Weekly ramblings from the Webmaster - odds and ends from the world of rugby and the North Wales area in particular
Please note that the views expressed in this ‘blog’ are my personal views and not necessarily the views of the North Wales Rugby Union Council
Hope you all enjoyed the break and welcome to the 2011-12 season!
For the next few weeks I’m going to be penning a few notes in an attempt to keep you all updated on what’s happening rugby-wise in our part of the Principality. I need your help to do this, please send me details of anything that’s happening at your club during the summer. I believe that there is an awful lot going on with 7’s tournaments, AGM’s, End of Season Dinners, Tours, Festivals etc but I need you to let me have the details if you want them put on to the web-site and in future newsletters.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the North Wales Youth Cup Final, followed by the Clwyd Districts Cup Final, both at Denbigh RFC. It will be difficult to find a more welcoming club than Dinbych (for various reasons it’s almost become my home club in the last month or so and the warm welcome is always the same).
The Youth Cup Final, between Ruthin and Rhyl, was a great advert for youth rugby in our region and the large crowd was treated to a high-class spectacle. Ruthin, already crowned North Wales Youth League winners, completed the double by securing the cup with a 30-14 scoreline.
Ruthin 2nds completed a great day for the club by defeating Colwyn Bay 2nds in the final of the Clwyd Districts Cup. A great day out and I gained a sun-tan at the same time.
Thanks to those of you who supplied some pictures from both these games.
I returned to Denbigh last Wednesday for the North Wales Junior Association Annual General Meeting and was pleasantly surprised to see how many were there. I’m trying to put some faces to the names of those people who are kind enough to send me info for the web-site so I spent quite a while scanning the attendance sheet, reading the names and trying to work out who was who.. we’ll get there soon.
The meeting was as you would expect at any AGM you have attended, those present have a little bit to say at the Matters Arising point of the Agenda but then you notice that the room starts getting a bit quieter as the ‘Appointment of Officers’ looms closer, suddenly everybody’s eyes are on their notes, too frightened to look up and catch the eye of the Chairman, a bit like being at an Auction.
Keith Hulse, Chairman and Registration Secretary, agreed to take on those posts again for the forthcoming season. Paddy Mullally, Secretary, was retiring so Julian Ferrari, WRU Development Officer, offered to take on that position. Will Morecombe agreed to continue being the Fixture Secretary.. this was going too well!
You may recall from an earlier post on the web-site and article in one of the newsletters that Keith had warned that next season, the policing of the ‘Pathway’ would be scaled up and he needed some extra members on the Committee to help carry out this role (spot checks at clubs on matchdays, checking ID cards, etc). For those taking on this task, they were assured that they would receive some ‘gear’ to wear while carrying out their task.. I’m assuming, looking at the job description, that the gear is something similar to a Police Riot Uniform. Watch out next season if you see a car pull up at your club and a Robocop look-alike heads towards your changing rooms!
Anyway, it appears that I’m now a Robocop representing the Powys end of the region… when Keith asked if there was anybody present from the bottom end of the region, I turned to my left just as Phil’s (from COBRA) head was disappearing under the table, he’d seen what was coming and had been slipping down his chair and out of view. My attempts to run his RSPCA van off the road on the Horseshoe Pass on the way home failed miserably.
Joking apart, it does appear that there are a number of clubs who are abusing the Pathway Laws and there will be a determined attempt next season to ensure clubs stay within the rules. You have been warned!’
I had a chat with Merv Picton at the end of the meeting and he told me that he was deeply concerned about the referee shortage that North Wales is likely to suffer.
Merv told me that during season 2010-11 he had approximately 35 referees he could call on, but for various reasons, about a dozen of these are unavailable for season 2011-12 and he has no immediate replacements. He said it was imperative that clubs in our region start looking for potential referees and put them forward for the upcoming referees courses.
The next Level 1 Referees Courses will be held on Sunday, 10th July at Llanidloes RFC, followed by a course on 24th July at Colwyn Bay RFC. Please make every effort to put forward as many potential referees as you can from your club.
