On Becoming a Season Ticket Holder
On the Up 'n' up!
By Gill Perkins
August 5 2005
So, after three seasons of coming to home matches when we didn’t have anything else to do, we’ve finally bought a family season ticket. Until the end of last season, we hadn’t actually ever seen the Tykes win at home...
... which was proving to be a key factor in motivating the kids to get in the car and sit in the cold for an hour and a half - and that’s just putting the air-conditioning on to build them up for sitting in the North Stand!
All that changed, however, when we turned up to watch the Tykes play Leicester last season. Granted, my adorable husband’s main reason for coming was to see Martin “the God” Johnson play his last premiership game at Headingley, but, to give him credit, that quickly changed into enthusiastic verbal support for the Tykes and we came away, for the first time, elated at a fantastic victory.
I can safely say that the experience at the Harlequins game was unbelievable. It was disappointing, as fans who watch League as well as Union, to have passed a Rhinos fan, who said “Hope Harlequins win,” but, sitting within yelling reach of a number of Quins fans, we did our best to disrupt their chants, and went from agony to ecstasy faster than . . . well, fairly often, anyway. This time, we walked back through Headingley and promised ourselves that if the Tykes stayed up, we’d support them by buying season tickets and turning up on a regular basis. Watching the last round of the season through our fingers and feeling genuinely sorry for Harlequins, we celebrated the Tykes’ escape and started saving.
When the season ticket information came through, not only did we sign up, but we persuaded friends of ours to get some too, and we’ve just applied for Twickenham tickets, although for reasons best kept between us and the bar staff, we’re leaving the kids at home.
I felt, as a new-to-rugby novice, that even when the Tykes won last season, they still weren’t playing to their full potential, so I’m looking forward to the new season, more victories and a glimpse or two of magic. Oh, and my daughter thinks that we should re-write “Greased Lightening” into “Leeds Lightening”.
But then she is only eight!