Once, the story goes, Penarth RFC’s forwards were packing down for a scrum when one of their number started singing — as you do.
A team-mate joined in and before long the entire Seasiders’ eight were operating in perfect harmony: baritones, tenors, bass, the lot. Supporters that night were treated to the sight and sound of a singing scrum. Had Harry Secombe featured at tight-head prop the picture would have been complete.
For sure, rugby life was taken less seriously by some in those days.
Read next: Finding the much-loved Wales rugby players who disappeared off the radar
But then leagues were introduced in 1990 and everything changed. The question was what would Penarth do with their musical set-piece? And how would others fare?
And how have they coped since?
MARK ORDERS takes a look at what’s become of some of the clubs who made up the old Western Mail Unofficial Welsh Club Championship.
Aberavon
A great old club to start, five-times winners of the unofficial Welsh club title, they were renowned as a team who played flowing rugby but they also had a tradition for tough, hard forward play. Few took liberties with Aberavon packs that contained the likes of Billy Mainwaring, Max Wiltshire and flanker Omri Jones. A copper known as Om the Bomb, Jones was said to have been “as hard as anthracite”.
The onset of leagues in Wales found the Wizards a shade down on their luck — they had finished 17th in the unofficial Welsh championship and so had to make do with a place in the new set-up’s second tier rather than in the top flight. Within two seasons they had won promotion. But professionalism changed everything and Aberavon were unable to seriously compete for top honours before the game went regional.
The club had a brush with relegation from the Welsh Premiership in 2014 when they went into the final day of the league season with themselves and Swansea battling to stay up. During the build-up to his club’s date with destiny, chairman Andrew Vaughan John told this writer: “We’ll never be in this position again.”
They haven’t been. Coached by Jason Hyatt, they have re-established themselves as one of the leading sides in Welsh club rugby and will play in the Welsh Premiership Cup final against Newport later this month.
Bridgend
Another classy outfit in their pomp, with fast backs and combative forwards, Bridgend were rarely less than hard to beat and rarely less than easy on the eye.
Former Welsh champions, they won the Welsh Cup in 1979 and 1980 with a side that featured JPR Williams and Steve Fenwick and a rugged pack that could give as good as they got against any opposition.
The early years of league rugby saw Bridgend comfortably anchored in the top flight, though the challenges of professionalism were felt by them in common with almost every other leading Welsh club. A notable success came in 2003 when the Brewery Men won the league title, only for regionalism to be ushered in, meaning they couldn’t defend their crown in the form they had won it. Leighton Samuel had invested around £3 million in the club. He said after being presented with the trophy: “It’s the most expensive vase in the world.”
These days Bridgend are at the bottom of the Welsh Premiership.
All who have enjoyed what the club have stood for over the years will hope for an upturn.
Cardiff
Self-styled as ‘The Greatest’ amid wins over New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, the big three touring teams, Cardiff RFC were famed the world over for the quality of both their players and their performances. When leagues kicked in, they weren’t in especially fine fettle, having finished 10th in the Welsh Club Championship the season before, sandwiched between Maesteg and Abertillery.
It was thought the weekly grind of playing for points might not be to their liking, but Cardiff went on to win two league titles in the first 10 seasons of the new era.
When regionalism started in 2003-04 they negotiated standalone status for the new era while calling themselves Cardiff Blues with Cardiff RFC playing in the Welsh Premiership. In reality, the Blues were a continuation of the old Cardiff club, and from the start of this season they started calling themselves Cardiff Rugby, with Cardiff RFC effectively functioning as their second team and still competing in the Premiership.
Ebbw Vale
Rewind to 1998 and Vale had suffered a 108-16 defeat in Toulouse, with the French aristocrats running in 16 tries on a golden autumn afternoon. As the beaten Welsh players left the field, No. 8 Mark Jones announced to anyone who was listening: "We’ll all be back in Ebbw Vale in a couple of months — bring your snow boots."
The Steelmen duly avenged the setback with a 19-11 win at Eugene Cross Park.
It showed the character of the club, and you can read about that remarkable turnaround here.
Ex-Welsh champions, they went into the inaugural league season as a side who had finished 13th in the unofficial table the campaign before. They got their act together with Oasis’ manager Marcus Russell becoming chairman. He would later say running Vale at a time of huge turbulence in Welsh rugby was harder than running Oasis, the Gallagher brothers and all.
But Vale have never looked back in anger.
