Spartans play their last home League fixture this Sunday, KO 10:30 Vs East Leeds

The season has just flown by, I can't work out if it's just my perception or if the season is ridiculously short although I'm leaning toward the latter.

Anyhow, peeps are welcome down at Ossett Trinity to watch, as always there will be the welcome aroma of coffee, bacon and wintergreen wafting from the club house.

This weekend sees the challenge cup finals at fev rovers ground
One that I know of is
East Leeds v crigglestone AB 13s
Don't know what to expect as the top 2 fight it out.

About 2 years ago East Leeds beat Crigglestone All Blacks under 11s .
I don't recall the score but I bet spongebobs son will.
Today for the first time in competitive matches East Leeds Under 13s not only beat CAB 13s , ending a 2 year run . They thrashed them 56-16 I think it ended.

To sum it up . the best team won.
Congratulations to the parents coaches club etc but mainly the lads who in so much hard work.

If you are going to lose a two year run undefeated you may as well get a stuffing, it'll do em good in the long run.

Also hats off to my own lad felt his hand hurting after his first tackle and again a bit later, nothing said with adrenaline pumping . end of game one hand size of mine ,
A&E ***** BROKEN KNUCKLE , FINGER AND TO THE HAND ...... soccer players , we &%£# em .

Absolutely spot on, forgetting how loosing feels makes you complacent hopefully they can get that winning feeling back and it will mean more to them

Think its time for a rant!!!
First and foremost, sincere congratulations to East Leeds for a fantastic winning performance today against the Allblacks. You took the game to us and really deserved to win...well done and good luck with the rest of your season.
However, as Crigg parents we were a disgrace. Whwn they called out the names of our young heroes did we clap and cheer?? No we never made a sound. East Leeds cheered the walls down and their kids knew they were supported.
Many of our players went into this game with their heads down and defeated before the ball was even kicked. Some showed a negative attitude I have never seen from them and quite frankly hope I never see again. But it wasn't their fault. Im not normally one for airing dirty laundry in public but I was ashamed of myself this morning for putting up with a lot of things lately.
We have a coach who would do anything for the lads and who cant have done a bad job winning just about everything with them for the last 2 years but for some reason lately and the week leading up to a cup final, people want to tear this club apart and start a political game for power. This isnt for the benefit of the kids, OUR KIDS, but for the benefit of certain adults. You, WE, sent our children, yes children into battle against a strong East Leeds team, with their heads low and confused. Not only that we did nothing to support them through it. Despite the differences we have with Leeds parents, they actually acted like parents this morning. Many of us just expected our lads to win. Theyre kids, not machines.
Personally i dont care if the moderator thinks I have gone too far today and kicks me off, but I am not willing to put up with what i allowed to happen this morning. Our own parents shouting and berating our own coach and each others kids. Some of the opposition staff were no better with the disgusting things we heard said about some of our lads but I wouldnt dream of spoiling their day. It was their day afterall.
My message is this, loud and clear, get behind your kids and the coach who has never let you down, let them enjoy their rugby and dont try to make it about us, itys JUNIOR rugby and not all about winning, or get lost because these kids deserve better. WE lost them that final today. taking nothing away from East Leeds but you dont go from hammering a team 3 weeks ago to getting an absolout tonking like we did today by the same team. We need to grow up and just enjoy watching our kids having fun.if you dont like what i say, i dont care. Well done again East Leeds.

Just asked "statto" , and quick as a flash 24-14 !

Hope young mutts is ok - certainly didn't show during the game ....brave lad !

Also congrats to East Leeds , they were fantastic today .

In my experience, there are certain people involved in jr rugby who will never, ever, get that message.

I think it is the same every where the winning seams to be more important than playing with smiles on there faces now days. It is a fantastic age group I watch it regular because my nephew plays for panthers there some very good young players every where and in few year we will be watching a lot of them on TV but for now let them be kids.

beginning to think we should play games without parents being there, last week we played Crigg in a mid week cup match and the abuse at two of the ex crigg players was silly. even the word judas was clearly herd shouted at him

I for one didn't hear any of that, however plenty of banter between one of Stanley the players and their school mates stood behind the rope, nothing along the lines of Judas tho


it wasn't an unexpected result and there was very little malice between the players and supporters IMO

Fantastic win for Spartans this morning, putting things in perspective we're still missing 7 key regulars including half of the starting pack, the Captain, the stand off and his replacement and with just 1 substitute.

I seriously feared for us when we lost another front rower just 20mins before kick off but I of all people should know better.

