ORKNEY’S amazing commitment to meeting their away obligations has been well documented since they were formed in 1966.
The islanders’ dedication to travelling has been a source of admiration among opponents over the years, occasionally overshadowing their achievements on the pitch.
Depending on where the club are scheduled to play, the usual arrangements are to catch an overnight ferry to Aberdeen on Friday evening, followed by a light breakfast and then meet up with the team bus before making their way to the venue of their game.
Talking points from this weekend’s Tennent’s Premiership (28th January)
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Among the clubs played over the years are Berwick, Jed-Forest, a number of clubs in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, and various points on the east coast, including Aberdeen.
The most challenging trip was 15 years ago when Orkney were scheduled to meet Strathmore at Forfar in an end of season Caley Division One decider, with had a 12.30pm kick off until the harbour master at Aberdeen stepped in.
He determined the conditions were too stormy that morning for ferries to disembark, resulting in the squad having to sail on to Rosyth in the Firth of Forth.
The team bus duly met them there and drove back up to Forfar where the game finally kicked off at 8.15pm. Not surprisingly the islanders lost out, albeit narrowly, and after a short break set off on the return trip to Scrabster where the team caught the ferry back to Stromness on the Sunday morning.
In stark contrast, last Saturday’s [21st January] travel arrangements for National League Three game at Burnbrae where they played promotion seeking West of Scotland were a walk in the park, as the club had arranged to fly down on Saturday morning and after a leisurely night in Glasgow flew back on Sunday afternoon.
The drama was instead restricted to the pitch, which was played on the home side’s 4G surface as the main pitch was frozen.
Orkney produced their best away performance of the season but at the end of the day had to settle for a narrow 31-30 defeat after a remarkable end-to-end affair. They at least took some consolation from two bonus-points for the four tries they scored and a losing by less than seven, while jumping into fifth place in the league in the process.
But the defining moment in a thoroughly entertaining game came early in the match when the Pickaquoy side scored their first try on their way to a half time lead of 18-14. The visitors bench were unable to find a kicking tee, leaving stand off Connor Hancock no option but to unsuccessfully attempt to drop-goal the conversion.
Head coach Derek Robb was philosophical about the fine margins in the game but said with apologies to William Shakespeare: “For the loss of a kicking tee, a match was lost, but these things happen. I would rather concentrate on our superb performance.”
Thus another chapter in the rich history of the game was written at a club with 158 years of its own history.
“There’s one thing for sure, it’s never dull when you play and coach at Pickaquoy,” said Robb who has also captained Highland.
He was also happy that his stand off was over the trauma, adding 10 points to complete his rehabilitation.
Orkney have since consolidated that lofty position with a 23-22 home win over sixth placed Howe of Fife on Saturday, aided in no small part by the visitors opting opting to run a last minute penalty in front of the Orkney posts to the astonishment of both head coaches.
Meanwhile, West’s match versus Strathmore was postponed on Saturday due to a frozen pitch, leaving the Burnbrae men second in the National Three table, nine points adrift of Gordonians but with a game in hand.
Talking points from this weekend’s Tennent’s Premiership (28th January)
Have the laws been changed to prevent a player other than the kicker holding the ball in place? Recollect this being used in the 1970s and 1980s in windy conditions .
Indeed he could have reverted to old school & dug a T – never took that long!….mind you he & the coaches are probably too young to know….😉😊
I don’t think that would have gone down too well on the 4G pitch JGF!
😊… pot of sand then…😉
I would have thought they might have been loaned a kicking tee by the opposition. That would have been the decent and sporting thing to have done and our game is above all else a sport.
Good comment, if I may say.
A bit of an aside but the headline reminded me of the following. In the days before ‘Plastic pitches and tee’s’, on tour with the Lions in New Zealand Bob Hiller the English Full Back in a provincial game was landed with a difficult conversion kick following a try in the corner.
Hiller started, as was the style in those days, to drive his heel into the ground in order to manufacture a Divot to support the ball and took, for the time, rather longer than usual. An All Black supporter in the crowd close to Hiller shouted to the amusement of the home crowd, ‘why don’t you use a shovel’ as he continued to ‘tee’ up the ball.
Hiller ignored the comment and slotted the conversion, as he was replacing the divot he looked to the spectator and said, ‘If I had a mouth as big as yours I wouldn’t need a shovel’ queue laughter from the crowd including so I understand the barracker.
Match official at West v Orkney was really top drawer and that helped too.