A Word from Ward

Times – They are a' Changing: Enjoy the next installment of London Wasps Hooker, Joe Ward's, online blog

With so many changes happening over the last week at the club I thought it might be interesting to look back in time, to see what changes were taking place in the world at the time when a young Lawrence Dallaglio was probably perfecting his trade mark 'sniff' and crushing plastic cups with his bare hands.

So I take you to the year of 1980, my personal hero – Kenny Rogers has just had his first hit in the UK with 'Coward of the County'. Tye- dye t-shirts and fondue parties have been replaced by power dressing, Men (like current Wasps Coach Ian McGeechan) started growing pony-tails and the newly created yuppie's began mincing around with cell phones as big as a PC computer.

Arthur Fonzeralli aka 'The Fonz' is still a big hit in the TV show Happy Days, even though he continues to suspiciously maintain an 'office' in the toilets of the local high school diner. In season 8, episode 2 – The Fonz is back from Italy, grown a beard because he didn't know Italian for 'razor', and has just been hired to be the high school's mechanic teacher. Hilarity ensues...

And finally, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) has also just come into existence, with its first president elect - Canaan Banana being sworn into office. Incredibly, that was actually his real name, but unfortunately Banana's reign didn't reach full ripening and was replaced by an even bigger fruit in the form of 'Bob' Mugabe.

And back to the present time, to Wasps and the changes the team and the club as a whole have gone through over the last couple of weeks.

It’s been a pretty hectic week and a half, and we first start off with the takeover of the club by Steve Hayes. I must admit to being a bit nervous on the morning we were all told to meet at the club at 8:30am for an 'important and serious' announcement.

I know the credit crunch has certainly hit my household, as I find myself rifling through the bargain bins at Tesco's and buying my wife's christmas presents at the Pound Store – and wondered if that’s what it was all about. Fortunately it turned out to be a very positive announcement of Steve Hayes buying the club, and certainly by looking at who he has got around him, with the likes of Lawrence, together with Steve's ideas for the club, there is great excitement amongst the lads.

The Q and A with Steve at the completion of the announcement was equally memorable when a gushing Joe Worsley practically asked Steve out on a date – unsurprisingly the boys didn't forget that faux pas in the changing room afterwards.

There has also been a change in our fortunes on the pitch. It started a couple of weeks ago in Newcastle when we won up there and continued last week in Edinburgh, when, after our new owner asked for a win - the boys duly delivered.

So to this Sunday. The talk this week has been about continuing on, building our confidence and getting the victories, and hopefully start what could be something special.

Till next time
Joe