"FOREWORD"
"Our congratulations to the Swansea members of the first Welsh Squad. They all have their sights on a place in the final fifteen, but even if some do not make it they have been recognised as being among the best - a shot in the arm to them and great credit to Swansea, and their coach, Mike Ruddock, who has turned the club's fortunes around in so short a time."
"Most satisfying is the playing of the younger 'bench boys' who overwhelmed the Police and Bath during the festive season - they all played to the Ruddock recipe - a pattern that excites supporters and brings good results. Even the defeat at Lianelii was nothing to be ashamed of - Rugby pundits from Lianelii and Neath (and where better) have praised the improvement in the Whites play."
"Nice to see Mike Morgan back after injury and playing himself fit with Mumbles - I wonder if the day will ever come when the Whites have nursery clubs such as Waunarlwydd, Mumbles and Morriston - supporting them with cash or kind, somewhere to place future All Whites to gain experience. If all major clubs had such facilities, it would go a long way to stop claims of poaching etc."
"Today's visitors are promoted Newport - amazing how a team of such great traditions found itself in a position of having to be promoted to the top division of Welsh Club Rugby."
"They are now back where they belong and have proved the point by some stirling performances, although they have been restricted in selection due to numerous injuries - the latest being their very talented scrum half Llewellyn."
"Behind the scenes, great changes have been made, one being the appointment of fitness coach Tom Hudson, who has very strong links with Swansea. The ex Olympic & Commonwealth Games medal winner, was with the great Carwyn James, when Llanelli enjoyed a purple patch, carrying all honours before them. Since then he has exerted influence over Bath R.F.C. who during his association become England's top club, a thought to be bourne in mind when considering league positions in Division one next year. P.H.R."
"PRINCELY TRADITION"
"Uncle Joe worked on the railway. He began, as a lad, at his native Penarth. After a great many years, achieving the height of ambition, he returned there as its Station master. Were he ever active at sport, he never said so, but not only did he train boxers, he was also, at one time, trainer of Newport, where he was "stationed" (sorry!), for a long period."
"What's a hundred years? Well, it's achieved quite comfortably in two generations these days. Anyway I'm going back to 1890. The Newport fullback, Tommy England, had been selected for Wales, his first cap. The previous Saturday, he played for the club, and broke his leg. Uncle Joe helped to carry him from the field, while, on the stretcher, poor Tommy moaned "Oh, my cap! Oh, my cap?" But, could he have foreseen the future! For his replacement for Wales was the young W.J. Bancroft, who thus became the Welsh fullback in every International for the next eleven years, and Tommy never did get his cap. A sad story, indeed, nor was there absent, from old Uncle Joe's eye, the hint of a tear, as he used to relate it. I wonder whether it led to the practice of resting a player, the week before his first International. It ought to have done."
"I don't know whether Tommy England was still alive at the time, but if so, there might have been slight consolation in a little ceremony at St. Helen's, in April 1954, at the last International played there. The great Ken Jones was congratulated by the previous holder, on equalling his record 33 consecutive caps. The previous holder? W.J. Bancroft!"
"Much greater consolation must have come, however, for Tommy England was an important member of the invincible Newport side of 1892/93. Great days, indeed, for Newport! They had five forwards in the Welsh pack; and provided the Welsh captain, the legendary centre, Arthur Gould. Great days as well, for Wales! Two "Firsts"! They beat England for the first time, and gained their first Triple Crown."
"On an iron frost pitch at Cardiff, England, near the end, led 11, 9. Wales were awarded a penalty wide out. Uncle Joe was there, but he did not hear Arthur Gould's command, "Place it, Billy!" But he did see Bancroft (facing his own line), in an instant turn on his heel, and, in a flash, without apparent sighting, drop a perfect goal. 12:11, and Wales had won. But what if he'd missed!"
"More significant, triumph led immediately to that universal adoption of the Welsh system of four threequarters, eight forwards, which still obtains today. Previously, all other countries had played threequarters, and nine forwards. Arthur Gould had insisted on the adoption of the now familiar arrangement, in the teeth of strong opposition, not lease in Wales itself, but I suspect that his own prowess at centre had not a little to do with it. Yet few there can have been, who changed the game as he did. "The Prince of Players", they called him. (We, at Swansea, may also claim that the brothers James, at St. Helen's, had a couple of years earlier, revolutionised half-back play)."
"I saw an old photograph of Arthur, seated on what looked suspiciously like a polar bear skin, a similar one of Dickie Owen, taken ten years later, shows him reclining on the hide of a leopard. The macho image? (Well, anything less "macho" than Dickie can't be imagined.) The significance seems to be that such portrayals were reserved only for the very greatest players. Given the "politically correct" views of some people, the use of dead animals would probably now be "unacceptable". How would Arthur and Dickie be pictured now? Perhaps stretched across the bonnet of a Porsche."
"In 1980, Swansea and Newport were engaged in a semi-final at Cardiff. I was in the Enclosure, and, from the conversation before the game, I gathered that the two blokes alongside were from Bridgend. I plead guilty to mischief, for I suggested that the great sides of Wales were still Cardiff, Llanelli, Newport, and Swansea (this, of course, at a time when Bridgend had long established their credentials). Well, I asked for, and got it, in the heated, though friendly argument. Fortunately for me, our teams produced a splendid game; at the end of which, the Bridgend boys generously agreed it had been in keeping with the tradition of two great clubs. But it's a good job I didn't see them a month later, when Bridgend beat us in the Final."
"Tradition! It's a warm and comforting fabric. A proud thing it should be (and, I hope, still is) for a young player to don the Black and Amber, or the White. But tradition is far from enough, we are judged now, not by what we did a hundred, or fifty, or five, years ago, but by how we fared in the League last week. And if that seems cruel, then many will think it just."
"For Swansea, as for Newport, tradition, if it leads to ocmplacency, is not a friend, but a deadly enemy. Then let neither of us become complacent. If we do, neither past nor future will forgive us."
"BILL GREEN"