My true love (Leeds Rhinos)

Member Name: JonnyM79

Product:	Leeds Rhinos
Date:	08/03/02 (149 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great entertainment, Awesome value for money, Unbeatable atmosphere

Disadvantages: Post-win hangovers

Most opinions on dooyoo I'm sure are written for two main reasons. Firstly to try and get lots of reads and secondly to persuade people into using or avoiding something based on your experience. This review is a bit different. For a start I'm sure there are only about 8 rhinos fans on the whole website and 7 of them won't notice this, so basically noone's going to read this. Now this does have it's advantages, such as I can say what I bloody well like (such as swearing) and noone's going to get offended, but it's hardly going to chalk up millions of points for me. Secondly supporting a team is such a personal thing that no website opinion is going to persuade you to change alleigance. What then is the point of writing this? Well this, dear reader, is a labour of love.

First the basics. Leeds Rhinos are a rugby league team. For those with minimal sporting knowledge that is NOT the same rugby that you see Ireland, Wales, England and the rest playing every other saturday on telly: that's Rugby Union. Rugby League and Union separated about 100 years ago, and League has always been the predominant form of the sport in its northern strongholds such as Yorkshire and Lancashire. The rules are substantially different and encourage a faster pace of play and more running, less kicking, for which reason Rugby League is often known as "The Handling Code." Also there are 2 less players per team, (i.e. 13) because several decades ago (I love this) the teams, being northern, were too stingy to pay 15 players to turn out, so altered the rules.

Leeds Rhinos play in the top division of Rugby League, The Superleague. The sport is now a summer game with the season running roughly from March to October. Teams in the top league (of which there are 12) are all from the Yorks/Lancs heartland apart from the London Broncos. Leeds have a particularly bitter rivalry with neighbours Bradford.

Sorry
to anyone reading this who is already familiar with all this (which now I think about it will be everyone reading this), I'll get down to the nitty-gritty now.

Leeds play at Headingley stadium. Walking to the ground is not exactly glamorous since it's in the middle of a somewhat scummy housing estate full of students (and in my case means passing the co-op and the local takeaways). However the excitement of approaching, often hearing a snatch of song from the fans already in the ground is a wonderful feeling. Headingley is a remarkable ground because the north stand actually is double-sided, the reverse looking out onto the cricket ground (as in Botham in 1981 and all that), making it one of the most famous dual-sport sites in the world. This has the major bonus that when the Yorkshire cricket team and the Rhinos are playing on the same day you can get into both for a single entrance fee. The entrance fees are also remarkably low: 12 pounds for adults, 6 for children?students/OAPs.

The north side of the ground is seating (this actually costs a bit more to get into) while the other 3 sides are terracing. Unlike in football the most vocal support is at the side of the pitch, not the ends, in the mighty South Stand. This is really the only place from which I can recommend watching; preferably right in the middle, near the 1/2 way line. The closed roof and the close packed crowd on the terracing make for a truly remarkable atmosphere, far more fervent than any football match I've ever been to, even those with far bigger crowds. To add to the atmosphere there's a small band of brass and drums who position themselves near the back of the stand. Unlike most crappy bands, they take their cue from what the crowd are chanting and add to the atmosphere enormously. Attendances range from 10,000 to 20,000 (this is reached at games with the local rivals Bradford and their large away following) which is roughly capacity. There&#
39;s no segregation of fans (this sport generally doesn't have the hooligan problems of football) which can lead to some good banter beforehand in the stadium's bars. Away fans generally stand at the west end of the ground. At 1/2 time fans at both ends generally swap around so that their team is attacking towards them for both 1/2s.

The typical support for Leeds (like all teams) is mainly white and working class. However, what really surprised me is just what a family sport it is. Women aren't too far away from making up half the audience and there are innumerable kids around, no doubt encouraged by the ludicrously low childrens' season ticket price (20 quid for the season last time I checked!)

So what of the entertainment? Well I've already run through the basics of Rugby League. Leeds is a fine team to watch, consistently finishing in the top 5 and getting in the playoffs as well as putting together useful cup runs. There are several exciting and noticeable players. Great Britain regulars such as Keith Senior at centre and Ryan Sheridan at scrum half. The hardest man in superleague: Barrie McDermott (prop.) Exciting young talent like loose forward Kevin Sinfield (the next Andy Farrell) and Mark Calderwood lightning on the wing. Throw in some class Aussie imports such as standoff Ben Walker (last years Australian league top points scorer) and Matt Adamson in the forwards and it's the best Leeds team I've seen for years. The rugby is often ferocious when the players get geed up by the crowd, and the view is superb since the terracing extends right down to pitchside, so you can watch the action from a few metres away if you want.

After the match a quiet consolation pint if the Rhinos lost or a prolonged binge if they won (well they do play on Friday nights!). Headingley has many excellent pubs to choose from right next to the ground, from the traditional Headingley Taps to the swanky mod
ern Ark opposite it. Personally I can't remember a better night out than the time Leeds snapped a 7 game losing streak by humbling the mighty Wigan (unless it's when we notched up 70 against Saints, but anyway...) and I'd recommend anyone new to the Leeds area to give the experience a try. After all I'm from the west country (rugby union heartland) and had precious little interest in any form of the sport before I saw my first match. If I can be converted, anyone can......

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