A Rugby League Exile

George Corner

Dave — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:19:04 +0000

George Corner, born 1901 in Batley, was a local scoutmaster, who for a short time gained national fame by introducing wogglehopping to the world.

Wogglehopping was the art of leapfrogging over some object the same height as the woggle. It was invariably illustrated by the only 5′ 4″ tall George, who, at the age of 72, leapt over postboxes. This hobby became so famous that he started woggle-hopping for charity in a project that took him from Berwick-on-Tweed to Lands End, and was even featured on Blue Peter and the David Frost Show

George passed away in 1979 at the age of 78. A Batley original indeed.

Championships 2012 – Your Opinion

Dave — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:10:48 +0000

After a considerable shake-up in the Championships, seeing Dewsbury being reprieved at the last minute and the sensational signing up of John Kear as trainer and some exciting new signings for the playing field at Mount Pleasant, we’ll soon be ready for the new season.

Things started up today with a somewhat surprisingly easy victory for Dewsbury against arch-rivals Batley, but it is very early days.

Whereas I’m not one to criticise, and in the place I am, I certainly don’t have the right to do so, but I do hope that Batley’s Bubble is not going to burst prematurely. Before the Rhino came to Batley I was in fact very critical of the way things seemed to be developing at Mount Pleasant, and I said so… and was wrong.

Over the last couple of seasons, Batley has built up a very good reputation as being one of the best run clubs in the division. A reputation based on the fact that Batley were getting maximum results on a very tight budget. Karl Harrison built a team of local lads without superstars. The team, as they say in Germany, is the star.

Now that Karl has left and John Kear has taken over (which was spectacular in itself) it seems that Batley have been pulling in big names. At the moment it doesn’t seem that they have become a team, but, as already said, its still early days, and I’m sure that the lads will get it together before the Championship season starts in March

Indeed they have to! I can’t imagine the present team being cheaper than last year’s and it is imaginable at least, that results are needed to get the crowds in…

But, I’m sure Kevin knows what he is doing..

And now, its time to ask the question… who is your favorite to win the Championships 2012?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Look what they done to my town, mom

Dave — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:17:32 +0000

During a trip to my home town Batley in October 2011, I set off for a potter around town, armed with my camera. I tried to follow the heritage trail, but kept getting sidetracked. Eventually I ended up at Lady Annes Mill in search of the ghost that was described in Elizabeth Gaskill’s biography of the Brontes… but I had no luck.

And after realising that Batley really has a great heritage, with some marvellous Victorian architecture, I also saw that it has become a dump in some areas. I was especially dissappointed seeing some of the pubs that, in my younger days, were great places to be. Now, they are either closed or doss-holes. Also, a lot of gardens are unkept and overgrown. People, where is your pride

NELSON

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The old "Lord Nelson" pub

BBC Sport – John Kear appointed coach of Batley Bulldogs

Dave — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:10:29 +0000

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/14916248.stm

Love Rugby League on Batley vs. Halifax

Dave — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:43:36 +0000

Love Rugby League has a look at both teams for thursday tussle Batley vs. Halifax in the Play-Offs for the Championships and finds out that both teams are optimistic of moving into the next round…

http://loverugbyleague.com/news_6296-handforth-confident-of-progressing.html

Paul Handforth is confident his Batley side can topple defending Co-operative Championship title holders Halifax and progress
through this year’s play-offs.

http://loverugbyleague.com/news_6295-ben-black-ready-for-batley-challenge.html

Ben Black says the defending champions are ready to take the
first step towards a second successive Co-operative Championship
final by defeating Batley Bulldogs on Thursday.

