Page 33 - ATHLETIC V BLACKWOOD GRIFFINS

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DRAGON’S LEAGUE BOWL FINAL
We go again...
After all the excitement surrounding Saturday’s game, it may seem perverse of me
to say that tonight’s events are even more important. To see our Athletic squad not
only fulfilling fixtures week in, week out, but competing on level terms with teams
from Clubs such as Bedwas and Blackwood, Clubs playing at very senior level, is
both impressive and exciting.
When we kicked off our sixtieth season we knew that there was plenty of enthusiasm. What
we didn’t appreciate is just how many lads, youngsters starting their senior rugby journeys
and those who have played in green, white and black with distinction for many seasons,
would come together to offer the coaches a real headache as they look to selection from a
squad far more numerous than will be allowed to cross the white line tonight. It is a tribute
to everyone involved and a symbol of the spirit so tangible at Gwernyfed RFC these days,
indeed every day for the last sixty years.
I name a few who have played a huge part in delivering the Athletic to Rodney Parade
tonight. Coaches Andrew Torrance and Gethin Evans, supportive of and supported by Ceri
Morgan and the First XV coaching team, are due a huge vote of thanks, as is Jim ‘Les’ Evans
who has marshalled players each week even after sustaining a serious injury early in the
campaign. Skipper Jamie Coles is selfless. Jamie is a loss to the First XV but honours our
Club by sacrificing his own opportunities to lead the Athletic – a man founded in green, white
and black. It is iniquitous to name names, but I think that the error can be forgiven if only on
the basis that, if I had space. Thank you to everyone who has contributed.
Our sixtieth season comes towards its end, with the Women’s XV taking on Senghenydd at
Merthyr RFC on the last day of the month to bring the curtain down on a great season on
the pitch. The season reaches its crescendo on June 14 at our Anniversary Ball. It is a great
occasion which will see us welcome a lot of special guests and I know that you will offer them
a warm, Gwernyfed, welcome and demonstrate what makes this such a special Club.
This may be my last effort this season, not least as I will be under the knife by the time you
read this, lying in a hospital bed as the Athletic take on Blackwood Griffins. Be that as it may,
and whether or not this is my last written word in our sixtieth year, I just say ‘thank you so
much’ for your friendship, your effort, your enthusiasm and your enduring commitment to
our beloved Club - we couldn’t do it without you.
Robert Stephens.