Scarlets vs New Zealand

[Gob]

[rubato]

Been a little slow around there for the last 42 years?


Yrs,
Rubato

[Lord Jim]

I wonder how many folks are going to sit through all 58 minutes and 54 seconds of that...

[Gob]

I did. A fascinating historical documentary on the town I grew up in, with some interesting perspectives on the way not only has the game of rugby changed, (all the 1972 Llanelli players worked full time in the steel industry,) but also on how the town has changed. Quality work from the BBC.


PS. Phil Bennett, the man who kicked the winning points for Llanelli, was a bearer at my dad's funeral.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Odd shaped coffin that.........

[Gob]

Twat

[Gob]

Twas on a dark and dismal day,
in a week that had seen rain.
When all roads led to Stradey Park,
with the All Blacks here again.
they poured down from the valleys,
they came from far and wide,
There were 20,000 in the ground,
and me and Dai outside.

The shops were closed like Sunday,
and the streets were silent still.
And those who chose to stay away,
were either dead or ill.
But those who went to Stradey park,
will remember till they die,
How New Zealand Were defeated,
(and how the pubs ran dry.)

Oh the beer flowed at Stradey,
piped down from Felinfoel.
And the hands that held the glasses high,
were strong from steel and coal.
the air was filled with singing,
and I heard a grown man cry.
Not because we'd won
but because the pubs ran dry.

Then dawned the morning after,
on empty factories.
For we were still at Stradey,
bloodshot absentees.
But we all had doctors papers,
and they all said just the same.
that we all had Scarlet fever,
and we caught it at the game.

Now all the little babies,
in Llanelli from now on,
Will be Christened Roy or Carwyn,
Derek, Delme, Phil or John.
And in a hundred years from now,
they'll sing a song for me.
About that day the scoreboard read;
Llanelli 9- Seland Newydd 3.

And when I grow old,
my hair turns grey
and they put me in a chair.
I'll tell my great grandchildren,
that their Datcu was there.
And they'll ask to hear the story
of that dark October day.
When I went down to Stradey park,
and I saw the Scarlets play.


Max Boyce