloke, always moaning about how badly done to he is. I'm happy to see the back of him. Although you could say Hull FC could sue for compensation, I'd leave it now, and resign the whole matter to the dustbin.

Although he caused a lot of disruption last season, that is in the past. No man is bigger than Hull FC, Paul bloody Cooke certainly isn't!

I love the Foo Fighters!

I just cant stop listening to their new album 'Echoes, silence, patience and grace' It's fabulous.
Here's track 2 Let it Die:



Highly Recommended!!

Argghhh! Christmas!

There was a time when I loved Christmas, and really looked forward to it. I can remember around this time of year we used to buy the TV guides, to see what smashing programmes where being lined up for us to watch. I always used to have a look to see if there was going to be any really old movies to be shown. Especially a bit of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers. I LOVE those films! In fact I'm quite a sucker for old films generally, I'll have to do a post about my favourites.
But for now back to Christmas, after I got married, and had my girls, I still enjoyed Christmas. It was very hectic and busy but I loved watching my daughters open their presents. That made up for everything else.
NOW it is one big hassle from start to end. Work is mad, (working in a pub I'm there Xmas Eve and New Years Eve as standard). You worry about what presents to get everyone, and whether you will have enough cash to afford it all. Christmas Day for me is mainly spent in the kitchen. At least we've got a dishwasher now and I wont spend ages washing up!
This year is going to be very strange. Michelle is in Japan of course, and my youngest daughter, Kirsty will be spending her 1st Christmas living with her boyfriend. Boxing Day is usually spent at my in laws, but my Father in Law is still in hospital so that get together wont happen this year. Anyway, it falls on a normal work day for me, so I will be in over teatime I would think.
Ah well, there's always the hope of a bit of Fred and Ginger on the TV!

Just a quick post.

I thought I'd better post as its been nearly a week since my last update. To be honest things are pretty quiet here. RL season has finished, although a big well done to the GB lads in winning the test series against New Zealand!
Leeds Utd had their first defeat of the season away to leaders Carlisle on Saturday. I suppose it had to come sooner or later, and at least it was against a good team. I hope the departure of Wisey's no 2 Gus Poyet to Spurs hasn't unsettled things too much.

Usually at this time of year there are loads of rumours about who we (Hull FC) maybe signing, but it has been very quiet. Until today. There are reports we are talking to Aussie forward and Desperate Dan lookalike Willie Mason. That would be a fantastic signing, but I'm keeping my powder dry on this story.
The other whisper is we've signed NZ Warriors utility back Todd Byrne. So I think it's matter of watch this space!

My earliest TV memory.

My earliest memory of watching TV was of the Beatles, and of Ringo in particular as he was riding an exercise bike! This has long been a vivid memory of mine, I cant recall many things from when I was young, but this has stayed. I always thought I must have imagined it, till today.
I was having a meander through You Tube, linking from one thing to the next as you do, and started watching some Beatles songs. Anyway, the memory of Ringo popped into my mind again, so I just put in the search box 'Ringo on a bike' and there it was on the first page!!
The song is ' I feel fine',which I didn't remember. Apparently this was released in November 1964, so if this was filmed about then, I was just about to have my 6th birthday!
I'm so glad I wasn't imagining it! :)

Engrish!

One of my daughter Shells favourite things about Japan is the way nearly everything has some random English written on it. More often than not it doesn't make a lot of sense. It seems to me that what they want to say is put through some sort of translation machine, and they get some strange results!
Here's a few pics she has sent me:
On a note pad:


Going into an arcade:



On the window of a Cafe I think:



On the side of a special type of photo booth: (you can decorate the pics and print them out as stickers apparently)



I'm sure I'll have plenty more to post in the future! :)

Into the Void.

Yes dear readers, it's the time all us of The Faithful dread, the close season. My God I hate it! By the time Christmas is over I'm starting to twitch! There doesn't seem to be any new signings on the horizon either, but then Hull FC are very good at keeping things under their hats! I know there's the big union game on tomorrow, and good luck to England of course. But blimey o'riley, you cant compare League with union, its like the difference between cashmere and an oily rag!
Of course I now can concentrate on the Mighty Whites. We are away to Brighton tomorrow. I'm hoping for a good performance as although we've been getting the right results, we haven't played all that well the last couple of weeks. Oh OK, I'm moaning I know lol.
I'm also able to follow The Oakland Raiders a lot more this season. Sky are showing loads of games on a Sunday and if the Raiders aren't on there, I can get them on an internet feed. Consistency seems to be a problem for them. They can have a fantastic spell, and then fall to bits. Considering I've only been following them a couple of years they seem to be falling into the perfect pattern of airliebird teams, Awful depths, but fantastic highs!!
On the personal front things aren't too bad. Shell seems to be doing pretty well in Japan, and keeping very busy. We are definitely going to go over there next year, it will be some initiation for me as I have never flown before!
My youngest daughter Kirsty has just started the last year of her degree at University and seems to be doing very well. She's just moved into a new place with her boyfriend, it's a very nice big place.
I know this against everything I believe in, but I'm going to try and get some exercise and get some weight off before we go to Japan. Swimming is the only thing I can really do as it is low impact. That is the only kind I can do considering my arthritis. Anyway, after Christmas/ New Year, the pub I work in is being re-furbished, so I'm going to use the time off to good effect.
I'm actually a lazy bugger, but it will be to my benefit in the end wont it?

For all cat lovers.

Someone sent me this short animation and I thought I'd post it on here. This has happened to me many times!