Opportunism

Dave — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 09:07:09 +0000

In the aftermath of rioting in the UK, German politician Manuel Höferlein (Liberal FDP party) has called for the Olympic Games in 2012 to be taken away from London for securtiy reasons and to be staged in Germany (surprise, surprise). His very words (source: bild.de) ”If these riots und unrest continue into the next year, one would have to consider transfering the Olypmpic Games to another country in Europe. After successfully staging the world championships in 2006 and 2011 (Womens World Championships), I could well imagine a new summer fairy story in Germany in 2012″

If these riots and unrest continue into the next year? What on earth are you talking about? That’s more than four months! If England aren’t able to quieten things down in that period, then it will indeed be a sad day for us …

Pic: Creative Commons 2.0 by ssoosay

Alex Brown

Dave — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:34:10 +0000

With his two late tries against the Widnes Vikings in the Final of the Northern Rail Cup 2010, Alex has become a Batley legend. Here are some of his best tries over the last year for Batley

German amateur team in cup cock-up

Dave — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:58:39 +0000

Strange carryings on in the German football scene. Amateur team Eimsbüttel TV, who qualified to take part in the DFB Cup (which is equivalent to the FA Cup) are left without a team and a trainer four weeks before they are due to play second division team Greuther Fürth in the first round.

Apparently there was no agreement on how to spend the money to be earned in the cup. The board of directors decided to give only 50% of the money to the team (we are talking about “amateurs” by the way) and spend the rest on a new pitch, which caused the team and the trainer to get into a huff and walk out! Now Eimsbüttel TV are desperately looking for a new squad, advertising, amongst other things, in the radio…

For anyone interested, here are the highlights of the game in which they qualified…

Jack the Lad

Dave — Wed, 18 May 2011 06:20:55 +0000

Jack the Lad was a folk rock or electric folk group from North East England formed in 1973 by three former members of the most successful band of the period from the region Lindisfarne. They moved from the progressive folk rock of Lindisfarne into much more traditional territory and were in the mid-1970s something of a northern counterpart to bands like Fairport Convention. They have also been seen as part of an important roots movement, rediscovering traditional Northumbrian music. (Source Wikipedia)

The Importance of Taking Things Seriously

Dave — Wed, 11 May 2011 12:31:22 +0000

Before the Challenge Cup match against Huddersfield Giants, there was a lot of talk on the Batley Bulldogs forum that Batley shouldn’t field a full strength team for a match that we had no chance of winning. The reasoning was that if some of the injured players returned too early, they might get injured again with the result that they would not be available for subsequent matches that we could win.

I disagreed, and reasoned that it was important to put on a good show if we want to enhance our reputation over the next years. Because, let’s face it. We are not going to be playing in Superleague next year, or the year after. And we don’t seem to be in danger of being relegated this time around.

Out priority has to be increasing crowds at Mount Pleasant so that we can achieve a financial foundation for being successful in the future. Because make no mistake, we are living above our means. A coach with the class of Karl Harrison is not waiting round each corner to be signed up by Batley, and Karl won’t be around forever.

Taking this into account it doesn’t really matter whether we reach the playoffs this season or not, at least not as far as continuing success is concerned.

OK, not even I imagined that we would come so close to glory against the Giants. And even if most of the crowd was from Huddersfield, and they weren’t all paying, a crowd of 2.676 has seen what Batley is capable of … Fielding a weakened team against Superleague opposition is pure folly and suicidal. Just think what people would be saying about us now if the Giants had run up 100 points, and that could easily have happened ….

Here is what Giant Fans had to say (taken from various RL Forums)

“Batley’s fringe defence was as good as you would ever see from any SL side,totally committed all game.If the Batley player had not done the histrionics after the lazy arm and drawn the attention of Hicks they could have won this one….”

“Batley were the better team today and you could not tell which was the SL team….”

“We must also give Batley’s players lots of credit here too – thy tackled like their lives depended on it, time and again they brought our big men to ground.
I remember a 3 man hit on LOD not long into the game (possibly here his shirt got ripped) and he got up and just stood there for about 2 minutes with a look of what the hell was that on his face….he ovbiously hasdn’t expected that kind of opposition….“