Widnes Weekly Times
We take a look at theVikings more in depth as the 2015 super L As the new super league season draws ever nearer , the vikings will be looking to build on their progress made by last season in which the club made it into the play offs for the first time in their super league history before evntually losing out to Warrington 2219 back on that forgettable day in August. The Vikings were somewhat the suprise package of last season despite being red hot favourites to be lingering round the bottom of the table , however it couldnt have being more diufferent as the vikings progressed steadily up the Super League table and were even making a habit of upsetting the big guns, including beating the likes of Warrington Wolves at home 28-14 and S.t Helens at home 40-26 against all the odds , and add to that not just beating their rivals but outplaying them throughout the entire game and winning convincingly. The Vikings excellent progress wasnt just evident in the league either as they also shone threw in the challenge cut beating the likes of Halifax, Salford Red Devils , and the Keighly Cougars making it all the way threw to the semi finals before disapointingly losing out to the Castleford Tigers 28-6 in which was a somwhat downbeat display given the Vikings previous good form going into the game. The signs of improvement havent just been last season, they have been steadily on the rise since Widnes Return to Super League back in 2012 where in their first season back in the super league the club finished a miserable bottom gaining only 12 points looking very much out of place in rugbys big league conceding a whopping total of 1082 points, the worst in the division. along the way suffering heavy and embarassing stand out defeats to the likes of Huddersfield Giants (66-6) Warrington Wolves ( 68-4) and the Leeds Rhinos (68-24) However things slowly but surely improved for the Vikings and in the following 2013 season Widnes started to gather some momentum and climbed up the table finishing a respectable 10th place, with their preformances improving rapidly game by game and on their way claimed some memorable victories including doing the double over the arch enemy Warringtion, which will live long in the memory of vikings fans as Widnes dominated the game from 1st miniute to last. a stunning away victory at local rivals St Helens then came in March 2013 where widnes outplayed them yet again from 1st minute to last winning 35-28, and to top it all off they added an excellent victory against Hull FC 36-16 at the Stobart stadium, things were certainly looking on the and it was sign of things to come. Going into the new 2015 season the Vikings faithful will be Hoping for more of the same! with the target in sight being enterting the play offs again but this time progressing thre even further to a possible grand final.
Things howvever couldn’t get much tougher for the start of the season as Widnes host Wigan Warriors at the Stobart Stadium in the first game of the new season on Thursday 5th February 2015. Despite going into the game as underdogs Widnes surprisingly have a fairly good home record against the Warriors, winning two out of the last three encounters at the Stobart Stadium. This game will be a test of the Vikings character and winning will ensure their progress is continuing. For Viking supporters the key dates to look out for are the all important derby against Warrington Wolves on Thursday 2nd April at home and Sunday 3rd May at the Halliwelll Jones Stadium and the clashes against St Helens take place on Friday 13th March at home and Friday 24th away at the Saints.
Vikings ready to r season starting wi clash against the a
Leading the Vikings out into the new 2015 will be new captain Kevin Brown who replaces former skipper Jon Clarke, who retired at the end of last season. Brown’s excellent performances for Widnes last season also led to him being named in the 2014 Super League Dream Team. Brown spoke out on his captaincy to BBC sport saying “ I try to lead by example and be one of those leadership players, I think we have got quite a few in the squad at the minute with Danny Tickle, Rhys Hanbury, Hep Cahill, so theres quite a few of us in here
at the moment.” I was captain at huddersfield a few years ago and i enjoyed that, ive been lucky enough to be under a few good captains, none more so than clarkey, so hopefully i do a good job of taking over the armband.” Head coach Dennis Betts has added only just 3 new faces to the squad so far ahead of the new campaign with the likes of Aaron Heremaia, Chris Clarkson and Manuokafoa all joining up ahead of the new season, Skipper Brown spoke out on
his new signings. “ We have not had a massive amount of turnover which i guess is a bit boring for the fans but for the players its business as usual, the continuity we have from day 1 with just having 3 quality additions instead of 6 or 7 you can hit the ground running and start off where we left off. “ You get used to each other and i feel thats what we have right from the off.” Fans will be looking forward to seeing the new signings but especially Aaron Heremaia who spoke
League season draws ever nearer
rumble ahead of the new ith the all important festive arch enemy Warrington
of his delight for joining the Vikings to Sky Sports. he said “ Its going to be a mssive year for me personally and i cant wait to join the vikings , this is a great opportunity nd i cant wait to get started with the team.” “ I consider myself a late bloomer and ive put a lot of hard work in to join Widnes, ive repersented my country and have played in an NRL grand final, the next chapter is to bring success for the Widnes Vikings and ill be giving it my all.”
