To borrow the words of the well known modern poet Marshall Mathers (a.k.a Eminem) “Rick is back, back again, Rick is back, tell a friend”. Rick Murray is rumoured to be returning to the UK in 2007 after a year of self imposed exile in New Zealand. He will be playing for the newly renamed Northern Lion Crusaders. Rumour has it that Rick wanted to rename the club “The Crusaders” (he does like one word club names) but the Northern Lions Commitee would not allow such a drastic name change.

He did make an appearance for the Lions in 2006 at Pennine Tournament but soon afterwards he was involved in the “Anger Management Saga” where he and Guy Robertson were accused and found guilty of verbally abusing an umpire and sentenced to attend anger management before they could play in the UK again. Guy has done his therapy, whether it has been successful we can not tell (though maybe we will see in the World Cup). Rick still has to attend anger management in order to be allowed to return to the competitive UK polocrosse scene, this is something which apparently he is presently arranging to do.

Rick’s return is surely a good thing for UK polocrosse. He contributes a great deal to the polocrosse community and is a brilliant player to watch. Whether he can lift the N.L Crusaders to a point where he can challenge his former club, the Highlanders, remains to be seen but no doubt he will try!