"WELCOME AND CONGRATULATIONS"
"from Brian J. Jones, Chairman of Newport R.F.C."
"This afternoon it is my privilege as Chairman of Newport Rugby Football Club, to extend a very warm and sincere welcome to the Team and Officials of the Watsonian Football Club. No "festive season" at Rodney Parade would be complete without a visit from our 'Maroon and White' friends from across the border, and I am certain that they will enhance our celebrations, both on and off the field."
"With both clubs celebrating their centenary this season, this is a unique occasion and I am certain that when the legendary Arthur Gould captained the 'Black and Ambers' versus the 'Maroon and Whites' led by H. T. 0. Leggatt, in 1893, they little realised that the fixture would continue except for the interruption of Two World Wars, and the occasional cancellation due to bad weather, with such success. Even last season when the country was in the grip of a "state of emergency" and petrol was on the verge of being rationed "the Watties" managed to make their annual visit and add their own brand of "spirit" to our festive season."
"For the statisticians, the record at the moment reads. Played 71, with Newport winning 60, the Watsonians 7 (1904, 1905, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1962, 1965) and 4 being drawn. But pure statistics can in no way describe the encounters, for rugby football is much more than pure statistics, it is of comradeship, after match hospitality, exchanges of ideas, and of friendships. Friendships that are made through rugby last for a lifetime no matter what distance lies between the friends, for they are mainly based on respect, either for the individual or for the club they represent. I am certain that past and present players and officials of the Newport Club, have a tremendous respect for the Watsonian Club, its players and officials past and present, and their contribution to Scottish rugby both on and off the field."
"Members of both clubs must have many wonderful memories from the past, and with both clubs still going strongly, the future is certain to contain as much excitement and pleasure for the players, officials and supporters, as the past hundred years has done."
"Happy Birthday 'Sonians" long may you grace the game of rugby football, and in the words of a famous Scottish song, 'Will Ye No Come Back Again'."
"MESSAGE FROM D. A. HILL, President, Watsonian Football Club"
"For years untold Watsonian rugby players have regarded their Christmas visit to Wales as the highlight of their season, and of all the clubs we have played in Wales the great Newport Club has a special place in Watsonian hearts. The friendly connection between the two Clubs is of very long standing, stretching back into the last century when Rugby was very different from the game we know today and, if you can imagine this, possibly even more physical. Since its inception the fixture has been practically uninterrupted until the present except for the periods covering the two wars."
"When the fixture started Watsonians were a power in Scottish Rugby and Newport were generally recognised as the best Club in Wales so a meeting between these two doughty opponents was a natural. Over the years since the first match the position has changed quite radically. Whereas Newport are still a great power in the game Watsonians have been finding it a struggle to maintain their traditional standards and although still one of the top clubs in Scotland there is a definite feeling that they are not the force that they were and really good sides seem to become fewer and further between. The arrival of League Rugby in Scotland has highlighted these difficulties. In Division 1 of the Scottish League Watsonians are the only closed club left. They rely for recruitment entirely on former pupils of the School. A few years of poor School sides can put tremendous pressure on the Club in the way of maintaining a reasonable standard in the face of normal wastage. On the other hand the successful open clubs attract the good players whose aim is to play in the best possible company and consequently these clubs are able to maintain a steady level of ability in their team."
"Whilst we are proud of our tradition and our way of rugby life, it is becoming apparent that we will be faced one day, maybe not far distant, with the alternatives of going open or slipping down the prestige scale. It has been said that Watsonians like to win but don't believe that losing is a disaster. Something of playing the game for the game's sake and the friendship and good-fellowship it brings still remain. But in the cold light of the struggle for points and to avoid relegation it seems that some of these old ideas may have to go by the board."
"At the festive season perhaps such a sombre picture of Watsonian rugby is out of place but it is felt that our friends in Newport should know of our difficulties. However we still enjoy our rugby and we still enjoy all that goes with it and in particular we always enjoy our meeting with Newport both on and off the field. It should be a particularly great occasion this year as it is the Centenary year of both clubs."
"To all our friends in Newport we would like to wish the Club great success in the remainder of this Centenary year and also in the years to come - we think that at the end of the next hundred years Newport will still be the great Club it is now. So good luck to all at Newport from all Watsonians and when it comes 'a richt guid New Year'."
"WE KEEP A WELCOME"
"By Ian Ford, Newport - Wales & Barbarians (Record 482 1st XV Appearances)"
"To be asked to write of our visitors today is a great pleasure because the 'Sonians' are rightly regarded, by all Newport rugby men, as special friends for whom we will always 'keep a welcome!'."
"A rugby season at Rodney Parade would not be complete without their Boxing Day visit and today is a special event which allows us to pay tribute and to congratulate the Watsonians on their Centenary. We have met each other for 80 out of the 100 years and in this time many friendships have cemented the bond between the two clubs. Today we will see the seventy-second match of a series that has generally shown rugby football in its most enjoyable guise."
"They have brought us a style of play that is refreshing to see in these days of Cups, Leagues, coaching, squads and other modern innovations. Not outstandingly successful in terms of results in Wales, the games have been enjoyable and surely this is the object of rugby football. This is not to say that there is any lack of spirits, indeed there has occasionally been a suspicion of these in more ways than one!"
