England Rugby feel the love up north with York training session
England Senior Men recently made the journey up north for an open training session at the LNER Community Stadium in York. Northerners Richard Wigglesworth and Tom Roebuck spoke of the importance of visiting the area, as well as their own memories of England’s visits on O2 Inside Line: This Rose.
Born in Blackpool, attack coach Wigglesworth made more than 150 appearances for Sale Sharks, before moving to Saracens and then Leicester Tigers.
“We came to the North so that the people who are 4-5 hours away from London who don't get a chance to see the lads train and work get a chance to watch them go at it,” said Wigglesworth.
“Some of my earliest memories are when England played a couple of games up north when I was a youngster and those are the ones I went to. I think they played at Anfield and Huddersfield, I remember going to those games.
“Any opportunity we get to show what the lads can do in front of people who don't normally get the chance is awesome.”
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While the Red Roses have played games in York and England U20 Men have played in Newcastle this season, the Senior Men play their games at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Although the team held an open training session in York last year, another Sale man, England wing Roebuck can see why some northern fans feel a bit isolated from the team given the distribution of teams in the Gallagher Premiership.
He explained: “When you look at the Premiership a lot of the teams are southern based, we only have two teams you would consider northern with Newcastle and Sale. To bring England Rugby up to the North just advertises it a bit more to a different part of the country.”
Like Wigglesworth, he has experienced an England game in the North, having attended England’s 37-15 win over Argentina at Manchester United’s Old Trafford in 2009.
Roebuck also thinks the change of scenery can have benefits for the players, as well as showcasing the team to a different set of fans.
He said: “That was a special day for me and it still sits true for me now that it was a great occasion for English rugby. It attracts a whole different crowd that may feel a little isolated from the game when there are so many southern teams and not as many northern ones.
“York is a different place for us so it changes the vibe in camp, you don't want to be sat in the same place doing the same thing week-in, week-out. It also connects us with a different fan base and with the open training session we get to see a lot of northern fans who we may not normally see at Allianz Stadium because of the travel.
“To see all those people and see how connected they felt to England Rugby, even though they are so far away from the stadium, it was so good to see how many fans we have up north as well as down south.”
