A further addition to services for Carlisle United fans on the Internet in January was a chat room based match commentary and results service, beginning with the match against Brighton and Hove Albion on 9 January 1999. It had been planned to start with the Scunthorpe AWS second round match, but this was postponed and we had a general chat session. We tried a commentary for the re-arranged match on 12 January 1999, but this was then abandoned at half-time. We then played Scunthorpe United in the league on 16 January 1999 and, although there was a match commentary session, only the after-match discussion was logged.
Bringing the Scunthorpe United saga to a close was the third (and final) attempt to play the second round AWS match on 19 January 1999. This was an incredible evening which started for some of us at 19:00 with pre-match information and ended at nearly 22:20 with post-match interviews! Other than a minor hiccup by myself with the commentary on the penalty shoot-out (when I thought Anthony had scored and we were through) the whole thing went relatively smoothly and was "enjoyed" by all present, except for those with pacemakers !-)
Perhaps the best compliment that Chris McFarlane, Alastair Woodcock and I received for providing this service was from a Scunthorpe United fan following the final match in the AWS Trilogy:
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 19:44:58 +0000
From: David Pratt, davidsara.pratt@virgin.net
To: Chris McFarlane, chrismc2@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Thanks, from Carlisle Commentary TeamChris McFarlane wrote:
On behalf of the Carlisle United Internet Mailing list Chatroom, I would like to thank all Scunthorpe United fans who have tuned into our chat roomNo, the thanks are to you, and your efforts. Having listened to a previous penalty shoot-out against Rotherham a few years ago in the FA Cup, (incidentally the first such time it had been witnessed in that competition - we lost!)on club Call, and then being there live so to speak at the 4th division play-offs at Wembley vs Blackpool in '92, last night was certainly the most exciting, believe it or not. Grown-ups following a penalty shoot-out on PC screens!! wouldn't swop it for the world. (We have actually won one shoot-out vs Walsall, also in the FA Cup) This has generated great interest in Iron-net circles too.
Chris McFarlane wrote:
We wish you all the best for the remainder of the season.And to you - with respect to all in Cumbria, I know we would prefer success in league to AWS success.
Best wishes David Iron in Kent
(unable to get to home evening matches!!)
The match commentaries continue to be popular, but we have had problems with Xoom kicking out users on occasion and this, together with the 25 user limit, may mean that we may have to look elswhere.
| RIOA Index |
Editorials | Email the webmaster |