London a city divided and armed services go head to head in the Challenge Cup
LONDON may be a city divided on the rugby league pitch today – but for Craig Monteiro it goes far beyond that.
For fans around the world will be watching his Chargers attempt to knock the Skolars out of the Challenge Cup.
The Chiswick-based amateurs, who train on Clapham Common, head to Tottenham to take on the League One outfit, which features a number of familiar faces, in round two.
And chairman Monteiro revealed fans will not only be at the New River Stadium – at the other end of White Hart Lane from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium which hosts May’s final.
He said: “There’ll be a decent Chargers support at the stadium. One of the players’ dads is coming from Leeds and an old player says he’ll fly in from Ireland.
“We’ll also have people watching in Australia, New Zealand and Canada!
“If I’m honest, this is bigger than a lot of our Grand Finals. If we win, it’ll arguably be the club’s biggest achievement.”
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Chargers, Southern Conference League grand finalists last year, are made up of locals with well paid day jobs, northerners working in the Capital and Aussie ex-pats linking up with Mark Barnes’ side.
And while the Broncos have gone part-time in the Championship and Skolars are semi-pro in League One, Monteiro is adamant the talent is there.
He added: “The level is really good down here and over the last few years we’ve done all right in the Challenge Cup.
“Teams we’ve played have always been surprised. A lot of our local guys have well paid jobs in the City and aren’t interested in playing semi-pro rugby league up north.
“But they bring the level up – the quality in London is huge and you don’t need to do much to capture that talent.
“And the guys from up north could easily play at a higher level but their careers are more important.”
Meanwhile, Pete Holmes is ready for action once again as the Army faces the Royal Navy in the Challenge Cup’s first ever inter-services clash – and it could be spiteful.
The Corporal may have seen action in Iraq in his time with the Royal Artillery and Light Dragoons but the thought of facing his fellow servicemen today is just as mouthwatering.
And sparks may fly as he said: “It’s huge and is going to be special to meet the Navy in the Challenge Cup – it brings a bit more spite than usual.
“I’m looking forward to ripping into them. When services play against each other, it brings another level out of us and you get a better level of rugby.
“And because it’s in the Challenge Cup, it’ll go up another notch again.”
Cpl Holmes, who hails from Hull, plays as right centre for the Army, following in the footsteps of his rugby league hero, Hull FC legend Kirk Yeaman.
His military service has also seen him in Canada and Kenya while his rugby league service will see him trek 258 miles from his Catterick base to Aldershot.
And he knows just what an Army success will mean as he added: “It would be huge. We got to the fourth round a couple of years ago and know we can mix it with the best teams.
“We know we’re up there as an amateur team and can fight with anybody. Getting there would be huge and build our reputation – it could also give more coverage to some of our lads who could maybe get into a reserve side’s set up.
“And I’m absolutely a Kirk Yeaman type player. I grew up idolising him, he was the man to be.”
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