Rugby Club Issue 74 | Page 30

Crickhowell FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/RUGBYCLUBMAG Crickhowell RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB Crickhowell RFC disbanded in 1926 and was reformed in the Britannia Inn in 1980/81 after a break of 54 years. I have been involved since the beginning of the club as a player, fixture secretary and I am now the chairman. We started off as a pub based team but with great initial response decided to form a team to play competitive rugby. We played in the Gwent, Newport and Pontypool Premier League for several years and because of the interest shown we joined the National leagues with modest success over the years. After the disappointment of season 2015/16 when we failed to fulfil our 30 Issue 74 fixtures and reluctantly folded it was a great but challenging task to get a squad together. To generate some interest with ex-players and youth we were invited to Setubal in Portugal to enter their European City of Sport tournament. We went with a squad of 24 players, won the tournament and most of the players on returning committed to attempt to reform the club. My reward and justification has been to see a young side going unbeaten last season in the league, winning the Pontypool and District Cup and beating some good higher league clubs in the WRU National Bowl before losing to Nantgaredig by a slim margin. The challenge is now to keep the players I have and recruit to strengthen our squad for our next challenge in