Cast your mind back to a Wednesday evening at the end of September; that night's training session had just finished and a damp Autumnal gloom was setting over the Pavillion pitch. It was just 4 days to go before the start of the season and the players gathered round to receive one of those post-training/pre-match chest-beating team talks which are so common in sport nowadays. Sadly, this was no normal team talk and none of us really saw this coming: our Coach notified us that, because of personal family reasons (which we all understood), that he would be standing down from being our coach with immediate effect. The gloom had become a little bit like the Twilight Zone as players and parents stumbled round the pitch not quite able to take in what had just happened. The boys had been building towards their first ever game of tackle rugby and and now they were feeling somewhat vulnerable without their coach.

The kids liked their coach; he'd been with them for the last 2 years and had "high-fived" and cajoled them through the laughter, tears and chaos of Tag Rugby. The parents quite liked the coach despite his somewhat "dodgy" timekeeping and his fondness for Leeds United and the 13 man-code.

A few days later, following assurances from Admin Karen that we were playing Huddersfield and not YMCA, the team assembled at Lockwood for their first ever game of tackle rugby; a somewhat daunting task bearing in mind that their coach, friend and mentor of the last couple of years was expectedly absent. We congregated in the car park and made our way to the far pitch, the exercise did us all good, and then we all wandered around not fully sure what to do next. Luckily we had some Divine Intervention, Admin Karen arrived! The ever-dependable Karen (may I nominate her for Admin of the Year) had secured us for the morning the coaching services of the Under 8s Coach, John. Thanks John.

Things were now looking up. Not for long though as the game started. Despite scoring from the first play of the game, Cleckheaton's inadequacies were soon shown-up. After a couple of minutes the referee awarded a scrum and and called over both packs. A bemused look fell over the faces of the Under 9s; they had not covered scrums at all in training. To confirm the matter a voice from the touchline shouted, "THEY'VE NOT DONE SCRUMS!". Luckily, the referee and John were on-hand to explain the rudiments. Moments later the Under 9s had formed their first ever scrum, the ball went into touch. Guess what - "THEY'VE NOT DONE LINEOUTS!" came a bellow from the touchline. The game continued, and despite some good hits in their first ever game of a tackle rugby, Cleckheaton were gallant in defeat. The Under 9s then played a second game and despite some improvement, they lost. I'm afraid to say this was a trend that continued for the next few weeks.

Well what would happen next without a coach - there was a very realistic chance that the team would have to fold. Luckily Admin Karen was on hand to "grasp the nettle"; she gently persuaded, asked, INSTRUCTED some of the parents that from Wednesday that they would be coaching the boys in the interim period until a coach could be found. (to be honest, I've subsequently "Googled" interim and it doesn't actually mean "forever"). Early indications suggested that there wasn't a vast amount of rugby playing experience amongst these new coaches however the general feeling was, "yep, we'll give it a go".

The boys and their new coaches met on the following Wednesday and something amazing happened - we discovered that Marcus's dad had actually played a lot of union and league in his youth; he even looked like he knew what he was talking about. Kerching - what a bonus! The training session went swimmingly (as we say up Hightown Road). Ian, with the assistance of the other coaches who were actually learning as much as the kids, took the team through clearing-out, lineouts and scrums. There was slight confusion as to whether it was, "crouch touch pause engage" or "crouch pause touch engage" but Ian made things easier by shouting, "ok, just get yer 'eds in!". Even though the team were starting from a very low level, they were always willing and eager to take on the coaching advise of Ian and his motley crue...ahem...coaching team.

In Autumn, the matches came thick and fast and despite the team making steady improvement in all aspects of the game, the Under 9s failed to win any of their first seven games. They continued to train on Wednesday night's and as Winter arrived and Hunsworth became Mudsworth, it wasn't unusual that these young 8 and 9 year olds were the last to leave the training pitch.

Eventually, on the 4th December, the Under 9s registered their first-ever win against a newly formed Keighley team. Even though they were pleased to win, they didn't over celebrate as they possible knew what this inexperienced Keighley team were going through; it was either that or just the perishingly cold morning.

As Winter set in, the Under 9s continued to train on a Wednesday or on a Sunday morning when the match had been cancelled due to bad weather. They even managed to sneak-in a couple of training sessions over the Christmas period as well as seeking refuge from the cold at The Hub Budokan centre on South Parade.

Despite having just a squad of 12, with great commitment and effort, the Under 9s have really managed to turn around their season. As I write, they have now managed to win 6 games this season and have actually won 5 of their last 8. Not a bad record for a team who in October didn't know how to form a scrum or lineout.

Off the pitch, the parents have come to the fore; Karen is an absolute treasure (mine's a pint please) and she seems to have given up her day job in order to send out emails/texts about forthcoming arrangements. Apart from busying herself in the kitchen at the drop of a pinny, she has also been super-efficient in updating the Under 9s page on the website.

There has also been 2 or 3 parents who have written match reports; the more adept "reporters" were able to focus on the more technical aspects of the ruck and maul and clearing-out whereas those who didn't know really know what they were talking about tended to to focus more on "cloud cover over the Low Moor area". (I'm sorry about that, folks). The Spenborough Guardian have also printed lots of match reports as well as given them front page prominence with a team photo. To be honest, the headline in the Sports section of "Gillgrass scores seven" has become a bit of a weekly feature.

This Motley Crue of coaches have really taken to the game as 3 of them have attended an RFU coaching course, 2 of them have attended a first aid course and one of them has aspirations to be a referee. The parents have all been magnificent as well as they "put up with" these new coaches and have willingly ferried the boys throughout the season and have offered encouragement to ALL teams on matchdays.

So that's it really, from humble beginnings, the players, the coaches and the parents have all stuck together and have managed to get themselves a team. Next season, the won't win every game but they won't lose every game either. They'll continue to play the game in the spirit which makes Cleckheaton Rugby Club proud. What the Under 9s will continue to do is keep on trying and they'll get better and better - that's why I would like to nominate the Under 9s as Team of the Year.