It’s been an up-and-down ride in the regional era, though, with the club falling out of the top flight and then winning back their place before securing the Premiership title under Nigel Davies in 2016.
Llanelli
Like Cardiff, Llanelli secured standalone status when rugby in Wales went regional 19 years ago. We must cut to a meeting in Aberavon the previous season where the then Swansea RFC board member Mike James was discussing with this writer the perceived advantages of merging with their rivals from across the Loughor Bridge. Enter Llanelli’s then chief Stuart Gallacher, less than impressed with James’ ideas. “It will never happen,” he said. “Understand this: it will never happen.”
Nor did it.
The late Gallacher, a warhorse for Llanelli in every respect, reasoned that if his club teamed up with the All Whites under one banner they would be effectively swallowed up by their city neighbours.
So Llanelli Scarlets went into regional rugby and were pretty much the same beast as the world-renowned Llanelli RFC of Phil Bennett, Delme Thomas, Gareth Jenkins, JJ Williams and all, synonymous with style and swagger. Gallacher wanted to build on all that history — you might have heard that Llanelli beat the All Blacks in 1972.
If not, keep up.
Today, the club officially titled as Llanelli play in the Welsh Premiership, currently placed 11th of 12 teams. The Scarlets operate at Welsh rugby’s top table.
Maesteg
“I used to use my experiences playing away at Maesteg as inspiration before England v Wales games.” So said England hooker Brian Moore after Maesteg opted to drop down from Division One West Central to Division Three East Central in 2018.
What a tumble for a club with a rich rugby history, the high points including an invincible season of 1949-50 and a 10-10 draw with the Maori in 1982.There were also Merit Table title triumphs in 1978 and 1979 when their pack was the envy of many and in fly-half Gwyn Evans they had a wonderful game-controller.
They won promotion to the top flight after a single season of leagues but they found it hard to sustain such success, a situation that didn’t get any easier when professionalism started up and the new tricks of pay-for-play were found to be increasingly hard for the Llynfi Valley club to learn.
A desperate shortage of players forced the Old Parish to self-demote through the leagues four years ago. On one dismal evening, the number who reported for training could have been accommodated in a medium-sized family car.
Since then Maesteg have won a promotion to Division Three West Central B but it’s a long way back to their former glories for an iconic club long considered one of Wales’ friendliest.
Neath
Nor has it been sunshine all the way for the team who were on top of the pile in Wales before leagues were brought in. Under Brian Thomas, Ron Waldron and Glen Ball, they had become the most feared side in Britain, with opponents often being flogged by 50 points or more.
They carried their success into the league era, winning the first Heineken League Premier Division crown and following it up with another title triumph in 1995-96. Neath also finished top of the club scene in Wales five times in the first seven years after the game went regional.
But there have been significant bumps in the road, with the well-documented financial issues hitting hard in the second half of the 1990s and more recent problems amid the winding up of then owner Mike Cuddy’s construction business Cuddy Group.
All appears stable now, with the club competing near the top of the Welsh Championship.
Newport
It’s one of the most heart-warming stories of the season to see Newport RFC burning it up at the head of the Welsh Premiership. This famous old club, one of Welsh rugby’s traditional big four, didn’t win a title in the league era until 2003-04, after the game went regional, and haven’t won one since. But they have been playing some sparkling rugby this term.
Despite their history, which includes the famous triumph over the All Blacks in 1963, they weren’t in prime shape immediately before leagues started, finishing 14th in the unofficial Welsh club championship.
But they got their act together quickly to win promotion to the Premier Division within a season. Earlier this term, a deal was agreed for them to play most of their fixtures at Spytty Park.
Penarth
“What will you do when leagues come in?” So ran the question in Penarth’s clubhouse the year before Welsh rugby was restructured along competitive and democratic lines in 1990.
“We’ll find our level,” came the insouciant answer from a club official.
These days, the level is Division 3 East Central A.
It’s a far cry from when Penarth swanked it among the elite and hosted the Barbarians as the opening leg of their south Wales Easter tours. That said, they were a club who never took themselves too seriously, and playing for them was often considered enjoyable, despite countless challenging campaigns.
When leagues started they endured a predictably awful season in terms of results, losing all 14 games and scoring just nine tries. One of their coaches who left the club during the campaign said he could not take it any more and the club were living in Never Never Land. There were some who feared for Penarth’s future.
But they have survived, albeit in less exalted company.