"For one school, even George Watsons Academy, to produce such a club, and for an 'Old Boys', or rather a 'Former Pupils' team, to have flourished in first class rugby for so long, reflects great credit on the administrators and players that have served the club so well over the years. Perhaps the limited nursery for players is a disadvantage for a club that aspires to remain at the top and if the results might have been more successful, who can doubt their courage, or wonder at their sanity, when their idea of Christmas Cheer was to play against Swansea, Newport and Cardiff on successive days."
"I am not sure whether the younger generation have become wiser or whether they lack the stamina of their predecessors but they no longer subject themselves to the three games and concentrate on the one game at Rodney Parade. Mention of predecessors recalls memories of the characters that have enlivened these occasions over the years and, while it would be invidious to indulge in a feast of names, easy though this could be, I feel sure I shall be forgiven for recalling two of the most popular touch judges that have graced Rodney Parade. 'Tiger' Anderson and Barclay Phillips maintained a style and panache of running the line that, if perhaps not as intended by the International Board, was all their own and yet typified the spirits of the Myresiders."
"This spirit is always very evident when Newport visits Edinburgh and on such occasions it is wise to possess a strong constitution, particularly if the visit coincides with Hogmanay because the hospitality at Myreside is second to none as anyone who has been fortunate to sample it can testify."
"Finally, Watsonians, to you we say thank you for your opposition on the field over the years, realising that you have given us surprises before and the result of today's match is by no means certain. What is certain, and long may it remain so, the spirit will be evident and both players and spectators will have again enjoyed our traditional Boxing Day fare."
"Congratulations on your Centenary and may there always be a common feeling for 'Auld Lang Syne'."
"REFLECTIONS OF NEWPORT"
"By Ian Robertson, Watsonians - Scotland - Barbarians - Cambridge University"
"The first time I met the Welsh constabulary was, curiously enough, on my first Welsh Tour with Watsonians in December 1962. It was nothing too serious really but they seemed to show undue concern about the fact that we had just demolished the Mackworth Hotel in Swansea. In truth we couldn't take all the credit because we had first class support from London Welsh and the U.A.U. I had arranged a game of cricket in the lounge and was batting with the aid of a large cider bottle against a mixed attack of Babycham, Bitter Lemon, Tonic Water and Lemonade bottles. I was despatching glass to every corner of the room, when the local police officers arrived. Suggestions that one of them should take up the silly mid on position and the other could try long stop were not at all well received and so our impromptu cricket match came to an end and with it all future Watsonian connections with the Mackworth."
"This was a pretty serious blow because not every hotel manager welcomes rugby teams on tour and even less so at Christmas. For example, that particular year we had booked in as the Edinburgh Operatic Society. Sadly an attempt at reinstatement in the Mack-worth the following day as the East of Scotland Evangelical Union was quickly spotted and rejected."
"Of course it was not only hotels that suffered. British Rail also felt the backlash of the Watsonians on tour. A few years ago British Rail ran a special Boxing Day train from Cardiff to London with only one stop at Newport, to unload the Watsonians. As the train chugged out of Cardiff a long Watsonian arm was seen to lean out of the window and relieve the guard of his hat and green flag. With the flag covering the badge on his club blazer and the hat on his head, the player in question went the whole length of the train collecting every single ticket and then in each compartment with dead-pan face he threw them out of the window in full view of the passengers. He explained it was the non stop express to London and they wouldn't be needed again. Just imagine the scene at Padding-ton when six hundred people arrived at the ticket barrier with no tickets and the same ridiculous story. We now travel by coach."
"Unwelcome by hotels - Yes. Unwelcome by British Rail - Yes. But always very welcome at Rodney Parade. Many of my happiest memories in rugby took place with Watsonians at Rodney Parade on Boxing Days. I remember actually being on a winning side in 1967, when the game was played on a frozen pitch which your wonderful secretary 'Nick' Carter merely described as very firm. David Watkins dropped a goal and kicked a penalty and we trailed 6-3 with ten minutes of the second half gone. Then we won a set scrum inside the Newport '25', I made a half break and threw out a shocking pass to 'Maxie' McLaren in the centre who scooped it up off his toes and scored between the posts. The try was converted and we won 8-6. A match which, justifiably, has passed into Watsonian folk lore. For myself, Maxie McLaren and Peter Forbes who had been beaten five times in the previous five years by Newport this win had real significance. All those other games had been close and highly entertaining matches but we had always just lost. Now, in a great game of rugby, we had won."
"We enjoyed another memorable encounter in 1963 when the game was again nearly cancelled because of the weather. Not frost this time but fog. It was impossible to see more than twenty-five yards in any direction and not only the poor spectators but even the players had to rely on the loudspeaker announcement to keep them up to date with the score and the name of the scorers."
"We have always appreciated the warmth of our welcome at Rodney Parade and the wonderful spirit in which all our games over the years have been played. So Watsonians from every corner of the world unite in congratulating you on reaching your 'Centenary'. Mind you, it's taken you a long time. Almost a hundred years. Still I'm sure you got there as fast as you could. Strangely enough, Watsonians couldn't do it any quicker and this year we too celebrate our Centenary. So what a wonderful occasion this is this afternoon. Two great clubs, with great histories each celebrating their Centenary Season. Let's hope the game lives up to the occasion."