From the match programme:-
"WELCOME, NEWPORT."
"Newport, like Swansea, is one of the traditionally great clubs of Rugby, a club, if one may be permitted to use the phrase, with personality. Newport, again like Swansea, has its ups and downs, but always there is that striving towards the summit of achievement in Rugby, a striving after the better things of Rugby, and constant dissatisfaction with the lower orders of play and sportsmanship, and it is the accumulated effort of such strivings that form the grand background of tradition behind the Newport Club. Whatever Newport may have accomplished in the past, and whatever stars they may have produced, we always have the distinct feeling they are likely to equal it or surpass it in the future, and that is why Newport will always remain one of the most attractive fixtures on the Swansea Card."
" HIGH AND DRY FINANCE," by the Editor.
"Our present Treasurer is Mr. Glyn Grimshaw, who has been actively associated with the Club, on and off the field, for more years than he is now willing to admit, aided and abetted by his assistant Mr. Bryn Matthews, another servant with a long membership. Mr. Grimshaw acts as watchdog over the Club's income and expenditure during a vital period."
"During the summer we were startled by newspaper headlines predicting the possible extinction of the Swansea Rugby Club. Newspaper headlines can make the ordinary man feel very impotent, but there are sources of relief, and in our Club affairs it is the knowledge that we can help financially. A sound financial position is always a fine springboard from which to leap into the future, or to surmount the inescapable obstacles. So to you who may be tinged with the spirit of anxiety for the future, I commend a way in which you may help."
"Full membership of the Swansea Rugby and Cricket Club costs £2-2-0. Why not change from the 30/- to the 42/- membership this season? I know the cricket is over and you have lost half the value already, but the idea has its points, besides being a substantial gesture of goodwill to the Club. You would be entitled to partake in any or all of the Club's activities, Football, Cricket, Hockey and Athletics, with full voting powers at the Club Annual Meeting and all the Sectional Annual Meetings. It entitles you to apply for membership of the Swansea Sports Club. If you are of the kind that relishes the rectitude of the committee-room where the gentle zephyrs of controversy blow, remember that full membership is the constitutional pathway to managerial hierachy. For certain committees the Club rule book demands two years full membership of applicants. Both Mr. Prosser and Mr. Grimshaw assure me that if any 30/- member desires to transfer the resultant clerical labour will be joyfully undertaken. Although the spirit behind this Club is as solid and as purposeful as it has ever been, and although you may cheerfully discount the despondent headlines, always remember that financial difficulties could leave us high and dry if ever things became difficult. No financial gesture to the Club is wasted, from your three pennies for a programme to your 42/- for full membership, and never forget that."
"CLUB AND RUGBY NEWS."
"Brigadier M. C. T. Gompertz, a student of Rugby statistics, has given a great deal of thought to the compilation of a Rugby Championship Table, and in the current number of " The Rugger " magazine he gives the fruits of two years labour on this subject, and some of his conclusions will interest Swansea supporters. For season 1948-9 he places Swansea third, and for last season he places Swansea in second place, with Coventry in top place and Cardiff third. He has this nice compliment in his article: " Clubs such as Cardiff.Swansea, Northampton, the Universities, and Bristol are undoubtedly first class." Newport, he places, fourth in season 1948-49, and seventh for last season. He has a few plain and straightforward comments to make on some of the unofficial tables that are published:" Some of the tables that are published, such as the Unofficial Welsh Table, are fatuous"."
"All Swansea supporters will want to join me in congratulating Vivian Davies, son of Selector Trevor Davies, on his selection as Vice-Captain of the Gloucester Rugby Club, after only one playing season with that Club. This is unquestionably a very fine compliment to a very good footballer and sportsman, and a nice compliment to the type of footballer produced by the Swansea Club. This will give added pleasure to the visit of Gloucester on February 17th."
"The Captain of Newport this season is Ken Jones who, as you know, is now on the high seas after adding fresh glory to the Rugby fame of Great Britain, Wales, Newport, and the Jones family. The acting-captain, until his return, is the very well-known Roy Burnett. He is only 23 years old, and the youngest of a family of Rugby footballers. He is a native of the Monmouthshire village of Abercarn where he learnt his football with the local school, and the juniors. During the war he served with the Welsh Regiment for whom he played in the Middle East. On his demobilization in January, 1947, he joined the Newport Club, and except for a long period of illness last season, he has been their regular choice at outside half. He has many Monmouth County " Caps " to his credit."