In Joe Makin's 15 years as a player and now head coach at Hull Ionians, he has witnessed first-hand the club's fluctuating battle for supremacy against local rivals Hull.
Despite a challenging season, he remains hopeful that Ionians can establish themselves as Yorkshire's premier amateur club. Following a strong third-place finish in National 2 North last year, Hull have struggled this season and find themselves entangled in a relegation battle.
The second row took on the role of player-coach in November and attributes the team's difficulties to the departure of key players.
He said: “We haven't been performing as well as in recent seasons as we didn't have the best pre-season and we lost three county-level players to retirement and two to other teams and we didn't fill the void.
“Since Alex Campbell and I took charge, we've been working hard on our core skills and focusing on improving the quality of training that will hopefully knock on and improve performances. Fine margins are at play, half the games we've lost since I took charge have been in the dying moments.”
Makin is confident that Ionians will turn the tide and avoid relegation.
He said: “Three of the four games in February are home games and winnable games, so we'll be targeting them as victories to turn the corner. The aim is to survive in National Two so these games are key.
“Confidence has been a bit low in the squad, we've had a difficult season really, I'm proud and pleased with the guys who are turning in week in and out, showing the effort in training and I'm confident the wins will start to come.”
Makin delves into the club's intense rivalry with Hull and emphasises Ionians' ambition to reclaim the status of the leading amateur club in Yorkshire.
“Throughout my involvement with Ionians and local rugby, the dominance in the area has shifted between us and Hull, and there is a competitive atmosphere to recruit local players,” he said.
“When I joined Ionians in 2009, Hull were the dominant force with ex-Premiership and Championship players, then we came to the fore from 2012 to 2019 and were the better side, but that stopped with Hull being in National One last year.
“They're seen as the premier side now and we want to regain that. We want to be the leading amateur club not just within the East Riding but across Yorkshire.”
Makin is buoyed by the thriving state of Hull Ionians as a club, with a robust junior section, an oversubscribed women's team and an army of volunteers.
He said: “The rugby club as a whole is thriving, we have a mini junior section of girls and boys that is nearly 500 strong, we have a woman's team that is oversubscribed, we have a second team and a rambler's team, we have ambitions for four men's sides.
“The key to that is volunteers, we have an army of people who commit their time and effort to ensure there's rugby for all and it remains a community rugby club which is pleasing.”