I don't know who the animator is, but he/she is definitely a cat owner!

And now...........

A video of the new kit! :) There's an escapologist and that!

Better Picture

Here's a much better picture of the kits in full:

Very nice. :)

As Promised...

The new Hull FC shirts for the 2008/09 season not very good quality pics though unfortunately, I'm sure I'll be able to post better ones later :

The home shirt has gone back to a very traditional style The hoops are just the right thickness etc. We haven't had such a shirt since I'd say the late 80's early 90's. With us only having one main shirt sponsor, we have a very clean look to our shirts that you don't get with many clubs.
Very pleased!

The away shirt is on a similar theme to the special French away shirt we had a couple of years back. Not as traditional of course, but very smart. I'm sure it will be a lot cooler for the guys to wear than an all black kit.
The lads are going to look very smart next season! :)

Michelle in Japan.

My eldest daughter Shell has been in Japan over a week now and seems to be settling well. She didn't start her studies properly till yesterday, so has had that week to find her feet etc. I've been able to talk to her over Skype as I mentioned in an earlier post, and by email too. She has had to get a new mobile as Japanese mobiles run on a completely different bandwidth to ours. They also dont use texts like we do, but emails. She has a special email address and any emails I send her go straight to her phone. They have free allowances for emails as we do for texts over here. It's considered bad manners to speak over your phone on buses, trains etc (if only they did that here!) and so phone emails are very popular.
I have to say I'm really thankful for the technology that has helped me talk to her and keep in touch. Just a few years ago it would have been letters and the odd phone call wouldn't it?!!
It all helps to know she is alright, because I have to admit to worrying quite a lot this last few days!
I've just got a first batch of pics from her so I'll post a couple here. The first is the Entrance to the International House where she lives on campus, you can see the apartments in the background.

And heres a pic of a Shinto Shrine:


In just over half an hour the new Hull FC shirt for 2008 will be unveiled, so as soon as I get a pic I will post it!
Last night I had my first chance to see Leeds Utd on TV. It was a professional 1-0 win. Although 9 first teamers where rested, the lads looked well drilled and comfortable on the ball. We had our first look at the boy Da Costa, and he looks a bit of talent! Some of those lads looked SO young though, babies!! It does get disconcerting when you watch your team (I feel the same with Hull FC) and you realise that you are old enough to be their mothers! lol.

Yet another win....

.....for the mighty whites, what a fabulous season this is turning out to be! It's exactly what happened to my rugby team Hull FC, things got so bad it looked like the end of the club, then it all turned out fantastically well!

I had a long chat to Shell today, she seems to be settling in really well. I must admit that has put my mind at rest a bit, to be able to talk to her properly.
She hasn't got an internet connection in her room yet, so I thought I'd put some credit onto Skype and call the landline phone in her room. I put on €10 (€11.50 with vat) and got straight through. We chatted for 45-50 minutes and it cost just about a euro which is fantastic.
Of course, chatting PC to PC is free, but I was really impressed with using Skype and recommend it to anyone making calls overseas. You need a decent broadband connection though, a headset/microphone or a special handset that you plug into your usb port.

She sent me a photo of a sticker on her loo, which asks gents to wee seated! I'll post it here as I found it pretty funny!

You obviously have to point your baseball cap the other way too! :)

Free Burma!

More info at:
free-burma.org

Cop a load of this! :)

My darling Hull FC where knocked out of the play-offs, we were a bit unlucky I suppose but now we will all look forward to next season and guess who any new signings will be.
But no, I wasn't sad for long because this happened with the last kick of the game last night between Oldham and the Mighty Whites themselves Leeds Utd.
Enjoy my friends!!


Thanks to the original poster, he must have a top phone as its a darn good picture!

Bon Voyage!

My Eldest daughter Michelle flies off to Japan for the best part of a year today. I'm just doing a quick post as I wait for her to get out of the bathroom so i can get dressed. I wont be doing that again for a while!
I've mentioned before in other posts that both of my daughters are doing degrees at University. With Michelle its Japanese studies. Her 2nd year will be spent studying at Kumamoto University in the South of Japan.
So good luck Michelle, do your best and have a great time!
(Of course I'll worry about her even though she's 24 and no baby!)

Serious for a change.

I use blogger regularly and usually post about frivolous things like rugby and football. But sometimes blogging can be a really important service.
I'm sure anyone who has watched the news in the last few days will know about the situation in Burma (now named Myanmar) and how Buddhist monks are leading protests against the military regime there.
I came across some links to bloggers over there, posting about the situation. Now these people are very brave to report what is going on, something in this country we just take for granted.
Here are the links to the 2 blogs I have read:
dawn_109's blog
ko htike

You can sign e petitions here:
No 10 petition

UN petition

If you have time please visit and give your support.

Jai Ganesha!!

Crikey, it looks like Lord Ganesha looked kindly on all my lads this past weekend.
Friday saw Hull FC progress to the next round of the play offs with a win over Huddersfield 22-16. It was a bit nerve wracking at the end I can tell you, the Giants pushed us all the way! I have to say I'm pleased with just winning our 1st play off game, I'm happy with that whatever happens now. We have had through treachery, and injury 4 pivotal players leaving the club through the season, and a bout of flu that laid everyone low for some time. You can call Hull FC what you like, but you cant say they're not fighters!!

Talking of fighters, on Saturday, the divine Mighty Whites had their 7th straight win with a 2-0 defeat of Swansea. We are now 18th in the league and out of the relegation Zone. The way Wisey and the boys have battled everything has been quite frankly dazzling!

