Not very interesting, but if you are short:

First time - arrived via Carcassonne, spent half an hour at the train station there explaining Rugby League to some travelling Americans [pretending to be Canadian at first as they thought everybody in Europe hated them]. Spent most of the 3-4 days were were there 'death marching' from cafe to cafe. Generally 3 or 4 of the 6 of us spent a fair proportion of the late night/early hours sleeping in bars. I have to say the Catalan bar staff are far more understanding about alcohol induced dozing than Wakey nightclub doormen. Developed a chant of Jambon. 2 of us were in a hotel out of town, drunkenly came up with theory that taxi drivers charged us less if we were French, so pretended to be local by not saying owt other than 'oui', or slurred attempts at Gallic noises. Oh, and watched the game.

Next time - Blackpool to Barcelona for a game in France? On the cheap. Much of same as above, once you've seen Perpignan there's not much else to do and we were too lazy to every get round arranging to do anything. Sat with Catalans fans during game who were, ahem, 'passionate'. Made Bradford fans seem rational in there approach to a ref who did 'em no harm in a game they won, pouring their beer over him after the game. didn't realise I'd lost my passport on the way there until our transfer kindly handed it to me on the way back, kindly chap. Got stopped at Blackpool on way back by immigration officials who must have taken a look at the 6 disheveled clowns wearing clothes that were fashionable in Eastern Europe c.1983 and seemingly mistook us for Romanians trying to sneak in to work in the UK.

One incident I believe the season before last in Perpignan. We were getting beat and a small section of the Wakefield fans were getting at the team. Johnny Thompson tried to "calm" the situation and one of the abusive fans shouted back at him with words to the effect "who the hell are you and how long have you been watching Wakefield" - it brought the house down.[/quote]

most i have ever laughed at a wakey game i think, top incident!

Good stuff - ta very much!

A little thing that makes me chuckle everytime I think about it,after last years match we walked back into town and went to our favourite watering hole the "castille" I think it was called for a coffee,all the players were sat around chatting,as we walked in Ollie Wilkes shouted me over and asked "are you Voaksey",every Wakey fan that came in that bar were asked the self same question,think Voaksey may well have touched a nerve with Ollie!!

2 halfwits off their head probably with a combination of sun and beer were taking great delight in annoying the fans around them. Although they both wore Wakey shirts' they were both clueless whether through beer or couldnt see that far or just pretend fans who knows, but they were really annoying. The older fellah spotted that JT was not taking any notice of them. I was sat at the side of JT and he fell over me to have a pop at him
JT just said go away cos if I get up I will throw you over the Wall you silly old get. The old fellah says to him who the f**k are you, how long you been watching trinity then eh not long i bet. JT just shook his head at him.
And because I gobbed at him for treading on me he started on me then, said I wasnt a supporter because I didnt have my Wakey shirt on.

Not particularly funny but if your'e desparate.

Last season we were advised that the Hotel Mas des Arcades was an excellent hotel, modern, swimming pool etc. and a short walk from the town centre so we booked it. On arrival we shared a cab with Slugger McBatt who was staying at the New Christina. The taxi left town and was some way away when I though "Slugger's staying a long way out of town". The taxi pulled into the hotel and we saw the sign "Mas des Arcades" Lovely Hotel but a 30 minute walk into the centre. Managed to walk into town but after a few pints had to get taxi's back which on the night tariff ("tarriff a nuit" as the taxi driver said when we "questioned" the price) cost us a fortune. Staying at the Citea this year which is near the town centre - I know because I've looked it up on Google Earth - can easily stagger from the Castillet.

Not funny but its the best I can do apart from the JT storey.

I cannot believe that we have a topic regarding Les Cats and as yet there has been no mention of the player connection ie Olivier Elima. What a nice bloke (that's 20 euros you owe me Oli! ), a great advert for entente cordiale. I was once chatting to him and he mentioned that he was thinking of moving house to Knottingley, he was trying to explain where it was. As the conversation unfolded (he speaks better English than me, but I still couldn't understand his directions) I suddenly realised that the house he was 'thinking about' was on the edge of a notorious estate. He said the area seemed OK and I asked him if he had visited when it was foggy.He just gave that expression that he used to give to refs (probably still does) when he had been pinged for the 4th time for niggling/holding down etc, the shrug of the shoulders and the 'I don't understand' look, we both laughed. He moved to Havercroft, which I assume was better!

The story you have been requesting TRB as promised ... use as you wish. I have dug out some photos for you too


At the end of the wonderful 1998 season Trinity took part in the Treize Tournoi competition so, still basking in the glow of our Grand Final win, two friends and I decided we would have a little jaunt to France. We flew from Stansted to Carcassonne on the Friday morning and returned on the Monday.

Carcassonne is a beautiful medieval walled city so we spent Saturday morning looking around the fascinating, tiny cobbled streets where we bumped into the players who were doing a bit of exploring too.

The team we were playing was Limoux but the match was at the Stade Albert Domec in Carcassonne on the Saturday evening. The three of us took up seats on the front row of the stand with our flags and large 'I know who and what I am' banner.

Andy Kelly spotted us before kick and came up for a chat and invited us to join the team after the game to go to the post-match reception which was in Limoux (about 15 miles away). The match went well and we won 24 - 10.

Then came a brilliant moment when the entire team, led by Franny S came over to applaud and perform 'The Song' to the three us!!! The French speccies were all looking on in amazement, they hadn't a clue what was going on

Then it was onto the team bus for more choruses of the song, a few drinks and then the reception in the small town of Limoux. Afterwards we all headed to a bar in the town square where there was dancing etc.. as it was apparently a Festival Day of some kind. I got the job of looking after all the ties for the evening - one by one they all discarded them and then hung them round my neck!

As we all trooped round the streets 'I know who and what I am' was ringing out loud and clear - the residents must have been none too pleased as it was rather late, and we did sing it at least a dozen times!!

Following that it was back on the bus to Carcassonne and into another bar to continue our celebrations which went on till around 3.00am.

What a fantastic trip it was, and one I will never forget. Andy Kelly and every one of the players made it so special for us - so if any of them read this 'thank you so much for the memories'

Great stuff guys and gals!

Thanks RW&B!