Politics, golden shorts and preparation for next season in the latest Woz On

I may have caused a bit of a fuss regarding my comments last week and social media had a raft of comments about this celebration thing.

I/we were intrigued to see someone form the council posted saying that several things that had been offered to the rugby club.

I unusually replied to this particular comment and it was only to ask, who they'd contacted at the rugby club?

Clare is our contact on the web site and neither Clare, Mike, or I have had any official contact from anyone, so lord knows who they think they spoke to. Needless to say, I didn't get a reply to that.

Was speaking to Brooksy who went to Twickers 10 years ago when he played for Cully and like us, they won (as an aside, they and the Ton are the only two Devon teams to have won in this competition)

Out of curiosity, I asked if they got any recognition from their town council. Apparently, they went to a council reception, hosted by the mayor and then had a proper sit-down meal with the mayor and a few dignitaries.

I think we'll just leave it there and I suppose I did at least get an acknowledgement from someone, who said the town council needs to work on their engagement with all their local clubs – it seems my moan might have had some positives.

Mind, it does seem a little toxic in local politics at the moment, with everyone having a dig at everyone else. Seems to be mirroring national politics, where no one agrees and they all hate each other - we need to share some love and try a little compromise.

Moving on – Saturday was a very positive day down at Tonsville for this big Services charity day. Will Tyers fixed the hot water problem so that crisis was averted. Big thanks to him for coming to our rescue again!

The two rugby games went well(ish) but in truth, the opposition for the two games was a bit good for the mix and match from Honiton.

Obviously, it was a fun game, so no one minded too much and guess who played in the vets game?! None other than our (well over 70) President and according to Welly he didn't look out of place. I think he should have worn his golden shorts.

Not sure you are aware but there is an actual rule about over 70's playing rugby and if you have the golden shorts on you are allowed to run ten metres, in open play before being tackled unless you are within 10 metres of the try line when it's then fair game for you to get smashed. Ask me about it and I'll explain the rule in a bit more detail.

All said and done, Stopper's participation in what is a rough sport in his 7th decade is fairly impressive in anyone's book, I'll bet he struggle to walk the next day.

Welly also said he was a bit miffed as he didn't get on the score sheet, he felt there was a conspiracy to stop him scoring. Hats off to all the guest players, the ex-service men and all who came down and dusted off boots for the day. The weather turned up, so everyone was outside and beer was quaffed.

Thanks to Clare and Alex and their crew for doing the bar they did a sterling job inside and it was a long old day. The BBQ food on offer went down well and again big thanks to Ally, B*ggeroff, Coxey and Cheryl for all their hard work as they also slogged away all day!

The raffle was hugely successful, partly because there were some great prizes donated by lots of local businesses and big thanks to Dave and Michelle who did most of the badgering to get the prizes. I'm told several were throwing shapes when the 'moozic' came on.

Hats off to Knocker, Welchy, Paul, Baz and all the others who worked on the project and they also manned the outside bar as well.

Ronald told me the guys from the Services charities were very impressed with all that was done for them and how smoothly it all went and I guess our guys will have been just glad to have put something on to help the charity and as we know, mental illness is a tricky area and it's often something that just gets pushed under the carpet as a "don't go there subject".

All in all, a great advert for the Town's caring side.

That sort of concludes business for the season so it's now moving on to planning ahead for what will be a tough new season as we try to ply our trade with the big boys in the division above.

As you now know, the Chiefs are now in the final this Saturday against Sarries and Clare is contemplating opening up at Tonsville if there's enough interest. Best place to check is on face ache, she'll post a yeah or a nay on there.

I'd love the Chiefs to do 'em but having watched the Fezmen when games matter, they are a formidable outfit and always seem to come out on top. Heart says Chiefs, but logic says Fezmen - hope I'm wrong. Still miffed about Chiefs coming top for the second season and having to go through a stupid play off again but hey ho, 'tis all about extra money!

Now that it's officially a tad quieter, we will be getting on with jobs that need finishing off around the club. If you can lend a hand that would be great. One day/weekend we do have planned is for the 8th June when we will be removing the "slightly too small cooker hood" and replacing it with the new one.

If you can help then contact Andy, on 07885782954. Usual thing, 'many hands makes light work of jobs' and there are lots of other things we could set you up with if you fancy volunteering.

I'll try and do review of the season in next week's column if I can find some time.

Don't forget if you're on your travels during the summer and you bump into any potential sponsors do let us know… Life goes on, and the 136th season is just round the corner.

#UTT

Written by Jeremy Rice - HRFC Secretary.