Hall of Fame @neathsupporters

Tonight saw the first Neath Supporters Club Hall of Fame, celebrating some legends that have pulled on the All Black shirt and played with passion for Neath R.F.C.

It’s been a difficult couple of years for our club, and just this week there’s been a threat to wind the club up for an unpaid bill to the local council. You’d think this event would have been held at our club to raise some money, but it appears the clubhouse was already booked, although it didn’t look all that busy from the cricket club where we were. But enough controversy, this was a night to celebrate all that is good about our club, our proud history and some outstanding legends of the game.

First up to speak was Mike Price, our secretary and historian, he took us through the great names from the start of the club up to the present day, and then it was time for the inductees to be announced. The first inductee was the incomparable loosehead prop from the 80s/90s in Brian Williams, sadly no longer with us, he epitomised the Neath spirit rough, tough, abrasive, passionate and skilful. It was quite an emotional moment as daughters came up to accept the Hall of Fame cap in his honour.

The next inductee was Brian Thomas, a servant to Neath as a player and team manager and again sadly no longer with us. His cap was presented to his daughter. Next up was the little wing wizard Shane Williams, a huge favourite at the Gnoll but as he is coaching in Japan at the moment he was only able to send a video message. The fourth inductee was Steve Powell, an unsung hero who played in most of the positions on the park but gave everything to the Neath cause.

The last inductee was the legend Dai ‘the Shadow’ Morris, a shy, unassuming man from Rhigos but an absolute man mountain on the pitch. It was wonderful to hear from the great man as he paid tribute to his team mates for allowing him the opportunity to achieve what he achieved.

After all the presentations our former captain, Gareth Llewellyn then regaled us with great stories from his days with Neath, stories of tours to France and Ireland, and of some of the great characters of his time. There were some cracking stories and he had the room in stitches with some of the antics that went on. To end the evening Gareth and James Hook did a Q&A session.

The evening was a resounding success and showed what could be achieved when people work together. A big thanks to the Supporters Club committee in Len, Huw and Dawn, all your hard work paid off in a great evening!

To steal one of Gareth Llewellyn’s jokes, this is me and Gareth between us we have 92 Welsh caps ;)