On this day, 4 Sept 2023.

By Old Kwin
September 3 2002

First things first: on behalf of the whole club I want to apologise unreservedly for the obscene gesture made to the West Stand by the mascot at last weekend's game.

Unwelcome

Some explanation is due: you'll all be aware of the current mascot crisis and last week we went to the RFU to get special permission to field a temporary mascot. We were assigned "Steve E. Stander, the Man in Middle" from the RFU's Mascot Academy. Now, although Steve always looks superb with his shiny yellow comedy-tummy, of course we had heard of difficulties that he had previously experienced at Leicester and Munster and we were initially reluctant. In the end though, we were swayed by the fact that he is fully endorsed by the relevant RFU Committee (#723) and took him on a three match contract.

However as soon as he bounded on the pitch on Saturday, we were worried: despite his experience his actions during the first routines varied from the unpredictable to the inexplicable. During the dancing he repeatedly reversed direction, and twice took off at a tangent. It was also clear that he wasn't communicating at all with the assistant mascots, badly tripping them up on two occasions.

In his favour: right from the start he did manage to wholly engage the crowd - in fact he made himself  the centre of attention for most of the early afternoon. However when the game actually started and distracted the crowd's attention, he didn't take it well and began a series of increasingly desperate attention-seeking antics. This culminated, of course, when he 'mooned' to West Stand at half time, and at that point we had to take him off the pitch. He won't be back at the Stoop for a very long time and our search for a permanent new mascot continues.

Welcome

On a more pleasant note: I'd like to wish a very warm welcome indeed to NEC who returned to the Stoop last weekend after a long absence.  Long-time fans will remember NEC from the dying years of the old century as strong supporters on Quins. In fact - bizarre though it might seem today - for a short time we were once named after them.  However as the 00's arrived NEC's enthusiasm for the club waned and they began instead to support....well, pretty much everyone else. 

It was therefore a very natural development this season for them to open  the new NEC Away Fans' Enclosure.  This area, specially reserved for supporters of other clubs, is a 'first' in the Virgin Premiership. Although far from the pitch in a corner of the old East Stand, the addition of plenty of second-hand unwanted audio-visual equipment means that the Away fans can see the game, and use its karaoke facilities to easily drown out the home support.   Most attractively, the stand is entirely surrounded by RFU-Approved Ring-Fencing, made of high quality Rotherham steel, thus ensuring complete segregation from the home support. We think this is a facility that is already popular with home and way fans alike.

Missing

Squad news: We are still awaiting the arrival of our Fijian signing Vili Godot. We now hope he will make his first appearance on Saturday when we face Australia in a one-off friendly. Come On You Quinsa!