Is it just me, or is there a bit of a buzz around the club at the moment? We've made a pretty good start to the season at 1st team level, O.K. a couple of blips against 'Hegians and 'Ensians but on the whole the performances haven't been that bad.
The 2nds got off to a rollicking start but have found things more difficult in the last few weeks and the thirds finally tucked that elusive first win of the season under their belts this weekend. Last, but by no means least , the Vets had what I believe was a successful outing to Wetherby and the Juniors are maintaining their numbers and winning games.
That's only half the story though. At the moment I just feel that the spirit in the club is pretty good and it feels a happy place to be. It has always, in my opinion, been one of the strengths of Aireborough that we have maintained a "family" atmosphere and it seems that this season, to date, it has been a particulalry healthy atmosphere to be in. I don't know why, I don't know what's causing it, I don't think one thing or person is responsible for it but let's keep it going.
Saturday saw another family "tradition" maintained at Aireborough when Tom Baxter took the pitch with father Tim. A couple of people comented on it but, to be fair and not taking anything away from it, it's not unusual at Aireborough - we have a number of instances where father/son partnerships have appeared on the pitch. So well done to Tim and Tom for keeping up the tradition ! (It should be competition time to name all the father/son combinations but my brain feels fuddled, so I can't be bothered!)
Saturday also saw the start of the Autumn Internationals. A pretty poor display by England who were lucky to loose ! The forwards looked pedestrian apart from Moody and Haskell. Sadly, Danny Care looked very indecisive, Banahan looked what he is - a second row on the wing and poor Ugo Moyne didn't seem to know what day it was, never mind the fact that he was playing out of position. Very few positives for England unfortunately and it looks as though it will be a long Autumn with Argentina and then the All Blacks as visitors to Twickenham. Honestly, I can't see them coming away with anything other than a scraped win against the Argentines and then damage limitation against the Blacks ! If you do have a masochistic streak in you then don't forget you can always watch the games in the club.
Well, over the coming weeks we have an opportunity to seal our position in the league for another season. Next up are three games where we need to really turn the screw and try and build a good points difference. Vandals, Northallerton and Mods have all had difficult starts to the season and have found points difficult to come by. Let's ensure that they don't get any free gifts from us and that the club is still buzzing at Christmas time.