Even the Oakland Raiders after (I believe) was 10 straight defeats through from last season beat the Cleveland Browns 26-24!

So like I say, maybe Lord Ganesha really did............

All the best lads!

Just a quick post to wish both my teams very good luck, n their games today. The mighty whites are at home to Swansea, will they go on their unbeaten run? Of course they will!!!!
Tonight Hull FC start their playoff campaign with a home tie against Huddersfield. A win will give us another home tie against Wigan. We have a great chance to progress, and after the terrible beginning to the season we had, the lads have done fantastically well!
I have an Indian penpal who is a follower of the Hindu religion, and they have just had a festival for the elephant headed God Lord Ganesh. He is the remover of all obstacles.Hopefully Ganesh will look kindly on the lads today! :)

Anniversary bugs!

As I write there is 10 minutes left of my 26th wedding anniversary, and as per usual the Hubster is away working! Except for last year (because it was our Silver wedding) something always crops up and he has to go away to work. At the moment he is in France. It's not his fault of course, these things just crop up. But it can be annoying!

Talking about things annoying, last night I clicked on a file that someone had sent me over Msn Messenger. Now I'm usually very careful, as I know there are a lot of viruses about. But the message accompanying the file said 'I've just dyed my hair take a look. ' Now as this person is always dyeing their hair I clicked on the file. WRONG! It was a virus that went on to send the file, and messages to all my on line pals! It was murder trying to get around them all telling them not to open the file!
Anyway, since then I've been trying to get rid of it. I thought I'd cracked it a couple of times, then about 10 minutes into being signed into Messenger, it would kick in again!!!
I've done scan after scan today and nothing! Then I did an on line scan at the Kaspersky site, it found some infected files but you had to buy the product to remove them which was a pain. So I tried to Remove them myself but they kept coming back! Then tonight I noticed on the Kaspersky list there was another iffy file I had missed, called service.exe in the Windows System32 folder. Now a file called services.exe (note the plural) is a real file. but service.exe isnt! Eureka! I thought. But yes, you guessed it, the little blighter wouldn't delete!
Well I did some digging and found a little program called Killbox, and that deleted it straight away!
As of writing I have been on Messenger for a couple of hours and all seems ok. (Fingers crossed)
So the moral of this story is: if you are sent a file on Messenger and you don't know what it is, ask the sender before the click!

Excellent win for the FC

Not a great pic but this is my lads on their way to a great win against Bradford tonight 20-10. It was a real grafting performance. We took a hell of a hammering in the 1st half and when we had a player sent to the sin bin in the 2nd half I thought we'd had it. But we really dug in and got the win.
It really looks as if the awful loss against the Sith has kicked us (very timely) up the ass.
So, next week we have our 1st play off game against either Wigan or Huddersfield. If we're on our game we can beat anyone.
So go get em lads!

just wanted to post this pic....

...........off the TV tonight. after our great win 3-0 away to Bristol Rovers. Its means the mighty whites are off the bottom, in fact out of the relegation zone! It may change tomorrow but we've done our talking on the pitch after the -15 penalty. Well done lads, and keep it up!

Happy Birthday Kirsty!!

Today my youngest daughter turns 22! Happy birthday Kirsty!!!

Anime Central

For many years I have been a fan of Japanese anime, That's animation in case you didn't know. Anime isn't all like the cartoons you get on kids TV here, although some of it is anime. For instance Pokemon. But it isn't all for kids. Every genre is covered, thriller, detective, comedy, sci-fi, even 'adult' stuff, which I have to admit is a bit much for me! lol.
Anyway, we've had smatterings of it on UK TV here and there. The Sci-Fi channel showed some and it fizzled out. My first encounter with Anime was on the old Paramount channel , before it changed to comedy.
Both my daughters enjoy anime and have always wondered why it hasn't got its own channel! We see the Wine Channel, Wedding Channel, Holiday home channel, but no anime, which at least would be as popular with viewers as the ones I have just mentioned!
Last night though, our prayers where answered. Anime Central started to broadcast on Sky. (channel 199)
A fair bit of it can be lots of robots and slaying monsters with big swords, but some of it, could stand up in quality to anything you can see on TV.



Of the series being shown on the channel at the moment I would recommend is 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone complex. It follows a special intelligence unit called Section 9. Some are not all they appear though!
If you're bored and want something different to watch on TV, try a bit of anime, you may be pleasantly surprised!

Well, well, well!

What a fantastic sporty weekend for Airliebird! First Hull FC went to Leeds Rhinos on Friday, and beat them quite comprehensively 17-6. The turnaround in form was quite spectacular. To be honest I think they owed us all that performance after the comedic debacle of last Sunday!! What was good to see is the amount of fans that travelled to support the lads. A lot has been said in the press about how many walked out on Sunday before the end of the game, and to be honest I didn't blame any of them for doing so. It's a way of registering a protest. But the main thing is each game is a new start and Hull fans are famous in how they back their team through thick and thin.
Congratulations to Hull Coach Peter Sharp on winning the manager of the month. He's taken a lot of flack from some fans but I've always liked the cut of his gib. I have said this before in earlier posts.
People are talking about a Grand Final appearance again. It will be very difficult as no one has ever got there from 4th. We can beat anyone on our day, so who knows!!

The 2nd part of my great sporty weekend came yesterday when the Mighty Whites completely overturned the -15 penalty imposed on us by the Football League. We beat Hartlepool Utd 2-0 with goals from the prolific Tresor Kandol, and an absolute peach of a goal from Jermaine Beckford.
Now the playing field has been levelled out so to speak, lets really get down to business!!!
Well done to Wisey,and the lads. Keep up the good work!!

