Thornhill Trojans' magic weekend

Before the advent of the Magic Weekend in 2007, most rugby league fans had to hope that their club would draw a glamorous tie in the Challenge Cup for a big day out. Could we perhaps have a weekend in Newcastle if we drew Gateshead Thunder? Maybe if we get to the final, we could go to Wembley — or Murrayfield, or the Millennium Stadium. Perhaps if we got really lucky, we could draw Chorley away?

A year before the inaugural Magic Weekend, Catalans Dragons entry into Super League guaranteed another event and away day for fans to look forward to. And it wasn’t just restricted to supporters of top-flight clubs, with the Dragons entering the Challenge Cup at a time when they didn’t have to pay a ransom to take part either.

Which made for a unexpected trip to the south of France for Dewsbury amateur outfit Thornhill Trojans, who had already beaten Eastmoor Dragons, Leigh East, and Workington Town in that year's competition, before the fourth round draw presented them with the honour of being Catalans’ first ever opponents in the Challenge Cup. For the occasion, a reporter from BBC Look North accompanied the team for their weekend, and the club’s trip was documented for a segment to be shown on the following week’s news. It was then committed to history when it was uploaded to YouTube.

If the French and European Union flags in the opening shot weren’t a give away, the accordion music that accompanies images of the Trojans packing their coach with luggage lets us know that the group have arrived in France in anticipation of their match with the Dragons. There’s bad denim, bad haircuts, bad sunglasses like the ones my dad bought in Scarborough around the same time. It’s all absolutely perfect. Well, almost perfect. There’s a distinct lack of breton tops and onions around their necks, but we’ll let that slide. You’d be forgiven for not knowing whether this was a rugby team travelling to an away game or a school trip. Maybe that’s just the vibe of a packed coach.

Before long, the jokes start and the passengers are trying their best to be the class clown and get the attention of the cameras. A quick introduction with some of the travelling party reminds me that while I’ve never met any of these people, through rugby league I’ve met all these sorts of people — whether that’s tireless volunteers who keep amateur rugby league churning, the fans who’d much rather watch a game on a pitch that’s had to be checked for dog shit before kick-off than anything on the TV, or the players who are trotting out cliches about being focused on the task ahead when really their heads are thinking about the pints after the game. An honourable mention to the lad who says they’ll, “tek on’t Cantalans, no worries.”

The team disembark the coach into a busy hotel foyer. Sky reporter Angela Powers is there with a cameraman to interview the Trojans’ head coach Jason Firth. When asked by Angela how he plans to pull the team together before the game, Firth replies: “Just get a stretch, we’ve been sat cramped on a plane and a bus all day, so [we’ll] just get some fresh air and meet up with the rest of the people… in town.” I’m no linguist, but I think he means they’re dumping their bags and they’re off down the pub.

And sure enough, they were. Le Grand Café de la Poste. A familiar sight to any rugby league fan who’s made the journey over to Perpignan. A bar in the shadows of the town’s castillet. We’ve now got pints to add to the denim, haircuts, and sunglasses. We meet the Crazy Gang, Thornhill’s own ultras group. They offer their spokesmen (the loudest in the group) up for the camera to say:

“I was offered the position of leaving my job or I would get sacked and obviously I’ve taken the position of leaving my job to come and watch the Trojans. We’re in France, you know what I mean?”

I think I do. Another member of the Crazy Gang is asked what they’re doing over in Perpignan:

“It’s looking like we’re going to get hammered. And then we’re going to get hammered tomorrow. And then we’re going to get hammered on Sunday. And then we’ve got Monday off work, and we’re going to get hammered.”

The pints in hand, the slurred speech, and the swaying figures tell us they might already be hammered. The proletariat at play. Rugby League, a sport built out of working class collectivism and the joy that can bring. And here we are, somehow watching it being lived out twenty years ago, and the themes of community, friendship, and even love are mentioned by the fans. The game of rugby the next day was merely an excuse to get together and have a jolly up.

“I just wish we got Batley Boys away. That’d been a better day out”.

We don’t get to see the full extent of the debauchery. The next scene is in a hotel meeting room the following day. Coach Firth is running through his team and gameplan with the lads. He says picking the team was “one of the hardest things” he’s ever had to do. The Trojans have taken nineteen players over with them but only seventeen can make the matchday squad. The shirt presentations provide a sense of the occasion. Though the prominence of the day is starting to show, there’s still a joke to be had. Firth informs the team of a conversation he had with a mate just minutes earlier:

“I spoke to an old mate of ours last night. He’s just rung up this minute before we walked in, and I asked him if he had any words of advice for you all and he said, 'I’ll send you it in a message.' He sent me a pair of tits on a picture message.”

Firth leaves us with parting words to the Look North reporter before they have to leave for the bus: “Once that kick-off comes at two o’clock, it’s party time.” The lads are cheered off by their adoring public as the coach sets off for Catalans’ ground. If the earlier bus trip had a school trip vibe, this is definitely done under exam conditions.

