"Club Notes"
"It's Heineken Time Again
"This afternoon we welcome the players, officials, and supporters of Newport R.F.C. to Sardis Road for our Heineken League fixture. Newport are one of the great clubs of Wales, and I am sure that we will see a good game today."
"The two clubs first played each other in February 1882, in the South Wales Challenge Cup, and we lost by 2 goals and 3 tries to nil. During the 1880's the clubs met on nine occasions, but fixtures ended on the 30th of November 1901. We then had to wait 76 years, until the 12th of November 1977, before fixtures were resumed. Newport were the last of the major Welsh clubs to play us on a regular basis, and since 1977 we have played 30, won 15, lost 13, and drawn 2 (points for 405, against 486)."
"The team have won convincingly against Cardiff Institute, Cilfynydd, and Waterloo since our last programme notes. The game against Waterloo got off to a slow start for various reasons, and at half time the score was only 7-6 to Pontypridd. In the second half we scored three excellent tries. One came from a lovely break down the middle by Nigel Meek, with Rowley on hand to put Walker in near the posts. The best try came from a Steele Lewis break in our own twenty-two metre area. Stella made about thirty yards, and many other players handled before Dave Manley put Crispin Cormack over. Ponty were well worth their 29-9 win, and the team thoroughly deserved another relaxing session at Bredbury Hall on Saturday night."
"We have a few problems with injuries at the moment. Nick Jones is suffering from a broken arm, an injury sustained in the Pontypool game, and will be out for another three weeks or so. Dale Mclntosh has broken a bone in his hand again, and will be unavailable for at least two weeks. Ceri Jones has problems with a knee cartilage, and could be out for some time. Mathew Lloyd and Phil Thomas are both carrying niggling injuries, so our back row strength is below par at present. We wish them all the best, and a quick recovery."
"No news on the Dunvant game yet. We are looking at dates in February and March, and will let your know as soon as something is settled."
"Pontypridd R.F.C. is blessed with a good selection of companies which advertise in our programme, and sponsor the club in other ways. You can do your bit for us by giving them your custom. Have a look through the advertisements, and see if you can spend some of your money on their products and services. We all need to help each other if we are going to survive at the top."
"The sponsor for the game this afternoon is R.J. Bown Truck Centre, Treforest Industrial Estate, and we hope that Keith Morgan and Derek Wheten, and their guests have a good day with us. Thank you, gentlemen."
"The match ball sponsors for the game are: Thomas Travel, Pontypridd; D. Norman Hughes, Pontypridd; Cled Jenkins and Son, Tonteg; Denmaster Ltd., London; and Autoparts, Pontypridd. We are grateful to David John, Norman Hughes, Cled Jenkins, Len Citron and Brian Thomas for their support."
"The lucky programme prize is £10.00, and the winner can collect their money from Mr. Keith Lewis at the supporters shop after the match. In addition, there is a prize of a Rotary gents watch kindly donated by Mark Newbury of Hooper and Rose, Pontypridd. This also can be collected from Keith Lewis after the match."
"THE VIEW FROM HERE"
"ADRIAN HEARN gets shirty"
"In the beginning there were plains and there were hoops.... and rugby was simple."
"If you wore a plain jersey it was always the same colour - a sort of washed out, grubby-collared affair with a fading likeness to the original and an in-built asset... you all looked the same after five minutes."
"Then came the hoops. Black and white, black and amber, blue and white, green and white etc. with the same instant recognisability as plains, but with one key tactical awareness for those in need of such help. If the hoops were horizontal to the ground you were running, if they were vertical, you were tackled."
"Simplistic but effective. But then the rugby world metamorphosed. Along came, quartered jerseys, lance-corporal stripes on the battle-outfits and the quite inevitable Gomorrah.... sponsors. Rugby had kissed the hand that would feed a golden goose, but had done little for tight-heads."
"Suddenly rugby became a new world of badges, names, colours and shades, and Picasso-like daubings. Rodney Parade rugby was now being played along the Bristol Chanel.... the aptly named David "Muddy" Waters at number five might have a future in fashion when he finally retires. Bob Pemberthy could have done for elbows, what mini-skirts did for thighs."
"Not content with re-arranging the aesthetics of the game, change-kits had to be different so that more sponsorship could be had and even larger holes were burnt into supporters's pockets. Weekend and Wednesday teams became total strangers."
"Coach. "Why didn't you pass outside when you had the overlap. It cost us the match?" "
"Bemused centre. "I had the day wrong!" "
"Coach, what's that mean?" "
"Centre. "We always wear the pastel blue shirts on Thursday - with the off the shoulder hint of purple. On Wednesday its a deeper blue, with the random flecks of green and the turquoise stripe just below the collar. When I looked I saw the turquoise, thought it was Thursday and he was one of theirs. So I kept the ball." "
"Bemused coach. "The game had been re-arranged." "
"Centre. "I'd forgotten that and we hadn't gone through the days of the week in training." "
"Coach (later making excuses to reporters for the defeat) "Our timing patterns were a bit out tonight." "
"The entry into the fashion world has also denuded the terraces of their voices. "Come on you reds...." doesn't seem the same when the team you're shouting at are wearing white with vermillion narrow hoops around the chest and a jagged flash of lightning somewhere near the neck. It's nice to note though, that progress has reached the point in rugby kit evolution, where instead of seeing red and shouting "Scarlets" as our forefathers did, you see a different coloured kit - but they've now written "The Scarlets" on the jerseys, so we don't get too confused."
"In my day, reading the game was the secret to success. It seems reading the jersey is the modern equivalent to that old fashioned idea."
"On that basis "grebslrac" can only mean one thing when you're playing against anyone wearing a Newport jersey ....... you're upside down over the top in a ruck and given away another penalty."
"I suppose the day will come when rugby takes a lead from the modern day sponsorship successes in the venerable game of cricket. There, the giant Scoreboard at Edgbaston lights up against your name if you're batting, bowling or even fielding."
"Could that be the final frontier of sponsorship for rugby. An electronic Scoreboard at each ground which automatically flashes up the name of the player every time be makes a pass, hits a tackle or finds touch "Play for us son, and we'll help put your name up in lights". "
"Thirty halogen mentions per match guaranteed, plus a job, a car and expenses enough to buy 68 pints of Murphy's after every match, might help bolster still more committee men's promises of instant success to would-be superstars."
"An ebullient Cardiff star I knew once refused to put on a Newport jersey for a charity game saying "You wouldn't get me to wear black and amber next to my skin for a thousand pounds!!" "
"In today's sponsor-led rugby for some teams that seems to be about the going rate."
"Adrian Hearn is a freelance journalist and former Newport player."