Finally, I'd just like to wish all the best at the start of the NFL season to the Oakland Raiders. I don't know a great deal about American Football, but do enjoy it and for some reason I've always had a soft spot for the Raiders. Sadly I wont be able to watch their game against the Detroit Lions on TV as I'm at work, although I might just catch the end of the game.
So I'll just say 'Go Raiders!!' :)

Bad Music Video Alert, No. 2

Here's the 2nd offering in my short series of bad music videos.
Apparently they're from Finland, and yes, looks very 70's again! What a marvellous decade the 70's were!

We wont hear the last of this.....

Well, what a bloody showing up that was. In my last post I predicted a tonking in the derby, but I didn't expect us to be the tonked!
All I can say is I'm glad I didn't end up going to the match as I may have strangled someone! (The Hubster for instance!)
Fair play to the Sith, they wanted it more than we did, in fact we was so poor, I got texts from RL fan pals from St Helens and Warrington wondering if we had threw the game to ensure a couple of full houses for next season! (Rovers kept their Superleague status by their win yesterday)
6-42 Was the final score, a damn disgrace if you ask me! Its a good job I'm having my hair done today, it helps me relax!

On a happier note, the Mighty Whites went on their barnstorming way with a 1-0 win over Luton. Now we are the only team with a 100% record in the entire football league!!
-3 and counting everyone!!! :D
MOT

Hull FC v Hull KR .....It's derby time once again!

Sunday is derby time once again, unfortunately I wont be there as I've been roped into work. It's only fair really as I get away with most of the busy match days, and we have someone on holiday. As it's a 12.30 KO I have to be in work for 9.30. Why folk want to drink as early as that I'll never know, but apparently they do! So the police making it an early KO makes no difference whatsoever! I have to say though, you rarely get any hi-jinx with RL crowds.
I'm just hoping the old knees hold up as I work Sunday nights as well. At least I'll have a bit of help as my daughter Shell is doing some hours there to make a bit of extra money before she jets off to Japan. The flights are booked, she goes on October 1st. She just has to go to the Japanese embassy in London to sort out her visa, now that her letter of authorisation has come through from Kumamoto University.
She had a bit of an accident Tuesday night, tripped over one of the cats and fell down the stairs! Unfortunately the bowl she was carrying broke, and a piece dug into her lower arm. The Hubster and I had just gone to bed and we heard an almighty crash. Then their was a knock at the door and a little voice saying, 'Dad, I think I might need to go to hospital' So they went off to A&E at 12.30am and got back at 4am. Meanwhile, I was left scrubbing the stairs carpet!
Anyway, she had 5 stitches in the wound, and has come off amazingly unscathed considering she fell right down the stairs, from the top to the bottom!
Just to finish, I'll wish Hull FC all the best against the Sith. (I predict a tonking!!) Also all the very best to the Mighty Whites who are at home to Luton on Saturday, Lets hope for our 4th league win on the bounce and we'll be down to -3!!! They'll all be quaking in their treacherous boots, those teams above us in League One I tell you!!

-6 to go...

-6 to zero!
No Hull FC game this weekend as it's the Challenge cup final, but the Mighty Whites are away to Nottingham Forest. It will be a big test for our lads, but wouldn't it be great if we can post another win!
Come on lads!!! :)
I've just noticed you can upload your own videos now. Might have a go at that. Mind you, my new phone doesn't do videos so I'll have to get a new one I think! Just to try it out, here's a little one I took of My daughter Michelle's bedroom at her digs in Leeds, as it was so tidy!! The sound isnt very good though.

Bad Music Video Alert!

I was reading a thread on a forum last night were folk tried to pip each other by posting bad music videos. I have to say some where hilarious!!! Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea as a regular thing on my blog, just for a laugh. So here's my first posting for your viewing pleasure (or not according to taste of course)
All I know about this musical delight is its a disco version of The Shadows' 60's classic 'Apache' This, as you will soon realise, was made in the 70's.

Good Luck!

To the Mighty Whites in their 1st home game of the season against Southend.
Hopefully after today we can sing: '9 more points to go, 9 more points to zero!' Doesn't sound as much in single figures does it? :)

Hull FC had a comprehensive win in the end against Wakefield winning 24-42. It was a very close game in the 1st half. Our defensive line wasn't as 'on the ball' as we usually are. I don't know what coach Peter Sharp does at half time, but lately we have come out like a house on fire in the 2nd half. We started to get on top and later in the half Wakefield had 2 players sent to the sin bin. So we played against 11 men for a few minutes. That's what sealed the match. It could be argued that Wakefield got a raw deal from the ref. But when you look at it, they were sinbinned for proper offences, its just refs usually don't act against high tackles etc in the manner they should. Although Wakey played some lovely attacking rugby , their discipline was shot. We used to be the same, and it wasn't until we got rid of our indiscipline that we started to have success.

Just a word about our new scrum half, Mathew Head. Some of the balls he passes are a thing of sheer beauty it has to be said. He has so much time on the ball, or he seems to have. I suppose that's something you can say about all good footballers/rugby players, or say quarter backs in American football. The real reason is that they think faster than anyone else.
Mathew doesn't take the defence on at all, but sprays passes about to allow the players who can, to do so with speed and precision. Although playing a completely different sport, he brings me in mind of the great Johnny Giles of the Leeds United side of the 70's. Johnny had a midfield partner in Billy Bremner to do all the running about etc, like Mathew Head has a half back partner in Richard Horne to take on the line, what Johnny did was spray out fabulous balls with such accuracy I would say he could hit a sixpence!
I hope Mathew stays at the club. Watching him has got over the disappointment I had in not getting our hands on 'Shifty' Sherwin, that's how good he is!

