Tredegar RFC hope to rise from ashes after dropping out of the Admiral National League earlier this season.
WalesOnline reported in October that they had exited the Welsh league structure amid hugely challenging circumstances. with chairman Anthony Preece claiming cash payments to players elsewhere had left the Gwent team struggling to raise a side. At one point, they had just 10 players available for a Division 6 East encounter with Old Tylerian, meaning the match had to be postponed
But it is their 130th anniversary this year and plans are afoot to resume operations.
“I haven’t been well myself but I’m not totally finished and the idea is we’ll get going again,” said Preece, the sole director of the club and the man who's helped drive them for so many years.
“We’ll start with a couple of friendlies. Then one hundred percent we want to be going properly for next season.
“I’m going to advertise to get a committee on board and get the club back on its feet.
“It’s 130 years this year for Tredegar, so I’m going to get a side back together once more. There is a lot of history here that deserves to be marked properly. We’ve had some great players over the years, players who’ve gone on to play for Wales and even the Lions. In Mike Ruddock’s case, he coached Wales to a Grand Slam.
“Where will we get players from? We’ll just have to hunt around and see what's out there.”
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Plenty will wish Tredegar well.
Turn the clock back 30 and a bit years and the then Merit Table club were battling the likes of Swansea, Llanelli, Newport and Cardiff. They nurtured the careers of not only Ruddock but also union and league tough nut Paul Woods, Wales flanker and Lions tourist Glyn Davidge and hard-as-nails Neath and Wales enforcer Mark Jones, a man who might have caused James Bond villain Jaws to head for the hills.
Then there were ultra-durable players such as John Dixon, Mel Bevan and Sid Wharton, plus Frank Jacas, one of the most-respected back rowers of his time. You can read more about Jones, Welsh rugby's ultimate hard-man whose inner hate and rage drove him to acts of violence, here.
Tredegar may not have boasted a cabinet bursting with silverware but visitors to the northern outpost of the Gwent valleys were guaranteed a searching examination up front and a warm welcome in the clubhouse after the game.
Preece is himself a former Tredegar player, a flanker who joined on the same day as Ruddock, only to break his neck in training.
He says today: “I still think rugby doesn’t know where it’s going. They tell me that games can now take place with 12 players. I understand why that’s happening, to complete the programme, but, to me, it’s not rugby.
“We had about 10 players last autumn and people didn’t know what they wanted to do.
“A big problem was there was a game one week then you’d train for the next week and clubs wouldn’t have enough players to play. We were the same as other clubs. It was a mess.
“I don’t imagine much will have changed in the space of a year. I just hope something can be done about it. But we’ll see.
“We’ll have another go and keep our fingers crossed, the same as pretty much every other club. The hope is we’ll be able to get back into the league system.”
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When he spoke to WalesOnline earlier this term, Preece said: “The WRU needs to look at themselves and look at grassroots rugby. They need to look at how certain clubs are attracting players and others are not.
“Clubs are going to end up folding. In 10 years’ time I don’t know where the Welsh game will be. Where are the WRU going to get players from? You look at the Valleys. People tell me there are not as many junior sections as there used to be, or youth sides.
“It’s hard to see where it’s going. We hear about the regional game struggling but so is the club game and that is where so many good players have started.”
But Tredegar look to be having another go at making it work.
They know it won’t be easy, but 130 years is a long time and, as Preece says, it deserves to be celebrated.
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