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ISLEOFMANEXAMINER

www.iomtoday.co.im Tuesday, September 14, 2021

FINALWHISTLE

More disappointment for Douglas at Penrith

RUGBY Isle of Man side win friendly against Rest of theWorld XV In Manx rugby’s pre-season friendly, an Isle of Man side beat a Rest of the World side 79-45 in a high-scoring affair atMooraghParkonSaturday. The highlights for the Isle of Man team were four tries for pace man Brandon Atch- ison and a hat-trick for Dan Bonwick. Theformulacontinuesthis weekend at Douglas’s Port-e- Chee ground, and is open to all senior rugbyplayers in the island. Kick off is set for 2pm. RESULTS September 11: NorthOneWest Penrith48-7Douglas Friendly EntriesfortheHaldaneFisher Syd Quirk Half Marathon are nowopen. Theeventwill takeplaceon Sunday,November21starting from Ronaldsway Industrial Estate with walkers at 8am, followed by the slower half- marathon runners at 8.15am (for those expecting to take longer than 2hr 15min), and 9am for the main field (for those expecting to finish in under 2hr 15min). Theeventwill incorporate theIsleofManHalf-Marathon Championships. Entries online via Manx TimingSolutions:pleaseclick on the ‘registration’ tab. They close at midnight on November 7 (T-shirt option midnight Oct 24). IoM VAC members£25,affiliatedtoath- leticclub£28,unattached£33. Go to https://my.raceresult. com/178935/info l TheRamseyBakeryEndto EndwalktakesplacethisSun- day, starting 8am from Point ofAyre.Marshalsarerequired toassistwiththeevent,please contact racesecretaryAngela Southernon453604. There are 278 entries with a further seven for theunder- 20s. SydQuirk entries now open online Isle ofMan 79-45 Rest of theWorld ATHLETICS

Opportunities cameandwent forDouglas tostay inconten- tionagainst PenrithatWin- tersPark inNorthOneWest onSaturday - even topoacha try-scoringbonuspoint. But thefirst-halfdamagewas too big a mountain to climb as the Cumbrians stretched away to a deserved win and improve their league posi- tion. Two early tries fromPen- rithonthe4GAstroturfpitch, as Douglas acclimatised, put the visitors on the back foot. Having to replace injured Douglas hooker Carl Markl- Fernswithinthefirstquarter was an unfortunate setback, but led to the introduction of Simon Hoddinottmaking a welcome return from long- terminjury. Douglas flanker Nathan Gibson battered through for a first-half try, Luke Hyland adding the conversion for 12- 7 at 20minutes. Penrith then put several spokes in the Douglas wheel with two tries and a conver- Nostalgia Theuntimelydeathof TonyGaleat theageof 54 has shockedmanypeople island-wide, butparticu- larly inthewest. Tonyplayedbriefly for PeelAFCat junior level and inthe seniorranks for Foxdaleas a full-back. Rugbybecamemorehis thingandheplayedfor PeelRUFCintheearly 1980s. Inhisownwords, earlier this year, Tony said: ‘The older lads andmyselfhad all driftedawayby 1985 andthePeelRUFCteam was fallingapartdue to lackof local interest.How- ardQuayle (whowas also inthe same school yearas myself) playedabitduring that time.’ Agame tookplace inDe- cember 1988betweenthe thenPeelRUFCteamand the so-called ‘oldies’ (pic-

sion for 24-7 at half-time. Second-halfDouglashigh- lights included three try- saving tackles from Charlie Henthorn at full-back as the strong Penrith back three took advantage of majority possession, and the emer- gence of Robert Todd as a makeshiftbuteffectiveopen- sideflanker. ThreeDouglasscoringop- portunities slipped through the net. NickHughes andKy- le Martin had chances that on another day would have stuck, and Henthorn’s only blot on the landscape was spillingacatchhewouldusu- ally capture in his sleep for a potential try. ThepromisingJackShim- minmadehisleaguedebutfor Douglas off the bench and Harry Hewson embellished an already formidable résu- mé with another gritty per- formance inmidfield. Penr i th added three RUGBY by TonyWilson-Spratt turedright). ‘Wehammeredthem44- 10,’ recalledTony, adding: ‘Thatprettymuchended them[PeelRUFC]. I rememberHowie [How- ardQuayle] playing againstus thatdayas I ac- cidentallyknockedhim intoapost!’ Tonyhadby this time set upagyminMarketStreet, Peel namedBruteForce. Theydidwell intheregu- larVikingboat races and it was fromthis thathe then setuptraining sessionson thebeachwithsomeof the oldPeelRUFCplayers and membersof thegymthat ultimatelyresulted inthe formationof anewside - WesternVikings. In latteryears, Tony’s in- terest infootballwas re-ig- nitedby theemergenceof his talentedsonLee (first atFoxdale, thenPeel), and

NathanGibsonpowersover forDouglas’sonly try ina 7-48defeat against Penrith inNorthOneWest onSaturday Photo: DavidNattrass

for this weekend against Broughton Park has been postponed so they have a fortnight tolicktheirwounds before travelling to Bowdon (Timperley, Altrincham) on September 25.

juryorunavailabilityheelsat home. Following a big defeat at Stockport a week earlier, Penrith bounced back with a 48-7win. l Douglas’sscheduledgame

second-half tries and lift- ed themselves to seventh in North One West, while on the two- hourplus coach trip back to Heysham, Douglas reflected on 12 or more first team candidates kicking in-

Sadness following the death of Tony Gale at 54

Thispictureof Peel RUFC’soldies side from1988appeared inaNostalgia itemat thebeginningof this year. Back row, left toright: AndrewJohnson, IanBrand, Charlie ‘Granny’ Brew,MarkLeece, James Leece, Nigel Rawlinson, Gary ‘Burgers’ Hinds, Chris Watterson, KennyDiack, GrahamJones. (Front) TonyGale, Stephen ‘Biff’ Kelly, Ian ‘Wagga’Williams, RobColvin, BobbaGreggor, Ean ‘Seed’ Crompton, Paul Jones, Dave ‘Spook’ Clucas

Tonywasonthecommittee of theDouglasRoadclub between2011 and2016.

Heremainedaregular in the ‘Shed’ atPeel thereaf- ter.

Tony’s funeral is likely to takeplaceonThursday, September23.