Old Tyleryan
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OT’s in the 70’s
By Clive Jones, a past captain, who
has played for the club in every decade
since the 60s. He is now 68 and still
pulled his boots on up until a few years
ago. He is the current Treasurer and has
been for 40 years.
My first game was in 1966, having
played for the school in the morning,
there was a knock on the door asking if
my brother was available to play for OT’s
in Cardiff. As Alan was in Uni in London
I volunteered, so we walked down to bus
waiting on Main Road in Six Bells.
I scored a Try … disallowed! The T’s
looked after me so well that I had great
difficulty walking home. So the attraction
was certainly the social side which has
always been and continues to be superb,
and the open style of play, throwing the
ball about (unlike most Valleys teams of
the time) playing for FUN.
In the 70’s the team was sprinkled
with former 1st Class players having
a last Hurrah before retirement. Peter
Richardson, John Roberts and Dai
Liddington did a brilliant job of bringing
other players on.
From that era myself, Bob Everley,
Stuart Havard and others all played at
least some 1st class rugby. Stalwarts of
the club from that era included parents
of current players and Coach, Bryant
Chivers (Paul), Dai Smith (Hywel) and
Roger Darbo Williams (Damian Darbo).
Other players who continued to have
long connections were Richard Brewer,
Dai Mason and Roy Pickford.
Solicitor Howard Griffiths joined
us and introduced a new concept of
forwards running with the ball, not
just feeding our backs. I was recently
reminded of Bob Everley passing the ball
to Howard out on the wing inside our
own 25 yard line.
70 Issue 71
Howard played No8, looked more like
a prop, but he had been Monmouthshire
Schools hurdle champion and scampered
down the wing scoring in the corner. His
infamous comment to Bob as he slowly
returned to his own half “Don’t EVER do
that to me again”!
My Highlights of the 70’s:
1) Singing in the dressing room prior
to playing Cross Keys United in a playoff
for first place in a local league. My choice
of song was “Singing in the rain” - we
played on their ground under lights and
suffered a very narrow loss.
The previously mentioned Dai
Liddington drove down from North
Wales that day to play. A commitment
some of today’s players need to think
about.
2) Hosting the Japanese National
Rugby team in our club for a chill out
session after they played Abertillery.
Although not strictly in the 70’s as they
played in 1983.
3) Going on Tour with the T’s to Spain
two weeks after getting married. All of
us younger players took our kit only to
discover when we got there no game had
been arranged. If the wife had known I
doubt I would have made the trip! I did
get to see the beach for 5 minutes … on the
final day. In the departure lounge on the
way out we took over the announcement
system to sing Happy Birthday to Peter
Evans - Broadcast all over Luton Airport!
Security was a little more lax in those
days.
Not in the 70’s but I think Dewi Lloyd
and Paul Selway deserve a mention for
almost single-handedly keeping the
club going through a difficult period
during I think the 80’s? The 70s were a
very successful time for T’s winning far
more games than we lost and after a long
lean period it’s great to see the boys on
a winning streak again. Tours in the 70’s
were brilliant and recent tours have been
equally fantastic.