Llanelli are the Greatest - by W.H Clement
It is perhaps appropriate that in this period of count-down to the day when I shall ultimately withdraw from active official association with Rugby Union Football, I should turn my thoughts to how it all started and inevitably Stradey Park and Llanelli R.F.C will loom large in those thoughts.
Living as I did within hearing distance of Stradey Park, and having attended Old Road School and then Llanelli County School, as it then was, it was inevitable that an intense interest in Rugby Football would follow. Fed by tales of the stirring exploits of such great ones as Albert Jenkins, Ivor Jones, Ernie Finch, Dai John, Watcyn Thomas, and a host of others, my appetite for the Scarlets became insatiable, and my wish to one day wear the colours of Llanelli R.F.C became a burning ambition - one could almost call it an obsession.
Following a highly satisfactory apprenticeship at school and subsequently with Felinfoel R.F.C, who at that time fielded an entire half-back and threequarter line made up of ex-Llanelli County Schoolboys, the magic moment arrived with an invitation to play for Llanelli R.F.C in a missionary game at Penclawdd in early October, 1934. Thus started for me an unforgettable period of five years as a ''Scarlet'', a period which ended abruptly in September, 1939, with the outbreak of the 1939-45 war.
The five years playing association with Llanelli were five happy years, packed with incidents of fun, humour, emotion, frustration, triumph and, sometimes dejection. To recount even a small fraction of such incidents would take far more space than this article would allow. I will be content to recount two, both involving games against Swansea R.F.C, ''the All Whites'', and both played at St. Helens.
My first experience of top-class club rugby came with selection for the Scarlets to play against Swansea at St. Helens on a Thursday evening in late October. Only those who have experienced it can really describe the thrill of seeing my name on the team sheet displayed in the window of the Salutation Hotel on the day following team selection. I was thrilled, yet apprehensive, fully conscious that I would be opposite a flier in Harold Powell, a serious contender for international honours. I was also very much aware that at that time Swansea had a 100 per cent success record. The result, now a matter of history, was a triumph for the Scarlets and the personal satisfaction of two tries made possible by some immaculate timing passes by Bill (W.J) Thomas.
Another occasion involving a game against Swansea at St. Helens was far from pleasant. It was a game which, to say the least, was over-vigorous, in which there were some ugly incidents and which culminated in the cancellation of fixtures between Llanelli and Swansea. During the game, my immediate opponent, again Harold Powell, was injured and withdrew from the game. No replacements were permitted in those days and Joe White was withdrawn from the Swansea pack to fill the gap. I was terrified. Joe was one of the famous or notorious - depending on whether you were a Swansea or another club member - trio of White brothers, not renowned for their gentle approach. A little touch-line fracas erupted in which Joe played a prominent part and was laid out in the process. The referee, Mr. Fred Phillips of Pontarddulais, I believe, ordered Joe from the field, but he was unconscious and so was carried off by his colleagues. That is the first and only time I can remember when a sent-off player left the field in a horizontal position!
To return to Stradey Park. What a transformation from the pre-war period. What a monument to the far-sightedness of the administrators who acquired the freehold of a vast acreage of the Stradey estate for the everlasting benefit of Llanelli R.F.C. Contrast the present facilities with those of the 1930's - a communal bath plus one small shower point. It was a race to get into the bath early as late-comers emerged dirtier than they went in! Reception and refreshment facilities par excellence compared with none pre-war. Tours to such places as South Africa, Canada, America, etc. are the rule rather than the exception. Pre-war, a fixture which required an over-night stay was regarded as a tour!
For all the improvements, however, I venture to warrant that no-one could possibly enjoy more fun than I enjoyed playing for Llanelli R.F.C. in those far off days of the 1930's. And what of those whose company I shared as contemporaries? To name them all would be impossible, but one cannot omit Elvet Jones, a life-long friend and now President of the Club, with whom I spent many a training session plodding around Stradey in the darkness or, when limited lighting was introduced for training purposes, in semi-darkness, and with whom I toured South Africa as a member of the Lions in 1938. Bryn Evans, the ace of hookers now sadly passed on, an erudite conversationalist who emitted a grunt or two to prove his point. Ivor Jones, still going strong and still regarded with awe in New Zealand following his outstanding displays as a member of the 1930 Lions team. W.R.J (Reg) Jones, immaculately groomed, with his slick, well-brushed and brylcreamed black hair. D.L Thomas, a five-foot-nothing youngster from LLandovery College with quick-silver feet and the heart of a lion. Gwyn Treharne, J.R Thomas, Fred Rees, Will Williams, Gibbs Davies, Emlyn Hughews (Uncle of Emlyn Hughes of Liverpool and England soccer frame), Emrys Evans, Fred Morgan, Jim and Will Lang, and on and on, a never-ending list. Special mention must be made of Glyn Elias, a product of Pontyberem with whom I struck up a highly successful left flank partnership and who, I was convinced, was destined for higher honours had he not taken the plunge and sought his fortune up North.
And so the reminiscing could go on indefinitely. Time and space decree otherwise, however, and it only remains for me now to repeat the obvious. Llanelli R.F.C and Stradey Park occupy a very special place in my life and for me rank as the greatest Rugby Club and club ground anywhere in the world. As an ex-Scarlet, what else can I say?
reproduced from the Llanelli RFC booklet 'Into the Eighties'
