The Accies College Cup (Race 7) – BRADFORD
The 7th race destination in the College Cup is Bradford in recognition of our once regular, bi-annual, early season trip to the ‘Broad Acres’ and, usually, the highlight of those years. It was originally planned as our penultimate race however we have cut the competition short with our impending return to rugby and pre-season this week. It is somewhat fitting, however, that the last virtual race of the original plan is replaced by a real-life return to Raeburn Place.
Over the course of the College Cup, the players have done a fantastic job clocking up kilometres and the coaching and support staff have also participated and kept the players going. The top 2 teams were Columbia Lions and Harvard Crimson. The Lions clocking up the most kilometres and Crimson earning the most points. The top performer for Crimson was Robbie Kent and Fergus McKenzie led the way for the Lions. Neither of them however could beat Ben Grainger of the Penn Quakers as the top performing individual overall.
It really has been a great effort and a great idea to keep players engaged in these challenging times. We can now look forward with more optimism to the next season but let’s reminisce briefly about our trips to Bradford before we do.
Our history goes back to the 1880s, when Bradford and Accies were the leading Clubs in England and Scotland, where one game was described as 'a memorable occasion, an historic encounter, a tremendous battle - but just too vigorous’!
The regular trips to Lidget Green and latterly to Wagon Lane, when the Bradford and Bingley clubs joined together, encapsulated our sport - good hard games and a good hard evening with our hosts - followed by that customary visit to the centre of Bradford for some ‘cheap’ beers and a 50p curry downstairs at the Kash. Happy days!
Unfortunately, for various reasons we have not played the B’s for some time, but there are many a story to recall. The most favourable for Accies is perhaps from the pre-season trip in the year of our Cup Final run, 2006-7. With the B’s following an increasingly professional trajectory as Accies worked through our return to the top flight from Division 3, it was becoming harder and harder to compete with the B’s either home or away. Before the match, chat of the recent cricket scores that had come before and the semi-professional outfit that would face us on the pitch would ripple through the team, but head coach Ian Barnes would focus minds and set the tone with one of his all-time top inspirational quotes:
“The captain of the Titanic was a professional. Noah was an amateur.” (Expletives removed)
It certainly seemed to do the trick! We go on to earn a good win against the Bees and we would get a first sight of what our forwards pack would be renowned for by the end of the season as they stood toe to toe with the semi-professional outfit.
1st XV forwards drive over to extend our leads over the Bees.
BATs Under-19s in Bradford - 2006
The evening celebrations, and the weekend as a whole, would serve as an excellent bonding trip for the squad and it is also worth noting that BATs took an under-19 side to Bradford as well. The under-19s would include a good number of players that would go on to become key members of Accies for years to come. Check out the team photo and see who you can spot.