Friday night game.

The FC have a game tonight at Wakefield. I wont be making the trip but there is coverage on TV tonight so the Hubster will have to put up with my wailing and screaming throughout the game! I really go through some stuff watching the lads, it tires me out. (Nothing compared to the players of course!)
Anyway, Wakey have had a very good season so far, not a 'fashionable' club, our former coach John Kear took them over last year and they really have gone from strength to strength.
The way we are playing at the moment though, I'm hoping for an away win. We really are hitting top form at the right time.
Up and at em lads!!!!

12 more points to go...

...12 more points to zero!
A good start from the Mighty Whites on Saturday with a 2-1 win away to Tranmere Rovers.
The smiles on the faces of those that wish us ill....well they wont be lasting long I can sense it!

An excellent win for the FC yesterday, beating in form Warrington 46-11. It seems they came to knuckle a bit instead of playing rugby, silly thing when you play us. A few years ago they would have replied in kind, but now the lads are very well disciplined, and fight back with points on the board.
We are in 4th now and to be realistic I think that's as high we can achieve this season. Although this will give us a home tie in the play offs, The Grand Final is always contested by the top 2 teams, except for once when Bradford won coming from third. It's just the way the play offs are tilted to reward league positions, and you cant argue with that really.
But you cant deny were in great form, can beat anyone on our day, and there's always a first time for everything isn't there? :)

Something to make you go Awwwwwww

Back to sport!

A busy (and important) weekend for both my teams coming up! Hull FC are at home to on form Warrington. A win will be a great pointer on how will we finish our season. We have a few injured players back (Carvell, Briscoe, Raynor) so I'm quite optimistic. Being at home should give us the result.
For Leeds United its the first game of what will be a very hard season. Even if we win our next five games we will still be on zero points thanks to our 'pals' at the Football League.
This will either kill us or be the making of us. Now as a positive thinker I think it will be the making of us. Hell, even the law of averages scream that out fortunes should change!!
The Hubster and I are going to really try and get to a few more games this season, and show our support. Once things have settled down with his Dad etc.
Anyway, tomorrow we'll be back to being glued to Radio Leeds listening to the Mighty whites at Tranmere Rovers. Go get em lads!

Things going on at the mo.

I just thought I'd do a post about general things that are going on around me at the moment.
My Father in law is still doing pretty well. He's taking proper food now, all those drips etc have been taken off. After the 1st week since his collapse, when we had about 3 serious scares, he seems to have stabilised and is getting better every day.
The Hubster is doing well, he hasn't had a lot of spare time since his Dad fell ill, so The Sith (Hull KR) doing ok in the relegation battle has cheered him up. :)
My eldest daughter is gearing up for her trip to Japan, sorting our flights etc. What she has found hard is finding a part time job for a bit of pocket money. You would think there would be loads of summer jobs around but apparently not!
My youngest daughter is about to move into a new flat with her boyfriend. She has been staying at his place for some months now, but he shares with a couple of other guys at the mo. So from Friday they'll be alone! He's a bit of a fan of tropical fish and has quite a few tanks. Luckilly the flat is very large and they should all fit in!
I'm plodding along at the moment. My arthritis has been pretty bad the last few weeks. Luckily I have an appointment with the Consultant next month so hopefully I can get some more injections sorted.
Where I really don't know how to go is with work. I only do 8 hours a week, but it is getting harder physically to do. I enjoy working in the pub, I have a great boss and some good pals there. In a way its a bit of social life. The money I earn isn't much, but it pays for going to rugby and having my hair done, little things like that.
I would miss it if I left of course. We are closing down for a refit in September, so maybe I can make a decision then.
Well, that's about it really. Don't worry, my next post will be about the rugby as per usual! :)

A Disgrace!

I've just heard that the Football League have given Leeds Utd their Golden Share.........at a price. They will start the season on -15 points.
Now I said in an earlier post that the way they have dragged their feet about this, so we couldn't buy players etc, smacked of an assassination. By God I was right!!
The Football League have acted in a disgraceful, spiteful and petty way. I'm absolutely disgusted!
But we'll show em..........always Marching On Together!

Hull FC lost at Saints tonight, but it seemed a very encouraging display. The final score was 31-20. Saints scoring a try with the last kick of the game, so the score was unkind to the lads.
Saints had practically a full side out, we had babies playing, for instance 18 year old Danny Houghton playing at hooker. We did give away too many penalties, if our discipline was better we would have won the game.
So I'm as happy with a loss as you can be! :)

A chance against the Saints?

Tonight the lads are away at Saints. Now I've never tried to hide my admiration for the Saints team and the fans are top drawer. I'll never forget when we beat them in the 2005 Challenge cup semi final, all along the road where the coaches where parked, they lined the sides of the road and clapped us FC fans as we all walked down. I saw many a look of amazement on the faces of policemen that day!
In recent years we haven't got a bad record against them. They have only beat us once at the KC (for some reason they just don't like it) and of course we famously beat them away last season by a drop goal from the infamous Paul Cooke. But they got their own back in the Grand Final!
No matter how good they are, we seem to bother them, I don't know why it is but we do.
We haven't had a good season so far, and right now we have quite a few key players out. The Young lads that have come in have been fantastic, and as I've mentioned before, the signing of Mathew Head seems to have made a hell of a difference. There is a spring in the step, our form has made an upturn (4 wins on the trot now) and they seem to be enjoying their rugby. Maybe its because I'm a woman, but I look for those things. How the lads talk to each other on the park, how they celebrate tries things like that.
Anyway, I have a sneaky feeling we are going to do it tonight. (Famous last words!)

