To mark the 20th anniversary of their foundation Coventry Bears had the privilege to play host to the current Rugby League Premiership Champions, Leeds Rhinos for a Friday evening pre-season match at the Butts Lane Stadium, Coventry.
The evening began with a celebration dinner followed by a fascinating and informative question and answer session with Gary Hetherington, CEO of Leeds Rhinos and hosted by Solihull Brother Michael Shires, who is Vice Chairman of Coventry Bears.
The ensuing match was watched by an enthusiastic record crowd of 1300 including a vociferous contingent from Leeds.
The Bears play in the semi-professional Kingstone Press League 1, which is effectively League 3 of the Rugby League and despite putting up a brave showing, the gulf in class was very evident and let’s just say that the Bears came second.
Solihull Circle has become a regular attendee at Bears games and are already booked in for the match against fallen rugby league giants, Bradford Bulls, at the end of June.