Taking the Coach

Jane Cable Final Preview The Hampshire Committee has organised no less than eighteen coaches to take fans to Lords...

There’s something special about joining a coach load of your fellow supporters to travel to a big game; you somehow feel part of the occasion before you’re anywhere near the ground. And coming home too, with a win behind you, the journey home just prolongs the celebrations.

At Hampshire we are lucky to have a Members’ Committee that voluntarily organises such things. The driving force behind the coaches is Glynis Osborne. Glynis is very experienced at organising transport by now, because she doesn’t only do it for finals; whenever there is an away game which is likely to popular, Glynis can be found in the Atrium selling coach tickets.

But a Lord’s Final requires rather more planning. In all there will be eighteen coaches leaving Hampshire, each one with its own steward and carrying forty-nine fans. Fourteen will be lined up at the Rose Bowl at seven o’clock in the morning, and another two leave from both Bournemouth and Basingstoke. But if you haven’t booked your seat yet then you are far too late – Glynis got hold of all the coaches she could, but is still having to turn people away.

“We organise the coaches as a service to the members” she explains. “Some people, in particular the elderly or young families, would have problems travelling otherwise. In 2005 we had some lovely letters saying thank you.”

But there is another valuable spin off to the Committee’s coaching activities. Although first and foremost the profit made from the coaches travelling to big events like the Friends Provident Final subsidises transport to less well attended away games, very often there is still a surplus at the end of the year. In 2005 £1,300 was donated to the Hampshire Cricket Youth Trust, so in travelling by coach, Members are supporting not only today’s first team, but also our players of the future.

Hampshire's Official Team Coach Supplier Excelsior has assisted Glynis in arranging the eighteen coaches for Saturday.  Hampshire Cricket would like to thank Glynis, the Committee and Excelsior for all their hard work to ensure so many Hampshire supporters have a pleasent journey to Lord's to support the team.

I will be reporting live on the website from the Friends Provident Final so that Hampshire fans who are following the match on the internet can share in the atmosphere of being at the big game. Coverage will begin at around ten o’clock and be updated regularly throughout the day.

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