Sedgley finally shake off ‘nearly men’ tag

SEDGLEY Park captain Matt Riley is delighted to have shaken off the club’s ‘nearly men’ tag to secure the National Two North title last weekend.

The Bury-based side secured promotion with a game to spare in emphatic fashion after a 8014 win over Sheffield Tigers in front of a bumper crowd at Whitefield.

Riley, 36, shares that it’s one of the greatest days of his life and used the motivation of being able to put smiles on the fans faces pre-match.

He said: “It was pretty surreal, I don’t think it’s quite sunk in for anyone yet. The game and the celebrations in the clubhouse afterwards will stay with me forever.

“It was a special day for the whole club, Sedgley is full of special people and rugby plays a huge part in all of their lives. A lot of people’s lives revolve around the club. I fell in love when I went on loan there, so my instincts were right to stay there for so long and this was definitely worth the wait.

“You’d struggle to find a better group of people, not just the players, everyone to do with the club. The healthy competition in our squad is the main reason why we’ve managed to finally win the league. The lads are so tight off the field that it makes a huge difference when you’re playing together. We’ve got such a good team spirit.”

Riley joined the club aged 20 and, having made over 400 appearances, he is looking forward to testing himself in National One with Sedgley.

He said: “It’s something that we hadn’t before thought about. Now it’s a realisation it’s about getting people signed up for next year and adding a bit of quality to that.

“Hull won our league last year and have struggled to win a game, so we’re under no illusions that it’s going to be a tough challenge. We’ve been in National Two for long enough for 10 seasons, so why not go up and give it a good go. I’m optimistic, there’ll be challenges with the longer bus trips, but they’ll be no excuses from us.”