Simmies are still going strong

WITH a hat-tip to Mark Twain, Halton Simms Cross ARLFC committee member Charlie Middlehurst has pointed out this week that the death of the club has been “greatly exaggerated”.

Rumours swept around Widnes that ‘Simmies’ were no more and the club had effectively folded.

Not so according to Middlehurst and he thinks he knows why people have got the wrong end of the stick.

He told the Weekly News: “We should have played West Bank the other week but we couldn’t field a team.

“It was the day of the Magic Weekend and a few of our players went to Newcastle so we were short.

“We’ve been struggling but that was the first game we’ve had to give up.

“Also St Maries have just folded and I think some people kind of jumped on the bandwagon and said we’d gone the same way.”

It would have been a shame if Simmies had gone out of existence especially with a milestone on the horizon in the not-too-distant future.

Middlehurst has been involved with the club since they were founded in 1969 and maintained that link even when he was playing professionally with Leigh and Warrington.

And he is very much looking forward to helping Simmies to celebrate their 50th anniversary in three years’ time.

To that end, the club is now actively recruiting some new players.

He added: “It will be a great milestone for the club if we could reach that half-century mark.

“I’ve been involved since 1969 and I don’t want it to just fall by the wayside.

“We’re always on the lookout for new players and they’ll be made very welcome.”

Anybody interested in playing can attend the club’s training night on Thursday evenings at King George V Playing Fields on Dundalk Road from 6.30pm.

You can also pop along to this Saturday’s home match against Haydock at the same venue which kicks-off at 2.30pm.

Alternatively, ring Charlie Middlehurst on 0151-424 8485.