Rain stops play for Old Boys (From Penarth Times)

Rain stops play for Old Boys

IF THERE were any hopes that even Cwrt-y-vil's marvellous surface could have survived Friday's torrential rain, they were quickly dispelled the following morning when chairman Mel Jones faced danger of drowning in the surface water that remained after the dawn downpours.

He was left with little option other than to postpone the match with Pontyclun that had been scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately, the Thirds' proposed trip to Wick had already fallen foul of the opposition's inability to field a full complement and, when the Seconds' game at Canton also fell foul of the weather, a potentially full fixture programme went by the board.

This was much to the despair of team manager Bob Denning who had seen his unstinting devotion to the telephone bear fruit for once, as he succeeded in mustering probably the strongest batch of players available so far this term.

Not that the Old Boys were the only sides to suffer from the weather.

Neighbours Penarth were forced to call off their home game with Cowbridge on the Friday, whilst Rhiwbina, 29-12 winners at home to South Wales Police, were the only Club in Division 5 South East able to fulfil their scheduled fixture.

For Penarthians, cancellation of the Pontyclun game was a major disappointment.

Not only did it deny the players an opportunity to shake off the cobwebs after three weeks of inactivity, but it also prevented them for preparing for the difficult game at Cefn Coed this weekend.

The Merthyr based side were narrow 22-18 winners when they visited Cwrt-y-vil at the end of September, but their recent run of form has seen them register some impressive victories in a sequence of five successes from six outings.

The latest of these involved divesting Bridgend Sports of their 100 per cent record and top place in the division by virtue of the 14-7 win that was achieved when the sides recently met at Bridgend's Bandstand Field.

With the Cefn Coed fixture scheduled for kick off at 2.30pm, Penarthians Seconds are undertaking a match at home with similar kick off time, visitors to Cwrt-y-vil being Cathays.

Sponsorship of the Welsh Rugby Union's national league structure has now been taken over by supermarket giants ASDA, with a spin-off at local level as the corporation seeks to associate itself with clubs in the area of its stores.

Penarthians are delighted that they have been selected by the Cardiff Bay outlet to benefit from support and publicity.

Already the Old Boys have received raffle support to assist with fundraising activities although the identity of the first winner caused a major uprising with the announcement of the name of Fixture Secretary Peter Goodfellow - prompting verbal but anonymous accusations of "fix"!

The club is grateful for this welcome involvement from ASDA, and it is to be hoped that the players can start to put together a series of results that will ensure that the relationship generates some advantageous publicity.