That's what the bar is for Linda

We did not take any aussies with us this time they should make the tournement more lucrative .The winners of the 9s go to Headingly as well don`t forget for the Super 9s.

Maybe its good we did not win it as playing in a nother waste of time 9s Midweek would be pointless in our quest for the real prize of finishing top and also a GF Final Place

Awww! That means we would have been allowed to play with the big boys.

Took the family with me (wife, son and daughter), stopped over in Lytham and we all had a brill time. Agree about the logistics of getting to Bloomfield Road - we left Fylde immediately after the Plate Semi and were waiting to get in the ground 40 minutes before the Plate Final. However, if we'd left it just 15 minutes later, we may have missed it (someone who left shortly after us, missed the first minute or so of the final).

Disagree with playing it all on one day though. We were chatting with the Fax players after the semi, and to be honest most of them had had enough. Five 18 minute games in two days (6 including the final) doesn't sound a lot, but it's non-stop in each game, and it's still full-on Rugby League rather than tag-Rugby! It just couldn't be done in one day, and the risk of injury would be much higher as fatigue really set in.

Agree that facilities at Fylde weren't fantastic, but they do need a ground with at least two adjacent pitches to fit all the matches in. With a little better organisation, then could have turned round the matches quicker than every half hour.

All in all, a very enjoyable weekend, and a shame that more Fax fans didn't make the trip.

Lastly, chatted with a number of Widnes fans at Bloomfield Road, and I've gotta say what a nice set of people they were!!

How many fans of ours and other 9s clubs actually went would you say?

Really hard to say, 'cos everyone was so spread out. It was better attended on the Saturday, certainly from a Fax perspective. I only saw around 20-30 Fax fans on the Sunday. Perhaps closer to 100 on Saturday.

Swinton definitely won the prize for the most (and loudest) fans on Sunday, and were the only ones who engaged in any singing really.

Definitely the funniest part of the weekend was when we started the Plate Final against Gateshead with 10 players on the pitch. Only lasted two tackles into the game before our mistake was spotted though!

Obviously not the ones who post on here then

Thing is after our defeat in the semi final I did not fancy being at somebody elses party, especially with the wind up merchants from Widnes!
They should have this event all on the same day on the Saturday or better still just bin it, why do we want to play in a 9s tournament when we got a trip to France the week after???

"Mistake" you mean.

Genuine, non windy uppy question, noticed in the League Express you played for the plate, what exactly was the plate? Why was it different than winning the shield?

It counts towards SDL entry.

It was £5,000 differant to be exact.

It was just to keep up interest for the fans whose teams were knocked out early?

Yes aware of that, but the prize for the 9s was I believe £6,000 wheras the plate was £1,000 hence the differance was £5,000 .

Pretty much, yes. Fax lost one game and won two of their group games, and failed to qualify for the main knockout stages (the Trophy).

The 10 teams that failed to qualify then had their own knockout competition (the Plate).

The fans who were there enjoyed it (in a fairly laid back way), and the players were all very relaxed and seemed to be enjoying themselves (but still played the game as it should be).

I wasn't being sarcy mate. Just wanted it all clearing up.

Thanks for those who answered.

Halifax were that interested that even Matt Calland didn't bother going lol

I think Matt did go along, Damian was just looking after team affairs for the day. It will also have allowed Matt to look at other teams and players, and do a little bit of scouting for next year.

Impression I got from the Courier was MC was there Saturday but not Sunday

Matt and Martin were definitely both there on Saturday. Saw them quite a few times during the afternoon.

and yes they were still in blackpool sunday

or was it the manchester?

That was full of Widnes fans.

yes i know i was obviously there lol