Local Hero

By Leipziger
August 13 2009

After the previous ten, if there was any doubt over which game was going to be my top one, here it is revealed. I suppose it could have been the 1998 title-winning game at The Stoop, but that was a predictable win and to be honest I wasn't a massive fan then and so didn't get that excited about it. Unlike another visit to south west London less than three years later.  

1 Harlequins (Twickenham) 24/02/2001

I've been watching the Falcons for 13 years, through 250-odd games all around England and in five countries. I've no idea how many tries I've seen in that time, but never have I been so excited about one or celebrated one as wildly as the one that was scored by one Dave Walder at around 4.45pm on Saturday 24^th February 2001, the one that won our team the Tetley's Bitter Cup.

Having spent not gone to a game before Christmas since I was living in Düsseldorf that year, I went to the semi-final against Sale at KP and enjoyed our win... but it was tempered by the thought that, unlike in 1999, I probably wouldn't be able to go to the final.

Deciding I should go to the final, I was due to fly from Düsseldorf to Newcastle via Brussels the Thursday evening before the game, and almost missed the 8pm flight as I finished work at 6pm, had an argument with a taxi driver as I couldn't make him understand I needed a lift back to the boarding school I was living in first to grab my stuff.

But I made it, and though I can't remember what I did most of the Friday, the Friday night I remember being in the pub in Newcastle with a mate and they were doing some kind of promotion involving Tetley's Bitter and the Six Nations – kind of ironic I thought.

The next day was it. Instead of the 12-odd buses that carried Geordies from the North to Twickenham in 1999, this time there were over 50, many sponsored so fans could travel for a quid. Approaching the stadium, it was strange to see many Harlequins fans coming out of their houses when we'd been up since 6am – come 5pm those living locally were probably glad they didn't have far to go home.

To the game, and we went ahead through a Tom May try but were behind at half time, but despite another in the second half we were 27-18 down with 12 minutes to go, at which point it got interesting. Sitting in the north-west corner, near the back of the lower tier, I had a great view as Jim Jenner forced his way over for a try, but Jonny Wilkinson missed the conversion.

A week previously I'd watched England v Scotland in an Irish bar in the Düsseldorfer Altstadt, and Jonny put in a great game and kicked most if not all his points. This week he didn't, and the second missed conversion left us four points behind, needing a try.

I'll let Stuart Barnes describe the atmosphere as we searched for the winning score: the Quins fans were quiet with nerves, but “the Geordies are absolutely screaming”. And we were, 25,000 of us amongst the 71,000 in the stadium, but we couldn't score and the clock was ticking. I can remember feeling the pain in my head from the shouting and the tension.

The game went into injury time, and as Ian Peel charged for the corner on the left, he was put into touch, touch judge Steve Lander controversially giving us the throw. It was good, and the ball came out to Wilkinson who passed out to Jamie Noon. With Quins defence stretched (I'm shivering as I write this!), the ball came to Dave Walder who ran in unopposed to send those with black hearts absolutely wild!

Dancing, singing and shouting all ensued, but I have to say the final try and the few minutes that followed were among the most exciting of my life, and that was the moment I had felt such emotion watching a sporting event and though there have been many more great moments watching the Falcons since, probably nothing will ever top that. Simply, it was one of the best days of my life, and by the time I missed my connection in Brussels the following evening and got stuck there for a few hours, getting home in Düsseldorf after midnight, I was still smiling and didn't really care.

And almost as much for how I felt writing this as on the day eight years ago, this was my greatest ever Falcons game.