Pen(arth) State Rugby 2

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Two years ago round September was the last time I watched a rugby game featuring Penarth RFC. It was the start of the season and they got beaten in the Welsh Division 2 East Central League by Aberdare. Two seasons later I'm back given that a combination of not working on this particular Saturday and this being the best sporting fixture on offer for me (on an equation of distance divided by cost - £3 by the way including the programme).

This time though this game is in the butt end of the season. Also Penarth are now in Division 3A East Central (a league that suddenly sounds like a class at school) so had been relegated since I'd last seen them. Penarth are ninth in a twelve team league. I don't to be honest know how the promotion/relegation is worked out here, but I overheard someone say as long as they won they'd b safe. They were playing Old Illtydians which at the start of the game were symbolic of mid table respectability given that they were sixth. On paper then they were the favourites.

It was a bright day and the sun shone. Being Wales in March though what to wear is not an easy choice. Braver spectator souls than me plumped for the t-shirt/blouse look. Me I put a jacket on.

As I entered the ground a blonde in sunglasses was by a stool drinking something purple, Further along another blonde was sitting on the ground drinking beer. Me I just went to the bar and manfully ordered a can of coke. Before the game a couple crossed the pitch to the other side, the man holding a glass of beer as well. Yes it was that relaxed.

Unlike last time I wanted to watch the game from the stand instead of being up close as previously. My fifty five year old bones couldn't take the strain anymore. However I couldn't find out how to get up there. Why? Well I'd overheard a conversation saying that the insurance was revoked for fear that the stand would collapse to the floor below. Obviously my bones were not the only things unable to take the strain. Needless to say was happy to stand then.

The team seemed to have have a problem of retrieving rugby balls when they went over the roof. Thankfully they did have a ball retrieving facility present.

State Of The Art

A quick note about the main sponsor for the Old Illtydians. It was something called The Philarmonic. I'd like to think it was a Classical orchestra if only because it make a change from a gambling website but I've no idea. Not even their website gives any clues. Another of their shirt sponsors is The Trojan Group, celebrating a side who let's face it, lost.

Along from where I was standing there were two young women observing the warm-up.

"Lush" I heard one of the Penarth players say as a pair of them approached the ladies.

Now I've never heard a man use the word lush before unless he was talking about grass or carpet. In this case he was talking about the dog the women had with them. I've no idea whether there was already a relationship there, the players were being players or there was a true love of the domestic wolf  but whatever the reason the men started to chat with the women and stroke the dog until in true sitcom fashion were called to join the rest of the team before they could continue further.

And before the game began I needed to do this.

Evidence

I hereby claim to be the first man to read an Alan Coren book during the intervals of a Welsh rugby match.

And so the game began. It was the visitors who instantly started the most brightly. Pressing Penarth nearly at their own line.

"Already!" I heard a boy's voice cry out. Which seemed to suggest that an early attack on the Penarth line was not an unusual thing. This seemed to continue for most of the early stages of the game. Until one Penarth player was upended by his opponent in a style best described as WWE. As it was the wrong move in the wrong sport however the Old Illtydian player involved was sinbinned. Penarth was a player up.



The advantage told. Penarth scored a try as a gap was spotted in Old Illtydians defence.

"Simple Rhys Simple" bellowed an instruction from the Penarthian bench to the team captain. I am assuming that was a tactical instruction than a comment on the man's intelligence.

The next score was a penalty by the away team.

In the previous game I've seen here a guy got injured and had to be taken from the game. This happened here. For five minutes he lay on the ground whilst paramedics dealt with what it turned out to be his left arm. Whatever the reasons why people play rugby never forget that it's a tough game with no American football style padding. He walked off the pitch with that arm heavily strapped.

And you remember that couple who walked along the pitch during the pre match warm-up? Whilst the guy was being treated they walked across the pitch back to the other side.



A brunette was trying to control a dog on a lead. So many dogs in this place. Not easy for a domestic wolf a phobic like me.

"He's a very good boy" she tells her friends....yeah right.

Another yellow card for Old Illtydians another gap in numbers another try for Penarth. It was how the second half ended. Full strength the away side were the better team. But Penarth took advantage of the extra man, as they should.

The Brunette with the dog came back carrying the domestic wolf.

"He can smell the food" she said. A consequence of which presumably was that the wolf was so bloated it couldn't be bothered to walk and needed the help of his owner. Though under the circumstances who owned who was debatable.

A group of teenage children pass by. One girl shouts

"Hi dad"

Dad, a few feet away from me shouts "Stay away from the boys" and it turns out one boy in particular. That moment I suspect I'll be saying the same thing to daughter is coming soon for me too.

The opponents score. But from the kickoff Penarth immediately score a try. Missed exactly how but it appears the Old Illitydian player misjudged the ball and the Penarth player was able to swoop and score. The Old Illitydian player is distraught. Sitting on the ground, staring at the grass as if to say "What have I done". A Penarth player rubs the guys hair in that sort of mixture between commiseration and mockery.

Now a Penarth player gets sinned binned. No idea why. No problem either as they score two quick tries thanks to Richard Bowen, aka "Ritchie. Comparatively small he was nonetheless able to go through gaps in the defence against him and make that killer pass enabling space for the try to be made,

There's another woman with a dog. A small thing ready it appears to bite my ankles in a second.

