Yesterday was my first trip to Eugene Cross Park for as many as eight years.
I was a regular at Ebbw Vale before the advent of regional rugby in Wales, but the dawn of a new era in 2003 was a huge step backward for many Steelmen fans.
I have never supported the Rodney Parade-based Newport Gwent Dragons, the side which eventually emerged from the agreement between then-Premiership sides Newport and Ebbw.
Despite the recession, it seems Welsh rugby is doing alright.
The WRU must invest – and end the uncertainty surrounding the regional game – if the game is to continue to thrive at all levels
The WRU, which hopes to be debt free by 2021, today announced it would be investing £3.5m in rugby across Wales, including funding facilities for schools, grassroots clubs – up to £50,000 for each club – and the upkeep of the Millennium Stadium.
WRU Group Chief Executive Roger Lewis said today:
Working together for the benefit of all of Welsh rugby has to be the answer.
Quite. But money needs also to be set aside for the regional game, which has suffered through dwindling crowds and an exodus of top players to better-paid leagues.
Read more about the windfall at the blog run by An Early Bath‘s friend Trolley Boy.
Before regionalism, I went to most Ebbw Vale home games and a fair few away fixtures.
Indeed, some of my best sporting memories are of the Steelmen pulling off shock wins, most famously on November 7, 1998, when Ebbw beat the mighty Toulouse 19-11 in a filthy day in the valleys.
It was Ebbw’s only win in that season’s European Cup, and to come against the 1995-96 European champions was made even more remarkable by the fact Ebbw had been defeated 108-16 in France by the same opponents just seven weeks earlier.
Premiership:
Cardiff 24-30 Llandovery
Division One East:
Rumney 32-15 Beddau
Tredegar 11-18 Glamorgan Wanderers
Division One West:
Carmarthen Athletic 26-20 UWIC
Division Three South East:
Brecon 38-20 St Peter’s
Dowlais 8-21 Llanishen
Penarth 10-59 Fairwater
Pentrych P-P Gwernyfed
Rhiwbina 16-15 Tonyrefail
Division Four East:
Cwmbran 8-10 Cardiff HSOB
Division Four South East:
Llandaff 0-0 Wattstown
Penygraig 22-11 Llandaff North
Division Five South East:
Canton 12-16 Abertysswg
Old Illtydians 7-43 Old Penarthians
St Albans 10-16 Clwb Rygbi
St Joseph’s 38-0 Deri
Division Six Central:
Aberbargoed 21-15 Llanrumney
Caerau Ely 15-14 Cefn Fforest
Cardiff Saracens 12-10 Wick
CIACs 11-5 Cambrian Welfare
Division Seven:
Tongwynlais 79-7 Aberbeeg
An Early Bath 