After the end of the series of Hull FC’s weekly Coffee Corner Zoom calls, hullfc.com caught up with regular attendee Sally Manders to discover the affect the project has had on her life, which was held in partnership with the CCG.
You can catch up with the full back catalogue of Coffee Corner interviews here
Sally explained her background and how Coffee Corner has helped her throughout the COVID pandemic: “With me being on the Extremely clinically vulnerable list due to respiratory failure & other health problems the lockdown was very hard for me. For the last 19 months I have been shielding, meaning my house has been a no one in no one out venue, including my family! Throughout the pandemic I didn’t see my mum, my son or my grandchildren which certainly took its toll mentally; it was a very scary and lonely place.
Coffee corner became my contact with the outside world, giving me a substitute for human contact and something to look forward to on a weekly basis, almost as a bit of a lifeline to the outside world. It was a great way of keeping in touch with the club, and filled that empty space that was left when we couldn’t go to matches to keep our interest going
I also learnt a lot about players you don’t normally get the opportunity to hear from and a chance to have our say too.”
When asked of her favourite interview, Sally struggled to pick just one, saying: “It was great to hear stories from ex-players and also to learn more about our current squad. It helped to keep us informed on how the team felt about a whole variety of issues, including the new coach and what he was trying to build the team around.
It was interesting to hear how Josh Reynolds was fitting in and what kind of person he was, and how the team was dealing with covid and all the protocols & changes throughout the pandemic.
I thought it was great to know that the players missed the fans as much as we missed them, which are just the sort of things fans wanted to know.
I enjoyed a lot of the sessions, but I think my favourite of the past players was Sammy Lloyd. Sammy was such a character and I could have listened to him & his stories for hours and hours.
From the current players there were so many to choose from and for lots of different reasons, but for me Chris Satae was interesting especially learning about his background and how he grew up in Tonga. Adam Swift’s session was fun, especially with his mum joining the video call and asking questions, and it was lovely to see what a well rounded & level-headed young man Jack Logan has become.
I also really enjoyed learning about Adam Pearson too, how he got where he is and his hopes & fears for the future.”
With Coffee Corner now taking a break until the end of the season, Sally hopes that isn’t the end of the popular project, saying: “Since it finished I have already missed coffee corner and I’m hoping it comes back in the future.
Richard does an amazing job hosting and asks the right questions the fans want to hear the answers to whilst and the guests seem really comfortable with him.
Coffee Corner has been a great formula, and I hope it makes a comeback.”
You can watch the full back catalogue of Coffee Corner here
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