The team arrive at the ground and make themselves familiar with the pitch and the facilities. There’s a bizarre pre-match routine for the lads to get themselves in the zone. Long time readers of Real Class may remember a newsletter containing a clip of the Western Magpies’ pre-game warm-up, knocking ten bells out of each other…

Thornhill decided to be a bit more zen. Using an iPod and docking station for backing music, they sing along to Elton John’s ‘Your Song’. No one blinks or flinches. From the outside looking in, it’s a little bit funny.

The travelling fans begin to arrive and make themselves familiar with the surroundings, booming “bonjour!” among one another and the locals. Pints are starting to be handed out. A group of female Catalans supporters pile out of a car in the car park next to the pitch, in view of the Crazy Gang. We overhear: “Even the ugly ones are good.” Different times.

Thornhill make their way out to the pitch with vaselined knees, strapped shoulders, and taped ears, backed by a healthy share of the support. The game kicks off and we’ve got a slanted view from a camera at pitchside. It’s a strange way to watch a game, and without watching the full match, it makes it hard to get a grasp of how it all unfolded. We can infer that Thornhill gave the game a right go. There are good defensive efforts, and there’s plenty of footage of them in good ball. They went in at half time 14-0 down. Not a bad showing against a team that includes Super League mainstays like Mick Dobson, Jules Rinaldi, Jamal Fakir, and Jerome Guisset. Good and proper Engage-men.

Thornhill had their own set of players that had spells as semi-pros. Jonny Campbell, Andy Bostock, and Luke Haigh all went on to play in the Championship and League One. We’re not lucky enough to hear what’s said during the half-time team talk, so the next time we see the Trojans they’re coming out for the second half. Out of the tunnel, they’re met with fencing holding back the Crazy Gang. If you squint, it could be a scene from a Channel 5 drama about the miners’ strikes.

More drinks are drunk as the reporter focuses on the fans for the second half. For a poorly attended game, I’m sure the bar takings weren’t bad. Chants go back and forth between pitchside and the back of the stands as the Crazy Gang try to create an atmosphere. One fan, who’s been leathered every time he’s been on camera, tells the Look North reporter: “Tell you what, they’ve done absolutely brilliant…there’s no swearing. Absolutely brilliant.” Again, we see some footage of Thornhill threatening the Catalans line, but to no avail. Any video evidence of the second half actually happening is limited. The game finished 66-0 to Catalans, in their first ever Challenge Cup victory.

The post match reaction is exactly as you’d expect from any team that concedes 52 points in a half of rugby. “They’ve done their best, obviously the second half was always going to be tough,” says the Thornhill coach. “It was a good experience mate, but second half, we just dropped, didn’t we? That’s all I can say abart it…I’m not proud of me sen, I’m proud of the team in total… It’s a good experience for the club and the people of Thornhill,” says the same lad who called the opposition Cantalans before the game. He’s nailed exactly what this was all about. This was about representing the people of Thornhill and not necessarily giving them a game to remember, but a weekend and an event that’ll long live with them.

Shirts are swapped between teams, and the remaining Thornhill shirts are swapped with their fans in exchange for a sup of a pint. There’s kisses and handshakes between players and their family members and friends. One of the players tells the reporter, “We’re just going to soak it all up, and get hammered tonight. At least now we can have a drink.” Can you see a theme here?

Former Australia and New South Wales representative Matt Adamson — working as assistant at Catalans at the time — makes his way into the away changing rooms to swap shirts between the clubs. Though they were only playing an amateur club from Dewsbury, Catalans were eager to get the shirt from their opponents. Adamson explains how they’re trying to build up a bit of history in their clubhouse. If it was ever in any doubt, the Trojans' visit to Catalans will go down in folklore.

The post game festivities begin. There’s beer, barbecued sausages, and chips being served up by the handful. Even when a professional team is hosting others, there’s an amateur rugby league vibe to it all. The Catalans players have stayed around to have a beer with their opponents and enjoy the party. It feels like an old rugby league cliche to say that both teams will have given each other hell on the pitch for eighty minutes, but as soon as the hooter goes for full-time, they can have a pint and a laugh together. Cliched or not, that’s exactly what happened. This is our parting scene. Barring the fella from Look North fluffing his lines a few times.

It’s a really brilliant place to leave it. I do wish I could see where the night ended up, and how the hangovers were the next day, but it’s all irrelevant. I’ve seen enough to know they had a class night, and an absolute rager of a hangover the next day, but they’ll have done it all again. I’m so glad this footage was captured, and even more glad it was immortalised online. Not only is this a great bit of history for the club and rugby league, it’s a brilliant bit of local and social history for the people of Thornhill. Rugby league will always be best represented by these communities coming together, in good times and bad. Forget club owners and administrators who wish to make the game about them. Forget the naysayers who constantly tell us we’re doomed. As long as there’s volunteers, fans and players willing to keep this game going, the spirit of rugby league will live long. ⬧