As I write this it’s almost a fortnight since Salford Red Devils tremendous comeback victory over early season pace setters Wigan Warriors. Trailing by 2-14 Ian Watson’s side showed a gritty resilience to battle back scoring three excellent tries. It was Salford’s defence that caught my eye in particular. Not only through the middle but down the edges as well. Rhys Williams, Kris Welham, Ken Sio and Dan Sarginson produced the goods. Sarginson with a bone crunching tackle in the closing stages on Wigan live wire Bevan French clinched the match and saw the biggest cheer of the night from the home supporters.

A lot has happened since then around the globe and in the United Kingdom. All sports have been postponed for the time being and in a way many people’s lives are on hold. The main thing in these worrying times is that people keep as safe as they can and listen to the government guide lines. We will all be delighted to see Rugby League return and it will do. No one knows when at this moment in time but in a funny sort of way and me trying to be positive it would be great to see a boom in the attendances once people can start following their teams again.

The Challenge cup draw was made last week and Salford were handed a tough tie at home to St Helens. This match was scheduled for the start of April but with recent announcements from Downing Street it will hopefully be played at a later date.

It’s been heart warming to see a lot of good things on RDTV were you can subscribe to keep in touch with all things Salford Red Devils. The past matches on there from yesteryear have been very popular with supporters, particularly a certain match against Wigan at the Willows in 1996. If you’ve not yet got RDTV it’s well worth looking into and much needed funds will help the club at this difficult time.

With no match coming up to preview I thought a look back in time would keep our rugby league minds ticking.

This Friday the 27th March will be exactly 50 years since good Friday 1970. On that day Salford won away at Blackpool Borough 11-41. Mick Henighan and Colin Dixon both scored two tries with Paul Charlton, Billy Burgess, Stuart Whitehead, Maurice Richards and Peter Smethurst also scoring tries. Welshman Richards kicked 7 goals. The following day on Easter Saturday Salford were beaten 12-5 by Swinton at Station Road. We thought two matches at Easter were tough! Back then they played three. A visit to Central Park on Easter Monday saw Salford beaten 24-11 by Wigan.

For the record Salford finished 6th in the League in the season of 1969/70. Leeds finished top but

St Helens claimed the Championship beating Leeds in the top 16 playoff final.

Salford’s top try scorer was Billy Burgess with 16.

With everything that is going on at the moment be careful out there and look after each other. God bless.

Paul Whiteside.