Scoring a Try

Fanfiction
Title:	Scoring a Try
Author(s):	E.T.
Date(s):
Length:	138k
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	The Professionals
Relationship(s):	Bodie/Doyle
External Links:	online here
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Scoring a Try is a Professionals slash Bodie/Doyle story by E.T..

It was a paper circuit story and briefly in the Pros Online Library until 1997 when it was pulled by the author shortly before the story sequel was published in print. That sequel, Touchdown, was published in Unprofessional Conduct #7 in 1997.

Scoring a Try was later archived online with her permission in 2003.

It is a story on The 1985 Hatstand Express Top Ten Lists.

Summary

In 2000, two fans Cassie Ingaben and Dagger compiled an index of many of the circuit stories. They also wrote brief summaries:

"Dagger: Doyle fills a vacant spot on Bodie's rugby team. Bodie leads the team to believe that Doyle is gay. Doyle, in retaliation, decides to make Bodie the focus of his attention."

Excerpt

Doyle rolled his eyes. "Gonna do it against the wall, are we?" he asked with mild sarcasm, knowing his partner well enough to be sure that nothing would stop him now.

Bodie's gaze slid up to meet his own. "No," he replied softly, "but we would if I wanted to...wouldn't we?"

Reactions and Reviews

Unknown Date

It starts with a down and dirty rugby match where Doyle realises that Bodie has set him up. It degenerates into bawdy tomfoolery, and then sexual teasing between Doyle and Bodie that continues when they get back to Doyle's flat. The last part is Bodie's erotic, but gentle seduction of Doyle, and it is a very enjoyable, and often amusing, read.

1985

By the end of the story, I was ready.

Who couldn't love a story with 40 pages of foreplay?!

Another of the super-erotic "anticipation" stories...with what may well be the best kissing scene of all.

1992

I know this was already reviewed way back in Be Gentle With Us # 1, but my opinion of it differs somewhat from that reviewer.

Doyle is a last-minute substitution on the rugby team of Bodie's old mob. Finding himself frequently groped he comes to realise Bodie has set him up by giving him a false past, and intimating that he's gay. Doyle decides to get his own back by coming on to Bodie, unaware that the latter has been wanting him for some time. Ray is hoisted his own petard when he becomes aroused. Back at his place, after some verbal sparring, the two get together sexually.

It was nice to see Bodie's determination to not rush into full intercourse on their first time together. However, this story could have been shorter in my opinion, with less of the communal bath scene, tho the pub scene was OK lengthwise. I have read of this story being described as '39 pages of foreplay', but I've read shorter stories that turned me on more. This one didn't really do a thing for me, and of the three sports stories I'm reviewing it was the one I liked least.

1993

I read Scoring a Try, a Pros circuit story, at lunch yesterday. I don't recommend the practice. I thought 39 pages was about lunch-hour length but it's too long, and this story has my nomination for the list of top ten erotic stories in fandom, or maybe out of it also. It's one long, slow tease, perfectly paced. Starts at a soccer game, moves to the locker room and then to a bar, all from Doyle's POV. Then we start to get some of Bodie's views, and it escalates into a devil's game of come-ons to each other and the reader. I've stated a dislike for stories that are just one long sex scene. Well, that's really what this is, but the plot is the sex, or the build-up, and it's wonderful. Does anyone know who wrote it?

They seduce each other, but Doyle is *definitely* innocent (sexually) and on the bottom--and what little suffering there is is Doyle's. By Lezlie's standards, this is what a Doyle-lovers story should look like.

1994

.... I agree that Scoring a Try is **way** up there for me, and it doesn't come close to any particular kink I have...

I must be the odd person out here, but "Scoring a Try" didn't do much for me at all. A bunch of gross, sweaty jocks in a hot tub does not make for an erotic read for me. Once they finally got *away* from all those hairy, groping buffoons, it did get better, but those group scenes, both in the tub and in the pub, went on far, far too long. It wasn't like sustained foreplay to me, more like sustained embarrassment.

[A list member] describes this as the "hottest" circuit story she's read, and I have to agree with her.... And the interesting thing is, I don't remember a lot of overt sex. It was all implication and inneundo, and teasing of the reader and the characters. It is very possible to write very good sex scenes, or whole stories, without any of the more obvious elements, like body parts. Atmosphere counts for more than action...

2004

ET is quite a prolific author in Pros and a very much loved one. This story in particular stands out for its characterisation - the byplay between the Lads is lovely, imo - and it's fun to read...

"...He [Doyle] admitted now, with grim amusement, that he'd thought his last hour had arrived as he'd placed the ball in position ready for the scrum. Instead of waiting for him to get clear, a dozen or more had descended on him and in the confusion he'd thought a broken arm or dislocated shoulder would be the result. Until, that was, a stealthy hand passed swift appraisal across his raised buttocks. And another had ruffled his hair so enthusiastically his head had nearly been pushed right into the mud. But it was the third that caused him so much indignation. It smoothed slyly over one lean cheek, then slid down for a rapid reconnoitre of his genitals, its huge, ham-like proportions squeezing his vulnerable softness through the satiny shorts...."

It also gives us the Lads in their time off and I like that insight about what they could be up to when not running after villains.

2005

I enjoyed it, particularly the 'after-match' carry-on in the changing rooms & bar, but unfortunately there were a couple of game errors that stuck out:

* tackling the scrum-half - it reads as though he didn't actually release the ball - at least a scrum re-set,if not a penalty, no matter how casual the game. * 'spikes' should be 'studs'

Yeah, minor quibbles. But y'know, this *is* the game they play in heaven :-)

2006

Bodie takes Doyle out to play football (the rugby type) with some old mates, and Doyle finds that laddish joshing is a whole different thing in this crowd. And of course there must be revenge… It's funny, it's sweet, and there are many men in the hot tub, including our lads.