East Leeds ran hard and tackled in numbers but Spartans had too much firepower left in the team and very fast line speed with strong defence meant good field position throughout the match.

Final score:
Spartans 34 - 6 East Leeds

Eastmoor dragons won at new eastwick(York) 9-3 today a great performce ESP as they didn't have there coach on pitch with them for first ever time

I agree mate and to a team who most certainly deserved their win, is it a changing of the guard? I don't know and I don't care at least we can play and enjoy ahhhhhhhhh.and at least we / I can prove its not just about winning.
Their was a burning feeling of pride as I pondered on what the team had achieved since they were just 11 year olds waiting to go to "big boy school"

Sorry to disagree with a mate ft but I was sat with snowie and the very mouth it came from called one lad it once upon a time when he left crigg 4 Stanley

I wasn't going to mention what as happened during the last few weeks etc but Saturday was shocking.
I sat were we normally sit at fev .
ATEOTD I don't care who said what about who . and another thing Stephen is staying at Crigglestone AB cos last time I was at a club and this happened I moved him and became the villain and lost what I thought was a friend because I carny be any thing except honest.

I don't care what happened last week etc its insignificant to my lads happiness. And to my judgement.

Lance Day is the finest coach junior wise I've ever come across, its impossible to agree with everything any coach does but my lad thinks he's the bees .
Saturday I lost respect for someone and some others just proved decisions were right.

I'm a proud dad and support a few amateur clubs , ask snowie .

If you want to stay great if not fine , its not all about the gold.

On a lighter note - at our recent committee meeting, because we have so many players at this age group and such a range of abilities, we've decided to launch a second team. The Black Spartans are born! Training will start soon, in preparation to run 2 U15's sides next season.

If anyone is interested in joining us or coming to see what we do, get in touch via DM and I'll respond asap.

Blimey not only did he end up with his hand in pot but after the pain subsided he's shown us.
His bashed up shoulder which looks like we may be back at A E with the way its dropping and a briuse the size of a melon and a dead leg.

Wondering if any other players suffered over the weekend on the surface?

Yep ...add one more to the list - young Sponge has broken his ankle !

Raiders Under 7's played against the younger of the 2 Kippx sides yesterday and put in another decent performance. The Kippax lads are all year 1, whereas our lads are a mix of years 1 and 2 (mainly year 2) and whilst it is both sides first season of playing the Raiders defense and general increased sizes and strength made it a bit of a one sided affair. The Kippax boys will no doubt come on for the experience and next year will have a big advantage over most sides as they will have a full season under their belts. We even "let" a couple of the players pass and they scored a nice try on the back of a small passing play, passing before the line rather than offloading in the tackle.

Friendly tomorrow night against Stanley Rangers and then Shaw Cross at the weekend, so fingers crossed the lads can continue their improvement.

Is it usual for the fixtures on the YJARL website to chop and change at relatively short notice as the season progresses?

I heard

, I wondered why he didn't re-enter plus one more Robbie came off in pain and yep he's broken same part of his wrist / arm again .

Gonna be very very short on numbers .
Perhaps crigg fast might be OK .

Hi musky, yeah the results as you know get text in and although not published the YJL do try to make sure that teams are not getting thrashed every week.and they also try to pit the teams who win week in week out against each other,

A hard task I would think in the 7s
so you may of been playing team A in part C of the year but because the YJL believe it will be to easy/hard for you they swap in part B of the season and give you team D .

Understand? Good , I dont,.

Thanks, will keep a closer eye on it.

My U7's continued their decent run of form with a good performance against a smaller Stanley Rangers side last night in another midweek friendly. The Rangers lads were a bit less organised and weren't really able to get much go forward in the face of pretty good defense from our lads and they spent much of the game inside their own half as a result. Attack was pretty tricky with it pouring down before hand and steady rain through a fair bit of the game but both teams gave it their all and appeared to have much more fun and get more out of it than they would have done in a training session.

We have moved over from defense in training to attack, and we tried a couple of times to put the ball through a couple of pairs of hands before hitting the runner but a combination of the enthusiastic Rangers moving up quickly, the referee not going back particularly far and the wet weather it wasn't easy - the lads panicked a touch and couldn't do what a few of them had been doing in training with no opposition. Still, something to work on next week.

Hi Musky,

just my 2 pence , I think at 7s we should be teaching the kids core skills ( Ball Carry, Tackle etc and simple involvement and spatial awareness games ) this way when we move up the age groups and come the transition age U12s the players will be equipped to move on faster )

Im not saying don't do any passing games just don't rely on them in games for a few years yet, let them enjoy being part of the game.

Steve