Coach Betts was delighted to get him on board, speaking to Sky sports News saying “ This signing just shows that we are always in for signing quality players, Aaron has been outstanding for Hull hes got grwat international pedigree and has great character.” “ Anyone you speak to about Aaron speaks very highly about him, hr will ne great for the club and in the community, he ticks every box Other signing Chirs Clarkson has joined
on loan from leeds Rhinos , he had been a first team regular for the Rhinos since making his debut back in 2010, howeever towards the latter end of the season he made just 1 substitue appearance and didnt even make the challenge cup Final Squad. Despite not featuring much over the past few months his previous experience of playing on a weekly basis for one of the leagues finest teams can surely only benefit the vikings ahead of the coming
Former Bradford Bulls star Manase Manuokafoa will also be joining up with his new team mates in 2015 after signing a 2 year contract with the club back in Late July. Betts was delighted to get him on board “ What we have been lacking is someone who can add a bit more size and presence, hopefully Nas can bring us that.” Manuokafao was indeed too delighted to be joining the Vikings, he said “ Ive
had three good years at Bradford with some good memories but its time to move on.” ive made some brillian friends there and the fans have been brilliant with me but its a new chapter for my life at widnes” All three signings will be hoping to make their debuts in the seasonal traditional destive clash against the wolves on December 28th at the Haliwell jones stadium where has ever the atmosphere is
expected to be electric, however with a little under 2 months to go before the big kick off Widnes will still be hoping to add to their ranks with rumours persisting the club are after a new Winger and a Forward. and even a whisper of James Roby name has been mentioned.. You can almost feel the excitement back for the return of Super league and if last season was anything to go by us Vikings faithful will surely be in for a treat
Widnes Vikings Fined 20,000 after pitch Invasion
Widnes have being found guilty of serious breaches of rugby league football rules and have being hit with a heavy fine after unsavoury scenes Widnes Vikings have been found guilty of serious breaches of Rugby Football League rules by an independent tribunal and being fined up to £20,000 following a pitch invasion which took place after the Vikings were eliminated from the challenge cup by Castleford Tigers in the semi final clash back in August. A statement on the RFLs website read that Widnes must pay £10,000 immediately with a additional £10,000 fine suspended until the end of 2015 campaign, with the club also ordered to pay £4000 in damage costd. The fines are due to the large crowd disturbances at the end of the game in which hundreds of Vikings supporters made their way onto the pitch causing mayhem, provoking castleford
supporters, fighting with, police and stewards, and damaging the pitch, not only were these pitch invaders just men the more disturbing factor was there were even groups of family causing mischief making their way onto the pitch this all inevitably led to hundreds of arrests and charges being made to the hooligans banning
them from attending any games for the following 2015 season. A statement on the RFLs website was relased follwing the charges and it read, “The tribunal ackknowledged Widnes vikings full co- operation with the RFLs investigation but felt the punishment given reflected the seriousness of the incident.
However despite all the criticism aimed at the fans, it must be stressed it wasnt every Widnes supporters who caused the mayhem, with many showing their anger and disbelief at the people who were causing the trouble at the semi final. I questioned many Widnes fans about the incident and they gave me their thoughts.
with the majority agreeing with the punishment, . Life long Vikings fan Joshua, Cosgrove aged 21, said, “We should just accept this punishment and move on. We are lucky we didn’t get banned from the Challenge Cup completely. The scenes at the end were horrible and upsetting. It wasn’t just your hooligan causing trouble, it was whole families, mothers and daughters were on the pitch too.” Joshua wasn’t alone in his feelings towards the punishment as another young fan James, aged 21, felt the punishment was considerably light, “ It could have considerably worse given what happened,
a fine at the end of the day isn’t that bad we could have been booted out of next year’s competition”. Mother of two, Rachel, aged 35 spoke out “those people were an absolute disgrace, they give our town and our club a bad name. I’ve been supporting the club since I was little and my whole family support them, I’ve never seen anything like that before.” However Mike, aged 22, had a conflicting view from the others “I don’t feel the club should have been fined that much. It was just a small minority of idiots who give the club a bad name, you shouldnt punish a club just because of a few hooligans.”