Oh, and good luck to the Sith, they have a massive game tonight away at fellow relegation struggler's Salford.
It will make the hubbster very happy if they win.

Yorkshire Day

Today is Yorkshire Day.
Maybe I'm old fashioned, and maybe it's the way I've been brought up, but I've always felt very proud and blessed to have been born in Yorkshire. I'd say even more than being English or British.
There are some rough areas in our county, there definitely is in Hull! But just a few miles drive away we are blessed with breath taking countryside. I think maybe parts of Scotland can only compete with it.
They say Yorkshire is 'Gods own county' Sometimes it seems to be true.

Up to 4th?

We play our re-arranged game against Salford today. For once all of the city will want us to win as the Sith are in a fight with Salford to avoid relegation.
Now a few FC fans would have liked us to loose today, purely for mischievous reasons of course, and not something I go along with actually.
But things have changed. With Wigan being docked points for salary cap infringements, we have found ourselves in 6th place. This puts today's game in an entirely different light....win and we find ourselves in 4th!
An optimism is starting to blossom amongst Hull fans, where just a few weeks ago we were just thinking of seeing out the season, and looking forward to the next, a decided upturn in form and this little bit of help has got us interested again.
Don't waste this chance...........Go get em lads!

Leeds United # 2

Just 2 more pics from the Billy Bremner statue at Elland road. You will have to click on the pictures to read them, both I found very touching. (again both posted on the WACCOE forum.)

One rule for us...

and one rule for Wigan!
Yes folks its that fun time of year again, when any Salary Cap infringements are punished. So as sure as day follows night everyone is up in arms about Wigan getting out of jail free again!
Last year they were docked 4 points for going over the cap,(a control on how much money you can spend on wages). This year the self same thing has happened, but Wigan overspent with such a devil may care attitude it sticks in the craw.
Firstly a loop hole was found so any points deducted would be to last years scale, (all clubs had agreed to double the penalties for this year), then their hearing was deferred for over a week to help them to prepare a case, when Saints and Bradford just had their hearings on the stipulated date. Mind you, Wigan had to get the big time lawyers in I would think.
Anyway, in the end they've been deducted 4 points again. Now this doesn't make sense to me, not only are they are turning out to be serial offenders, they where even worse this season!
They didn't even get the full punishment of 6 points deduction!
All through the 80's Wigan where the team to beat, won everything, and I'll tell you why. 1. For a great deal of that time they where the only fully professional club, and 2. They just bought up every good player so no one else could get em (ala Chelski) That is one of the reasons the salary cap was brought in, to stop clubs doing that, and to stop them from getting into financial difficulties.
In quite a few things the RFL are seen not to be even handed, you see this practically every week in the disciplinary hearings. Certain clubs seem to have preferential treatment. Gawd help you if your up on a disciplinary charge if you're from Hull FC or Hull KR!

I'm starting to rant now so I'll shut up....hopefully I've made my point. The RFL make our game a laughing stock year in year out, they want to sort themselves out and stop being bloody starstruck!

Leeds United

I'll let some pictures tell the story, posted by LUFC fans on the WACCOE forum.






GET YOUR FINGERS OUT FOOTBALL LEAGUE, AND STOP BEING PETTY. GIVE US THAT GOLDEN SHARE, AT LEAST WE'LL STILL HAVE OUR CLUB!

Getting to see the Doctor?!

My daughter has had an upset tum now for nearly a week, and talking to her last night I said I would call our Doctors surgery tomorrow morning and 'try' and get her an appointment, here's how the phone call went:
Me: 'Hello, I'm just calling to see if my daughter could see the Doctor today'
Lady at the surgery: 'Sorry, but all our appointments are taken, if you call at 8am tomorrow you may get one of the emergency appointments we leave free.'
Me:'Could I make an appointment for tomorrow now?'
LATS: No, we're fully booked apart from the emergency slots that are available from 8am.'
Me: 'Well could I make an appointment for Friday?'
LATS: 'Sorry, I can only take appointments for tomorrow'
Me: 'Don't we have a catch 22 situation here? I can only call at 8am tomorrow morning and am not guaranteed an appointment?'
LATS: 'I can book you one for next week'
Me: 'But the point is my daughter is ill NOW'
LATS: 'I'm sorry that's all I can do'
Me: 'OK, Thank you'

Now this could be just me being a bit irritable first thing in the morning, but doesn't that stink? All this rubbish about being able to see your doctor within 24 hours is a load of old hogwash! This has been going on at my surgery for some time now, and I'm quite sick of it. I think it may be time to look for another Doctor!

3 on the trot!

Well things are perking up on the Hull FC front. 3 wins on the trot and we seem to be picking things up a pace all over the park. We ended up 18-34 winners away at Le Catalan last night. Our new half-back, Mathew Head didn't start again after injuring a shoulder the week before last away to the Sith. But for some strange reason his arrival has coincided with a lift in confidence. This is especially noticeable where Richard Horne is concerned. It is as if a weight has been taken off his shoulders. Not a natural play maker, since Cookie left for the Dark side he has been under a lot of pressure.
You could say we're hitting form at the business end of the season, everyone has written us off long ago, but I know one thing, no one will relish playing us! I love it when we scare a few people! :)

Update

I'm pleased to say my Father in Law is doing quite well. He's still very ill of course, but considering only a week ago the Doctors were telling us to prepare for the worst, things have improved fantastically. There hasn't been any dips in his condition for a couple of days now so fingers crossed!