Another set of tries for both sides. Unlike Old Illtydians I forgot Penarth had been a man short for a portion of the game. That's how good they were second half.



I hear dogs growling at each other. Rather that than they growl at me. If it wasn't for the leads their owners are using to restrain them my money would have been on the pocket beast vs the lazy one (yes him. The one I mentioned earlier).

The whistle is blown Penarth win. Given their dominance in the second half the win was deserved.

Thankyou Penarth RFC and Old Illtydians RFC.

Dogs aside. It was fun.

Until the next time.

Pen(arth) State

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It's a Saturday. But sporting wise not a normal Saturday. For due to the international break there's not that many club football games being played. Instead football focus has been on the World Cup qualifying games. The previous night England beat Malta in a match which until the final few minutes was so dull it almost cure my insomnia. Later Wales were facing Austria. But for that afternoon rugby entered my thoughts. The friendlies were now over.

The season had begun.

A quick check revealed that the closest game being played to me was in Penarth RFC who were playing Aberdare at 2:30 in the very precise WRU National League Division 2 East Central. I decided to leave where we're currently renting an hour earlier. A friend of the wife's was visiting.

"Oh you're seeing the Pens!"

I really had no idea what this woman was talking about. Still bid them my goodbyes and off I went.

It wasn't that far away. Parked nearby. Only when entering the ground I realised I'd forgotten to bring a book with me to read during the interval. Now that was irritating.

So paid my fee and walked along the path. On the pitch both teams were training.




What was clear was that the management of either side were blessed with never needing a microphone. In terms of Aberdare that meant pre watershed language. Now I've never understood this. I get angry management during a game and of course at the end. But the purpose of pre game anger management has passed me by.

The Penarth voices weren't pre watershed but just as loud.

"Latch onto him!" came the cry as one guy seemed to avoid his team mates.

The Snakes (Aberdare) in training

The club has a stand if you want to go and watch the game there (personally I preferred to spectate using the traditional "leaning on a fence" method.

And the crowd. Well obviously not the attendance for a top tier Welsh Club in the Pro 14. However far more than the "five men and a dog" audience that this tier of rugby was described to me earlier this week. There were many men....and dogs.....and women....and children.

As an area Penarth has a reputation for being relatively affluent and although I think the reality is a little more complex than that it's certainly true that parts of it are well off. I'm saying all of this because if you're after symbolism I'll give you this.

Now you might notice the tanned object in the centre of the photo near the pitch.......that was a champagne cork.

They also have bistro rugby spectating areas.

Took this during half time. Whilst the match was on it was full

All very sophisticated. Less so when the people had to hurriedly move to avoid the overkicked ball coming their way.

So the match began.



In the early stages the home side piled on the pressure.



"Go Pens!" came the shout. Ah I get it now. Pens is short for Penarth. Sometimes can be slow on the uptake.

I noticed a Penarthian player with a ponytail. He threw himself to every tackle, ran for every ball as if to say judge me on what I do not on my hairstyle. Another Penarth player sidelined until the second half was a stocky man with a large black beard. Imagine son of Santa playing before going for a stint as a Cardiff nightclub bouncer and an accurate picture would emerge. The Penarth team clearly consisted of men who were if nothing else prepared to battle for their team.

But the first try was Aberdare's. An interception roughly at the half way line, a race to the goal, a pass and a try. It was impressive it has to be said. Perhaps swearing at the players does help.

My attention was distracted for a moment from the game. When I turned back a young man was on the floor. The physio was attending to his leg. The man's face was in his hands. He was in pain. Eventually a stretcher had to be brought out. Thankfully later on he was driven by private car to the hospital (the fact it wasn't by ambulance gave you some cause for hope).

The above lasted for quite a while and it did make me think. For young men being in a rugby team gives them a bit of kudos with their peers, allows them to dream of a tomorrow playing for Cymru in a red shirt and probably makes it easier to impress women. The downside to that though is that probably sooner than most other men of their age they realise that they're not invincible.....that pain hurts.

The match restarts. Suddenly I feel a scrabbling in my leg. It turns out to be a black poodle. Regular readers will know my phobia to dogs. The owner picks the mutt up.

"Sorry" she says and then goes on to say that the poodle was after the legs of the man next to me. What am I supposed to say after that? Flattered?

During a scrum Penarth score with the resultant try. Soon afterwards a penalty is awarded to the Pens (I'm with the lingo now) and the half is finished at 10-8 to the home team.....which makes me think I've missed something along the way.....I'm blaming the dog.



So the break and I'm hungry. I buy a sausage roll not realising that it's spicy. This means that I need to get a coke from the bar. So queue dutifully. second half begins and whilst waiting Aberdare score.

Now I didn't see that try. But from the other tries Aberdare scored in the half it probably involved someone breaking through the Penarth defence and either running through or passing to a team mate to rack up the points. As the first half was close the second was just the snakes steamrollering of the opposition.





It finished 10-39. Though knew they was beaten did not realise until the announcer gave out the score that Penarth did not add a single point to their total in the second half. Aberdare were just that dominant. Not so much snakes on a train as snakes on a roll.

And this is what rugby should be. Local teams supported by local fans plus the odd stray English man wandering in.

Until the next time,