The Edinburgh Evening News reports that Monarchs' 2000 season will start on March 24th with a Spring Trophy challenge against Glasgow Tigers.
This will present James Grieves with a speedy return to Armadale after his controversial defection to Ashfield last Month. Clearly Monarchs' relationship with Glasgow may have been severely strained by the Grieves incident and the cheeky way Glasgow also tried to sign up Robert Eriksson. However the two promotions are still talking to each other.
Monarchs' chairman Alex Harkess commented:
"We couldn't ask for a better opener. Obviously it's going to be very interesting to see what sort of reception James recieves from the Edinburgh supporters. It will certainly add spice to what is always a keenly contested match."
Supporters of both sides will be interested to see how Grieves's replacement Robert Eriksson compares with James over the two legs. The two are joint record holders at Ashfield along with Brian Turner. It will also be interesting to see which side Turner rides for, if either.
Monarchs' second fixture on Friday 31st March is the home leg of the Premiership against the 'other' Tigers from Sheffield. This is raced for by the League Champions and Cup Winners from the previous season.Monarchs won the Premiership in 1998 defeating Reading home and away. It was not contested in 1999 since the League Champions, Peterborough stepped up to the Elite League.
While Sheffield have lost two of the heat leaders from their championship winning side, they will be formidable opponents. Sean Wilson remains and is joined by Robbie Kessler and Simon Stead. Paul Lee and Simon Cartwright are also ecpected to be in the team. This will give Monarchs the chance to get a Trophy in the cabinet before the start of April.
The next fixture at Armadale will on Firday 7th April against the touring Czech Republic team. This means that the Premier National Trophy qualifiers will not start until Friday 14th April. With five qualifiers to complete, against Glasgow, Berwick, Newcastle, Workington, and Sheffield, the Premier League is unlikely to get going before the second half of May. Monarchs also have the home leg of the first round Cup tie against Arena Essex as they bid to defend the the Premier League Cup.
Full Premier League fixtures will be published as soon as they are available.