Quote: Redvee69 "Not 80 nil though is.....mind you probably as many people are around today who remember that result in 1902 as remember ys last chsmpionship'"
Whilst brushing up on your spelling and grammar, you should check your history books too, as this wasn’t in 1902.
Saints fans need to cling to the 95 RT Semi, as it’s the only time in 7 attempts in the last 40+ years they have beaten us in a semi or final. And lest we forget, even in that RT, they then went on to lose the final (though it wasn’t as bad as the 27-0 defeat they famously suffered at Wembley). We will likely see this year whether their big match victories over Halifax and Salford have been enough for them to finally shed their ‘bottlers’ tag.
It’s interesting when you take the longview to see what a non-entity Saints were before WW2. Most of the other big clubs of today, such as Wire, Wigan, Leeds, Hull (despite some blips), have been prominent throughout the game’s history. Even at the time of the breakaway, Saints were considered more like one of the second class clubs. Whilst this fact is probably not that well known today, it makes you wonder what impact this context has on the culture and mindset of a club.
In many regards, Saints have more historically in common with other smaller clubs who rose to prominence in more recent times, like Widnes and Bradford. I guess time will tell whether Saints have permanently made the move to join the big clubs, or whether like those two, we will see them fall back into their ‘usual’ position.
