LIKE it or not (and if you don’t tough) everything major or minor has been viewed through the prism of Wembley this week.
Fear not, this isn’t another hand-wringing tale of what-might-have-been, drenched in the pathos of Ben Currie’s last-gasp effort or even Kurt Gidley’s skewed penalty.
Anyone who travelled down to the wilds of North London in 2009, 2010 and 2012 knows that finals hinge on such fine margins.
Even before boarding the Away Day Crew’s latest fun wagon down to the Borough of Brent, the build-up had been a bit pick and mix for Podium.
Some of my trusted lefty mates couldn’t help but point out that the heavily trailered Rock for Corbyn gathering at the The Brewhouse had raised £900 for the former prep school boy’s fighting fund.
One thanked me, tongue-firmly-in-cheek, for the added publicity, while I attempted to suppress my own smile at the double-barrelled moniker of one of Momentum Warrington’s leading comrades.
Then the mood switched, as news filtered through of the sudden passing of Steven ‘Yed’ Goodwin, a moderator on the Warrington Wolves portion of the RL Fans website and ardent Wire.
He’s a character I’ve met before and after games for years, a friend of friends if you will. Decent chap.
Tributes have built up across the rugby league online community for Steven. Again, while he was only the briefest of acquaintances, I know his passing cast a pall over the cup final proceedings for a number of people I know.
Strangely enough, the journey down and the elongated return, complete with with touchdowns at nearly every benighted service station on the M6 and M1, will live longer in Podium’s memory maybe than the actual game, classic that it has been touted.
(Our hard-pressed navigator can add getting within spitting distance of the North Circular Road before heading northbound up the M1 to his pantheon of detour delights.) Minutes before kick-off, the wall of noise which greeted the Wire team, and the ocean of primrose and blue flags (a cheap but ingenious marketing ploy) was both exhilarating and oddly moving.
For the fixture itself, check out our sports staff. They possess the insights, I just harbour unfathomable grudges and man crushes.
I’m still convinced we’re two or three players off a solid silverware side. But TS says otherwise and I know who’s trophy cabinet is more expansive.
This is still, in essence, a young side with potential, so if the battered troops can pick themselves up for a trip across the Channel to keep the League Leader’s Shield and Grand Final flames flickering, that could be their ultimate yardstick.
If your correspondent was of a mind, and had most of his musical faculties removed, he could have staged an uplifting detour coming back into the county from the Challenge Cup gloom, and landed in Creamfields.
Or just propped open a bedroom window, as apparently householders from Woolston to Great Sankey to Dallam could have done to hear the likes of Calvin Harris and Avicii ply their trade.
Not content with potentially screwing up our roads network by throwing a toll bridge-shaped albatross into the commuting mix, and years of dubious odours drifting over Fidler’s Ferry through Penketh, Halton now appears ready to wage an audio war on Warrington.
I’m hopeful, bearing in mind the proportion of fans who descend on Warrington to reach the Daresbury location, and the disproportionate levels of disruption endured on this side of the border, that Prof Broomhead and his team will re-negotiate a sizeable chunk of any future event licensing fee from our valued neighbours.
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