And last week’s 64-7 league win over Penygraig was something to celebrate.
Perhaps there’s something to be said for a team finding its level, after all.
Pontypridd
The Valley Commandos had long-established themselves as one of Welsh rugby’s toughest, hardest-to-beat teams long before they hit a hot spot in the 1990s when Neil Jenkins, Paul John, Nigel Bezani, Dale McIntosh and Phil John were in their pomp. They finished eighth in the Welsh Club Championship in the year before leagues.
In the 1975-76 season, they were Merit Table champions and also Welsh club kings for the second time in their history, with Tom David, Bob Penberthy, Brian Juliff, Adrian Barwood, Chris Seldon and Ian Walsh among the stars of a side that lost just three games all season.
They rose to the challenge of leagues, with Jenkins and Co helping the club to the title in 1997-97, while there was a cup final triumph over Swansea in 1995.
In 2003 Ponty and Bridgend teamed up to launch Celtic Warriors, a regional side that lasted for only a season before being wiped off the Welsh rugby map. Pontypridd went on to win four Welsh Premiership crowns in the 2010s and have remained a respected force in the competition. Theirs is a club with spirit. Huge spirit.
Pontypool
“The true test of nerve in Welsh rugby is to stand underneath a high ball with snow on it at The Park while the Pontypool pack rush forward like hounds from hell.”
So said the Western Mail’s John Billot back in the day.
Those were the days, my friend, plenty at Pooler must have thought, or wished, they’d never end, when the club had Charlie Faulkner, Bobby Windsor, Graham Price, Terry Cobner and Jeff Squire in a pack that would have made some small armies run for the hills, with coach Ray Prosser the inspiration for all.
They built a wonderful side in the 1980s, too, with David Bishop and Mark Ring to the fore, winning the Welsh club title in 1987-88 and losing just two games in all competitions. Some of Pooler’s rugby that year was breathtaking. “The best player in the northern hemisphere,” Neath team boss Brian Thomas called Bishop; everything Ring touched turned to gold. Happy days.
Unfortunately, leagues proved tougher for the Gwent club. At various points, they have been relegated and promoted and demoted again. Despite going entire seasons without losing in the Championship, hurdles put in their way have prevented them from winning back the top flight place they lost in 2013. It has never seemed entirely fair.
They currently lie fourth in the Championship.
South Wales Police
South Wales Police RFC had been established in June 1969 when the rugby teams of different police forces amalgamated. They became a member of the unofficial Welsh championship and didn’t take long to become a significant force. In their golden era of the 1980s, the boys in blue supplied a rich seam of internationals to Wales, including Richie Donovan, Bleddyn Bowen, Steve Sutton, Richie Collins, Martyn Morris, Hugh Williams-Jones and John Wakeford.
The club won promotion to the premier division of Welsh rugby’s new league structure within two seasons of it being set up but the elevation didn’t prove a happy affair, with the Police finishing bottom of the top flight the following year. They were never to compete at such a level again, with the professional era kicking in.
In November 2012, they withdrew from division five south central of the WRU league because they could no longer raise a team. It was a poignant exit, made even sadder by the fact that their passing as a competitive league club barely registered on Welsh rugby’s radar screen. Sutton later reflected on how their decline had become inexorable amid dwindling player numbers.
“We used to have a tremendous turn-out for the bigger matches back in the Eighties – 3,500, maybe more, on special occasions,” he said. “The South Wales Police rugby club was bopping at the time. Sadly, it went from that to two men and a dog.”
Perhaps, it got really serious when the dog stopped coming.
Today, the team play in police competitions.
Swansea
Last but very definitely not least, it’s the famous All Whites, who ended the pre-regional era with a sixth-place finish in the Welsh Club Championship and a run to the semi-finals of the Welsh Cup. They are another club with a stellar history — the first in the world to down the three major southern hemisphere sides, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. Like their neighbours the Scarlets, Swansea were famed for playing with panache and swagger.
But the first season of league rugby didn’t go well for the St Helen’s club, who finished eighth out of 10 in the top flight. Enter Mike Ruddock, who transformed Swansea’s fortunes to the extent that they won the title the following campaign. It was the start of a golden era for the club which saw six trophies banked over 10 seasons, including four league crowns, John Plumtree maintaining the Whites’ momentum after Ruddock departed.
Today, Swansea are a Welsh Premiership club, positioned 10th in the club top flight in Wales at the time of writing.