I fell flat on my face today going to the dustbin! Hubby had put some plastic piping at the side of the house and I tripped over it! Well as I've mentioned before I have iffy knees and I sat there thinking, how am I going to get up?! Managed it somehow anyway, now I have an extra sore knee and a sore elbow! Thank God it was in the back garden and no one saw me...........I think!

Fridays game.

I went to the game on Friday, with all that's been going on this past week, my Father in law falling ill, and having to cancel our holiday, well, I needed the time out.
We won, beating the Harlequins 20-8. A patchy 1st half it has to be said, we went in at half time 8-8, all of our points being penalties. 2nd half we looked more composed and played to the conditions (very wet!) Through a bad run of injuries we had some really young lads in the squad. One who came in at hooker, Danny Houghton, is only 17/18 and had a great game. The great Richard Swain has apparently been giving him some 1 to 1 tuition and you can tell by how he scoops up the ball at the ruck, his distribution was accurate and he wasn't scared of trying things. What a little diamond the lad is! I always feel really proud when you see local lads come through the ranks. We have a great academy set up at Hull and a new wave of talent is starting to come through.
The back to back wins has helped us no end, and I don't think a top 6 spot is out of the question. I can't see a Grand Final appearance again this year, but I think we'll do some damage!
Write us off at your peril!

I tell you what though, it's times like this when being able to go to a game and forget about all the stuff going on around you for a couple of hours, illustrates why Hull FC are so important to the fans (as are other clubs to their supporters of course)they're a constant in peoples upside down lives.

A tough couple of days.

My Father in law collapsed with a stroke on Monday and is gravely ill. Hubby hasn't had a lot of sleep since then. It looks as if it is going to be a waiting game for him to pass on, as the Doctors have said there's nothing else they can do.
As I mentioned in earlier posts we were due to jet off to France tomorrow, but of course this has had to be cancelled. There will always be other holidays.
It's a funny thing but as I've got older I've become more and more to think that when we pass on its the beginning of a great adventure. I'm not religious one jot, but tend to believe we're here to learn things, then we go on to the next class so to speak and start a new lesson.
I wish my Father in Law a good journey, and hope he can still watch his beloved Hull KR from wherever he goes.

Au revoir mon Capitaine.

I'm not going to talk about Sunday's derby match. I was pleased with the win of course, but the blame game that has gone on about the after match pitch invasion and subsequent trouble, well, it's p*ssed me off to be honest. Fault can be found on both sides and the sooner it can all be put to bed the better.
What I am going to write a few lines about though is Richard Swain. Our ex- Captain (although he was this season in all but name if you ask me) has had to retire due to a back injury.
Swainy is a Prince amongst men, and I don't say that lightly. The amount of work he got through during games was the stuff of legend. I scoffed at an article about rugby union players having to tackle too much, up to 15 times a game. Ok, the games are different, but Richard registered over 50 tackles in a game this season, if I recall correctly breaking the Superleague stats record.
One of the best days of my life, if you don't count family events of course, it WAS the best day of my life, ended with Swainy lifting the Challenge Cup in 2005. That memory will stay with me for ever.
With Hull fans, and I'm sure with fans of other teams, certain players stay in the heart and mind. Richard Swain is one of them.
Au revoir mon capitaine, Bon Voyage et bonne chance.
(Still practising the French!)

Airliebird Banned!

No, not me, but the Hull FC mascot Airliebird (a toy depiction you can see here) has been banned from the Derby game on Sunday by the Sith.
Now why they've done this is beyond me. Rufus Robin (aka Darth Maul and the Sith mascot) was welcomed to the KC with open arms, as where their cheerleaders. I reckon its to stop one more of the followers of the Light Side into Craven Park.
I think this is an outrage, and hope the Sith reconsider this diabolical decision forthwith!!
On to the game. With the 1st proper scrum half in place for what seems like aeons I think the lads will sort out the Sith ............The Revenge of the Jedi indeed!
Come on you Hullaaaaaaahhhh!!

Here's The Who performing the song Baba ORiley. It's the music that the lads come out to at the KC. It seems ages since I was last there!

Checking in

I seem to have been so busy the last few days, that I haven't been able to sit and post.
Everyone has been expecting more rain here over the weekend, Hull FC's game against Salford has been postponed. We have had some rain over night, but it hasn't been too bad. Lets hope we don't get any more for a while now!
Only a fortnight now and I'll be off on holiday. It's a strange feeling as its been such a long time since we went away anywhere! I have been looking into mobile blogging, but it looks complicated (for me anyway) so I think I'll leave that idea alone.


I just wanted to say thank you to two players who have always gave their all for Hull FC, and will have now played their last games for the club. Sid Domic (left) and Shayne Mcmenemy (right) both player's contracts finished at the end of the season, But Sid has left early to free up a quota space for new half-back Mathew Head, and Shayne unfortunately has had one injury after another this year, the last one will keep him out till the end of the season. Good luck and best wishes for the future guys, the Black and White fans never forget their own.

PS, sorry for the underlining on the last bit, I just cant get rid of it!!

Floods and new half backs.

