...no summer would be complete for rugby buffs until the fixture lists have muscled their way onto the lounger.
For the past few months the 14 clubs in North Premier have been playing a speculative game of pass the parcel waiting for the music to stop and the final sheet of paper to be ripped away to reveal the fixtures for the 2018-2019 season.
The fixtures are key pieces in a jigsaw that could take up to eight months to complete, but as always there is an outside chance that the top spot and the relegation issues might well be sorted before the end of April 2019.
Following on from their record breaking season the Vale will hoping to carry the momentum through to a higher level of competitive rugby but as regard their opponents, with one exception, they are not complete strangers. Alberto Semprini used to announce at the beginning of his popular radio programme, “Semprini Serenades,” that it would contain a selection of melodies which would be “Old Ones, New Ones, Loved Ones and Neglected Ones.”
A glance at the composition of North Premier reveals many clubs who are well known to Vale’s cognoscenti, but there is one stranger, Billingham from the North East. Billingham finished in sixth place in North Premier last season and this will be the first meeting between the two clubs.
Stepping back in time, a couple of Yorkshire clubs featured on Vale’s fixture agenda in the early 90’s, Harrogate and Sandal.
Vale last took on Harrogate in November 1991 when they lost at home 15-10 in a National Division Four North fixture; there no home and away games way back then. At the end of the season the Vale were relegated, for their second season in succession but there was some slight compensation because they lifted the Lancashire Cup with a 12-6 victory over Widnes at Preston Grasshoppers.
Sandal last visited Powderhouse Lane in November 1994 when they won a club fixture, 17-8. The previous season the Vale had lost a Division One North game at Standridge Lane, 40-14; again the Vale suffered relegation.
Blaydon, who were relegated from National Two North at the end of last season, will host the Vale on the opening game of the campaign, won both their games against the Vale in the 1997/98 season, in September on their own patch at Crow Trees, 30-11 and the return game in March, 40-18; but despite this double whammy the Vale finished in third place in North Two.
As a new millennium dawned the Vale found themselves swirling around in a league tumble drier that contained Alnwick, Hull, Rossendale, Lymm and Wirral at various times.
A long trip to Alnwick in March 2000 ended in a 10-8 defeat, the Northumbrians having won at the Vale, 17-6 in September in a North Two fixture. In the 2004/05 season Hull inflicted a brace of defeats on the Vale who fell through the trapdoor of North One, after losing at home 32-17 and away 53-20.
However, in the 2005/06 season the Vale appeared more at ease paddling in the waters of North Two West inflicting the double over Rossendale, 35-12 at home and away 74-7.
Old adversaries, Lymm, won both North One West games in the 2009/10 season, at home 32-18 and at Powderhouse Lane, 25-8.
League fixtures began against Wirral in the 2010/11 season with the last North One West encounters being played out in the 2013/14 season when the Vale drew away at the Memorial Ground 10-10 but lost at home 24-3 as Wirral went onto clinch the championship.
Vale last played against Ilkley in a warm up fixture in August 2012, losing 31-12 at Stacks Field.
History surrounds the fixtures against Kendal, Kirkby Lonsdale and Wilmslow, but once again the respective treasurers at the Vale, Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale must be turning cartwheels at the prospect of bumper gates at Mint Bridge, Underley Park and Powderhouse Lane for these mouth watering turf wars.
Kendal won both games in their table topping 2015/16 season. at home 34-3 in September and at The Lane just before Christmas, 5-0 in what was Kendal’s lowest point’s victory of the season.
In the second meeting against Kirkby Lonsdale in the 2016/17 season the Vale repeated another miserly feat when they restricted the eventual champions, Kirkby Lonsdale to their smallest score, 16-0, in an unbeaten season and in doing so became the only club to deny Kirkby a winning bonus point in December Kirkby had romped to a 50-8 victory at the Vale in the third game of the season.
Last season the Vale won at home against Wilmslow 41-17 but lost the return, 37-23, in the final North One West fixture of the season, an outcome that sent Wilmslow into a play-off game at Driffield, which they won, 24-21 in dramatic style, with a last minute try.
As always the arrival of the fixtures are just an appetizer before the main course comes galumphing onto the table and the cutlery is plunged straight in, as for a sweet course, forget about one until all the crumbs have been swept away. In the meantime the prep work begins in earnest behind the scenes before the Vale are ganning their way into “Blaydon Toon.”
Vale of Lune 1st XV Fixtures 2018-2019
01/09/2018 Blaydon (A)
08/09/2018 Wilmslow (H)
15/09/2018 Kendal (A)
22/09/2018 Kirkby Lonsdale (H)
29/09/2018 Ilkley (A)
13/10/2018 Alnwick (A)
20/10/2018 Hull (H)
27/10/2018 Lymm (A)
03/11/2018 Harrogate (H)
17/11/2018 Sandal (A)
24/11/2018 Billingham (H)
01/12/2018 Rossendale (A)
08/12/2018 Wirral (H)
15/12/2018 Wilmslow (A)
05/01/2019 Kendal (H)
12/01/2019 Kirkby Lonsdale (A)
19/01/2019 Ilkley (H)
26/01/2019 Alnwick (H)
09/02/2019 Hull (A)
16/02/2019 Lymm (H)
02/03/2019 Harrogate (A)
09/03/2019 Sandal (H)
23/03/2019 Billingham (A)
30/03/2019 Rossendale (H)
06/04/2019 Wirral (A)
13/04/2019 Blaydon (H)