Every now and then, we are reminded of the power of sport and how it knits together our communities up and down the country. A football club in Bridgend has managed to encapsulate that better than anyone with their promotion-winning celebrations.
For every Liverpool, who won the FA Cup final on Saturday, there were thousands of Cefn Cribwr FCs up and down the country, popping the bubbles after winning a promotion for which they had toiled all season long. There is a very poignant reason, though, that this celebration video has gone viral.
Following the 4-2 triumph over Blaenrhondda on Saturday, a win which booked Cefn Cribwr a spot in the third tier of the Welsh football pyramid, Champagne corks were popped and jubilant celebrations ensued at their Cae Gof base. But there was one very notable absentee.
Club icon Gary Davies, 79, who founded Cefn Cribwr FC back in 1976, has been unable to attend any matches this season, the first time that has ever been the case. Usually an ever-present, Mr Davies has largely been confined to his home owing to arthritis and undergoing hip replacement surgery.
Given Mr Davies is the heartbeat of the club, the players and coaches felt it was only right they made a beeline for his house, still fully kitted out in Cefn Cribwr's royal blue strip. His wife, Sandra, opened the door to a chorus of "We are going up, say we are going up!" and "We love you Gary, we do!"
Mr Davies and his wife were clearly taken aback by such a gesture and it certainly struck a chord with the thousands who saw the viral video over the course of the weekend, too. "It was a wonderful moment", Mr Davies said. "I was over the moon, taken aback and a bit teary."
"Gary has been first-team manager, second-team manager, secretary, he has done everything in the club," first-team boss Scott Dryden told WalesOnline. "You speak to anyone locally and say 'Gary Davies', they say, 'Cefn Cribwr Boys Club'. He is that sort of character, the character every club has to have. He is the leader, the one who installed true values into the club.
"He made sure we remain an amateur club. Although we have been in the South Wales Alliance League Premier Division, there are a lot of clubs in that league who pay players. My boys pay £6 a week to play football. So it makes the story even more remarkable that we have had three promotions in six years, going up through the Alliance League pyramid and we have finally reached our goal, to get into the Welsh league or what is now the Ardal Leagues and we are now in the South West division for next season."
It is clearly an emotional moment for the club stalwart, given the club he founded has just reached its highest-ever league position thanks to the win over Blaenrhondda at the weekend. The club have been blown away by the reaction, but, according to the manager, Mr Davies deserves all the recognition he is getting after decades of hard work.
"Gary has been in ill health, he has had a hip replacement within the last six months, so at his age now it's difficult for him to get over," Dryden, 50, added. "He hasn't watched a single game this season, it's the first season he has never seen a game over at Cae Gof.
"A lot of the lads don't really know him, either, the lads who came in this season, but they've embraced the ethos he has installed in the club. We just felt it was right to go over, in our kit, a few bottles of champagne, to Gary's house and go and celebrate with him!
"It was very emotional. The first person to the door was his wife, Sandra, who has obviously been with him for years, they have been married 55 years or whatever. Sandra is every bit a part of Cefn Cribwr as Gary is, she has been on the ride as well.
"It was very emotional, you can see from Sandra. And Gary also put a few quid behind the bar for the boys afterwards as well. He is a legend, he really is. Cefn Cribwr, it just runs through his blood."
It was a rollercoaster end to the season for the Bridgend county club. They had been in the top two for 27 out of 30 weeks of the season, but with three games to go they found themselves needing four points after Canton Liberal FC had usurped them in the standings. Nothing less than a win would do on the final day, having thrown away a one-goal lead in the final five minutes against Merthyr Saints FC the week before to lose 2-1.
And, 10 minutes into the second half against Blaenrhondda on Saturday, it looked as though the dream was hurtling towards its end when they found themselves 2-1 down against the Rhondda side. But thanks to a hat-trick from 18-year-old Aaron Weaver, the youngest player in their squad, and a goal from Matthew Symons, Cefn Cribwr romped to victory and the celebrations really began in earnest.
Now, though, the real work begins, according to Dryden. They will have to ground share with Cambrian and Clydach Vale BGC because Cae Gof isn't deemed suitable for the Ardal Leagues.
"We have got a lot of work as a club over the next 12 months," he added. "We have got to find finances to do our ground, which we are well in the process of. We have got an asset transfer with the Bridgend County Borough Council, so we will be taking on the pavilion as well. So we have got a lot going on as a club and the promotion is the icing on the cake."
What would really top it all off, though, is for Mr Davies to get well enough to see his beloved Cefn Cribwr play in the Ardal League South West. Because, after all, this club would quite literally be nothing without him.
"100 percent," Dryden replied. "Absolutely. It is a little trek, it's not around the corner, we have to travel to Cambrian in Clydach Vale, it's a good 20 minutes or half an hour for us. It's more likely he will see some of our away games which will be closer to Cae Gof than what Cambrian is.
"We want to be coming back to Cae Gof as an Ardal South West side playing out of Cefn Cribwr, which will be absolutely amazing."