I haven't posted for a couple of days as I've been pretty busy. As I said in my last post, my daughter came home at the weekend, so the house has been full of bags and boxes. Things are getting back to normal inside but outside it has been awful.
I thought the week before last was bad for continuous rain, but yesterday took the biscuit. It was the speed that the streets flooded in my area that was amazing. I went out in the morning, taking a cab as the weather was so foul, when I came back a couple of hours later, the top half of our street was a foot or so under water! Luckily it didn't seem to reach our end as badly, but I still had to put towels at the bottom of the front door. That of course is nothing to what some poor folk have had to attend with.
Someone on the radio said the other week that the fashion for concreting over gardens contributes to the drains being flooded, as gardens soak up a lot of water. I do believe our garden helped us a lot yesterday, both front and back.



Anyway, onto the new half backs part. As you may know, I've had my heart set on Brent 'Shifty' Sherwin joining the Black n Whites. Thing is, he's playing up a storm for the Canterbury Bulldogs, so they're not going to let him go. (Although I still think the kidnapping option is a goer)
After much rumour, we have signed St George Illawarra half back Mathew Head for the rest of the season. I don't know a great deal about Mathew, only seeing a few clips of him play on line. The word is he is a great player, but has been very unlucky with injury. So him coming here could help both parties. We need an experienced half-back and Mathew needs game time to prove his fitness etc.
This signing could be the silver lining of the cloud that's been hovering over the club this season. He is only 25, and can kick goals to boot! (no pun intended there!)
He may make his debut for the FC on Sunday (jet lag and flooding permitting) I look forward to see how he goes.
Welcome to the mighty Hull FC Mathew!

Back Home!

And no, I don't mean the ditty by the England 1970 World cup Squad. I mean my eldest daughter Michelle, comes back home at the weekend. It will just be until September, when she jets off to Japan on a years student swap.
I don't have a very big house, and am dreading all the stuff she will be bringing with her! My younger daughter, Kirsty, came back home October last year. All her stuff is here, but she stays at her boyfriends all the time, just surfacing once a week with mucky washing!
I'm going to have to tell them to have a major clear out or we wont have room to move in here!!
Here's Shell dressed as Japanese anime character Sailor Moon for a fancy dress party. I tell you what, that kitchen doesn't look too bad, considering its a student house does it??

Another loss but with postives.

If you can have such a thing. We started well at Bradford scoring a great try. But an early injury to Gareth Carvell then Sid Domec did us no favours. We haven't got a big pack and when what we had on the pitch wasn't getting a breather, plus playing a big side like Bradford, well, we were dead on our feet in the last quarter.
Most of the team worked very hard, but there is a couple of glaring omissions to that. I'm not going to name names but I can see there being a bit of a clear out at the end of the season.
I am starting to get a bit worried about our form now though, something needs to change and we need that change fast!
(Kidnap Shifty!!)

All the best to Shaun Briscoe who ended up with either a broken jaw or cheekbone (not sure yet, but either way its nasty.) I hope he has a speedy recovery as he's one player in our side that gives his all week in week out.

Sometimes the rumours come true!

We have signed Aussie international Shaun Berrigan on a 4 year deal. I'm absolutely delighted about this signing, as it might entice other top players to the club.
Shaun is primarily a hooker, so I would think he has been brought is as a direct replacement for Richard Swain, who leaves at the end of the season.
Now on an entirely female slant, the lad has a twinkle in his eye, something I always look for lol.
Now lets hope the next good bit of news will be about Shifty. Apparently he has 'obtained' a German passport, so is off quota. (The Quota is a limit the RFL put on the number of foreign players that can play for each team) There are also rumours about him coming over this season! Oh my word, I'd give up chocolate for a month if it was true!

Ah Well......never mind.

I've had a quick sulk and I'm now over our being knocked out of the cup on Sunday. There's always next year, and to be honest it's better than being knocked out in the semi's.
So we'll draw a quick veil over that I think as I'll only upset myself again. :)
So it's back to the well worn path of reading rumours of signings. I know I'm sad but I love all the rumours!!

On to the Semi's! (Fingers Crossed!)

Challenge Cup quarter-finals tomorrow. I'm optimistic (as always) But it's a matter of which Hull FC will turn up. Will it be the team that beat Saints and Leeds or played in the 1st half against Wigan the other week, or, the team that played in the 2nd half of that match?
Ah the mystery that is the Challenge Cup!........and supporting Hull FC!
Come on you Hullaaaaaaaa!!!!

Rubbish!!

I know this was released earlier this week, but it's taken me a couple of days to get over it! Yes mesdames et monsieurs, (I'm practising the French for my holidays) this is the logo for the London 2012 Olympics! It has supposedly cost £400k, yes, you read that right 400,000 pounds!
Now I've seen a bit of an unseemly joke about this 'thing' already, and by George it is a joke! I think the kids in my 5 year old nieces class could have come up with something better!
To me this sums up the government we have in power right now, superficial crap that costs a bloody fortune!
I wonder how much this is all going to really cost? I for one daren't think. What I do think is all the money spent on rubbish like this could go to far better use, and it doesn't need a genius to see it!

New Signing

Adam Dykes of the Cronulla Sharks has signed for Hull FC for next season. I can't say I know much about him. He is 30 though and some folk have misgivings because of this. I'm hoping he will bring some experience to the club, and help our young half-backs along.
Welcome to The Black & Whites Adam, you'll never find it dull playing for Hull FC!!!!



P.S. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed on the Brent 'Shifty' Sherwin front. I haven't had such a good feeling after watching a player for a long time. He would go down a storm here. I volunteer to go to Oz and talk him into it! :)