By Abbers
October 30 2002

From an early age, all that was ever discussed amongst my school peer group was the Saints. How they had performed at the weekend, what the chances were for silverware, which players were injured and who was rumoured to be joining the club. All well and good if I happened to be a Southampton fan, but the round ball game left me strangely cold.

So an alternative was sought to fill the winter months and the game of rugby union neatly filled the oval shaped, mud soaked void. But then another dilemma – which team to adopt? Bath was the obvious option, being the “local” club and, at the time, massively successful. But that had something of the Liverpool or Manchester United syndrome about it, so despite the plethora of blue and white hooped shirts in the Salisbury area and various school ties, something more individual was sought. And I make no apologies for the random nature of stumbling across the Saints, a decision which has been fully vindicated by a fine team, club and set of fans over the last seven years or so. It was the squad that won the rugby 7s World Cup, featuring Tim Rodber, Nick Beal, Matt Dawson… I figured any club with that sort of individual talent had to be worth following and so my loyalty was won.

A short time later, after a couple of seasons tracking results and reports on Teletext and in the broadsheets (no internet access back then!), I stumbled across a fantastic Northampton lass living next door to me at university in Cardiff. Quite how Southampton and Northampton united in the Land of Our Fathers remains a mystery, but I for one have no regrets! Picture this romantic scene…

Me: “So, where do you come from?”

Prospective Mrs A: “Northampton”

Me: “Go to the rugby at all?”

Prospective Mrs A: “Yes”

Me: “Want to go out?”

And that was that. Prospective Mrs A hasn’t been so happy since Tim’s retirement, but a dozen games a season have been seen since, including 2 Twickenham Cup Finals, amazing structural changes at the Gardens and as many away games as home as Bath, Bristol, Reading, London, etc. are all closer to home than the Midlands!

So the intention of this little irregular column is to share my experiences of supporting the Saints from afar with all you more local, dyed-in-the-wool Northampton folk. The difficulties that the distance sometimes presents in supporting the club, the differences encountered being a rugby fan in a largely football oriented community, although there are, I hasten to add, a number of flourishing junior clubs in the area, and how my missionary work is progressing in spreading the gospel according to the Saints to a sceptical, largely heathen, local population.
If you’re happy to be amused by my ramblings, then I’m happy to share them!

Coming soon – Episode 2, Taking My Parents to Their First Saints Match (that’ll be London Irish on Sunday then!)