Local Derby

Decided to do something a bit different today. Pontypridd were away in Jersey playing in the British and Irish Cup, so we were at a loose end. A quick look through the fixture lists and there was a game that caught my eye. Pontyclun were playing my home town Tonyrefail in a local derby. We decided that's where we wanted to be.

The weather gods decided to have a right laugh at us. Up until the moment we walked out the front door it had been horizon to horizon blue skies. By the time we got to the car door it had clouded over and was picking with rain! Great! By the time we got to Windsor Park the sky was ink black. Five minutes after kick off we were being pelted by hailstones! Arrgh!

Luckily Mother Nature felt a little more benevolent by half time, and decided to give us the remaining two seasons for the second half, when the sun came out and it warmed up nicely.

The on field action hotted up to boiling point half way through the first half, when, as usually happens in local derby, a good old fashion bout of knocking the seven bells out of each other right in front of us. I say right in front of us, if we hadn't have moved we would have actually been in the fight, as it spilled off the pitch. I was mildly amused by the fact the referee and several players were trying to calm it down, and the bloke stood next to us was yelling encouragement like "stamp on his head", "give him a twatting". This was proper grass roots rugby!

The match was rather one sided. Pontyclun were (and are still) undefeated, and looked a pretty formidable outfit. Tonyrefail have just appointed a new full time coach, having been coached by Welsh International (and Tonyrefail Legend) Matthew Rees for the past month or so. The final score was 58-13 to Pontyclun.

It was an utterly enjoyable afternoon watching some proper grass roots rugby, played by players of all shapes and sizes. We had a couple of pints in the clubhouse afterwards to finish things off.

I've made a start on editing the photos, and I've got some crackers it must be said. I could have chosen one of about half a dozen for the blip, but opted for this one, as it makes a nice change to have a good action shot of a player running right at you!

The rest are on my Flickr site, and you can see them here.