Coincidence can be a double edged sword. Taking a girl out on a first date to the coast, for a stroll on the beach and a portion of chips, only to have a bad tempered herring gull pass its fishy lunch over you and your crisply ironed white shirt from the murky skies above can only be seen as bad luck. However when our fixture secretary happens to call upon the competitively priced and rapid response service provided by Ian Brown Tyres (No sponsorship suggested) for the purposes of puncture repair, only to be queued behind a farmer in need of some rodent relief one can only presume that Lady Luck is smiling down upon you.

So it came to pass that the Malton & Norton Rugby Club Ratters ventured off their usual patch to travel further a field, to a farm nearer the East Coast. Word is spreading of the uplifting experience gained from an afternoon of working with terrier and spade and as a result the number of keenly anticipating stick men seemed to be at an all time high. Some may say the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are easier to find than this days venue but the convoy that resembled something from the film 'The Italian Job' finally got on site and working an hour after the arranged time.

It soon became clear that the Battle field was to be an unforgiving one. The steep and slippery nettle covered bank behind some stock sheds seemed to offer little as regard an easy dispatch. On eventually clearing the site, men and women alike set about digging over the hard chalk bed soils to unsettle the resident vermin. Being an away match the journey was clearly very much still in both terrier and stick man systems. Dogs seemed reluctant to mark holes, spades seemed equally defiant to penetrate the solid earth. However first blood was finally drawn when Terrier of the Match and new comer to the team 'Scamp' cleaned up the first of what was steadily to come. 'Minty' the black and white mororder added to her usual bag. Unavailability from two of our usual high scorers, 'Elvis' and 'Raymond' meant that rewards came to some of our lesser known players. 'Sydney' proved that when she wasn't encouraging spademen to turn the chalky soil for the good of her health she was a formidable gladiator. 'Pip' the Aardvark hybrid true to form nearly killed more dogs than she did rats.

The rats for the first time in the history of these occasions came very close to scoring when the border terrier 'Cathra' found her self stuck under a lorry container. Thankfully a local vet and sports fan was at hand to dig and man handle the incarcerated canine from what could have been an unpleasant if not limestoney grave.

It should probably be at this point that the Ratcatchers make a formal apology to the host farmer. When after a period of hard hole smoking and joint jarring spade work a particularly tight sitting rat decided to bolt from its hole. With numerous pockets of dense undergrowth to harbour the flitting beast and over eager stick work that perhaps lacked a little experience, the rat managed to avoid not one but five spades, four different sticks, a junior sized cricket bat and a sun bathing terrier only to gain refuge in a hole some fifteen yards away next to a tubed and staked sapling. Sadly the last desperate flail from the anchor man with spade in hand managed to hit the only thing he was trying to avoid, smashing the plastic cover tube and tiny oak tree into pieces. (SORRY…..)

Ratting is a sport for all the family as many of the children who joined the event can vouch for. With a stick in one hand and large grin across their faces joy could visibly be seen bubbling as they encouraged their loyal terriers to relocate a nest of half grown rats. Sadly however not all country folk appreciate the service the ratcatchers provide and it was with disappointment that the party was brought to a premature finish.

The Ratcatchers would like to take this opportunity to thank the host farmer for not only allowing us, all be it temporarily, to work his family farm but for providing us with refreshment on what must have been the warmest days ratting yet.

Our next organised event is a home game to be held on 8th October. All new comers are welcome to participate and are encouraged to contact some of the senior players to find out about the meet.