Bethesda's 'Spud' recalls the visit of Fiji to the club on their 1986 tour of South America and Europe.
Some years ago in 1986 a team of Fijians took a huge tour of South America and Europe and you may well ask how C R Bethesda got involved.
John Davies, the then secretary of North Wales District J, made a phone call to myself and was looking for a club to accommodate the Fijians for one night. John knew of the warm welcome that C R Bethesda give to everyone that crosses the threshold of the club.
The night before I was invited to a reception at Plas Menai hosted by the then Arfon Council. The Fijian guest’s were smartly dressed in traditional costume of long skirts and Fijian shirts to match.
The council and the guests made the customary speeches and the buffet was declared open, it was a traditional buffet of sandwiches, meat platter and a variety of fruits. What was to come was a bit of a shock the guests ignored the traditional buffet and went for and finished all the fruit.
As the night wore on I got talking to my now friends from the Pacific Islands, I was asked by members of the C R Bethesda whether I could persuade some of them could come up a bit earlier and show off their brilliant skills and help in a training session which they agreed.
They then asked me if they could bring their guitars with them to the club, well that brought a big smile to my face. It was nice to have been in attendance on the night that gave us an idea what to expect the following night.
Well this was not the case at all, after organising a buffet that the members and an excellent input by our wife’s and girlfriends I had a panic attack I thought that they only ate fruit. I arrived home in a panic and told Gaynor they only ate fruit! Well Gaynor was off in the morning to get all the fruit she could get so now we were ready.
The advance party of 5 Fijians arrived and a great hour of skills presentation and coaching took place and one of them was a very young Waisale Serevi who dazzled the rugby world with his amazing skills in 7’s and the 15 man game. He was unknown at the time and I found out afterwards when he became famous.
After I was asked the question about the guitars we hurriedly asked the famous Penrhyn Choir if they could attend and they managed about 20 in number. The night started with speeches by local councillors and then rugby officials on both sides and the traditional exchange of plaques.
The buffet was declared open and, as is traditional, it was guests first up and the table looked amazing with a wonderful centrepiece of fruits. The brewery had chipped in with a barrel of beer which our guests were savouring. Well it was nothing like the previous night the sandwiches and meats were devoured by what must have been about 30 starving Fijians and everyone else in the club ended up with one sandwich and a plateful of fruit!
The night continued with song and laughter, their singing was something special that only the Fijians can do and Welsh singing was very prominent like only the Welsh can do. It was an unforgetful night for all of us and I wonder how our guests enjoyed the night as they all left with huge smile and full stomachs.
The tour was organised and led by Arthur Jennings, Fijian born and raised who went to play his rugby in New Zealand. He was the first Fijian born to pull on an All Black jersey when he toured with the All Blacks to the UK, France, and Canada. He played 6 games on tour from the second row but did not get a test shirt.
On reading a rugby publication I read that the tour came to a sour end when in London the player's seats on the flight home were sold to bucket seat shops.In those days seats were bought and sold in shops and some of the players had to hang around till cheap seats became available.
Some years later a C R Bethesda player Rhys Hywel and his now wife Nia visited Fiji on a gap year. They checked in to hotel in Suva and got a nice shock as, taking pride and place in the bar, was a C R Bethesda plaque made of Phenryn Blue slate. Rhys was not aware that the owner of the hotel was Arthur Jennings. When Rhys told us the story of the plaque it brought a huge smile to all at the club.
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