Further details about the courses and application forms can be obtained from either David Davies at the WRU on 02920 822420 - davidrdavies@wru.co.uk or Marcia Harding at the WRU on 02920 822419 - mharding@wru.co.uk
Friday morning I received an email from one of my secret spies in the region (code name HR), informing me that COBRA and Bro Ffestiniog had been awarded full WRU status but could I not put it on the web-site until it was official. Difficult decision, my fingers were hovering over the keyboard wanting to tell the world this wonderful news but I had to respect my informant’s wishes (you all thought this webmaster job was easy didn’t you!). It could have been a bigger injunction story than the Ryan Giggs one (am I allowed to mention his name yet?) if I’d spilled the beans too early.
What do you do in a situation like this… go to the WRU web-site and pinch the story, surely this would be headline news. You’re right, not a mention. The main headline ‘Last few tickets remaining’. Mmmm.. Hopefully, there will be a news item soon from HQ in Cardiff when we can give these two clubs the full recognition that their tremendous achievement warrants. You cannot fail but to be impressed when you visit both Bro and COBRA and see the facilities that they can both offer. Congratulations to you both.
Friday night was AGM night at my own club, Welshpool, where I stepped down as Chairman after one season. Luckily those present were too kind to remind me that at last season’s AGM as I took the Chair I boldly told those present that under my Chairmanship this club would be going places! I was dreading somebody asking me if that at the time did ‘going places’ mean to Division 3… I’ll certainly be hoping to take some nice pictures of Anglesey next season, as we’ll be there every other week! I’m seriously thinking of buying a second home up there.
Just digressing here.. the other day I was looking at a match programme that I produced for Welshpool in 1998 (North Wales Division 1) and the league table at that particular week showed Bangor top, Welshpool 2nd and Caernarfon bottom. How things have changed.
Last minute I decided to go down to Cardiff for the Wales v Barbarians game and picked up one of the ‘last few seats remaining’ tickets at £40. A question for you all… is it better for the WRU to charge £20 a ticket and have 60,000 in the ground or £40 a ticket and have 30,000 in the ground? I know which I would choose, and I’m guessing that 90+% of you reading this (which could be about four people!) would also choose the £20 option and have a better atmosphere, more food and drink sales for the WRU etc. If anybody strongly disagrees and can explain why the £40 option is better please let me know. I’m sure you all saw the game so no comment from me on that.
Hardest task of the day for me was to buy a blue ladies WRU shirt for ‘she who must be obeyed’ and another for our daughter. The advert I received on my email offering these at a great discounted price did warn ‘please note that these sizes quoted are very tight fitting’. So… the wife wouldn’t be seen dead in one that’s tight fitting, the daughter won’t have one unless it is tight fitting.. what do you do? My first inclination was to arrive home and say that they were all sold out, second buy a couple of different sizes and let them fight over them. In the end I bought a large (which looks as though it might just fit on one of my daughter’s old Barbie dolls) and left it for them both to try on.
I did meet OG Williams in the centre of Cardiff and explained my dilemma to him. His solution, which I didn’t attempt, was to watch the women walking past, spot one that looked about the same size as my other half, and then ask the unsuspecting passer-by what size her shirt was!
Whilst talking shirts, can’t we have the old style cotton shirts back please? With a proper collar of course, something that the man with the fuller figure can wear..
My Wales on Sunday this morning tells me that Ruthin won the Llangoed 7’s, beating Bro Ffestiniog in the final and that Shotton won the morning competition, beating Ellesmere Port in the final. Congratulations to the winners.
This coming week I will be attending a meeting of the District Unions at Cardiff on Wednesday and hopefully paying a visit to the Golden Oldies Festival in Caernarfon next Saturday. Reports on both and anything else I hear about I’ll pass on next Sunday.
Again, my usual plea, please send details of anything that’s happening at your club to gwcymru1@aol.com for inclusion on the web-site
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