Programme Notes – Neath v RGC, 10 September 2016

The first home game of the season is finally upon us.

Well done to the team for getting a win in the opening game in Bargoed last week. By all accounts, it was a well deserved victory and I’m sure everyone will be revealed that we haven’t had to wait as long as we did last year for our first victory.

Another of the new boys visit us today with RGC making the long journey south. A comfortable win against Bridgend last week means our opponents are very much on form and that another tough game awaits us today.

It’s been a busy summer for us off the field. Thanks to the generosity of our members we were able to help the club out like never before. We arranged for the much needed refurbishment of the changing rooms, as well as purchasing fertiliser, grass seed, weed killer and 20 tonnes of sand in order to get the pitch in as good a condition as possible. All these donations amounted to almost £3000, so a big thank you to everyone who enabled us to do this.

Donations on this scale are hugely welcomed by the club and are only possible through the support of our members. Simply put, the more members we have, the more we can contribute to the club. Membership costs just £10 for the whole season and you can sign up at any home game. Just visit us in the clubhouse lounge to sign up.

A big thank you to those who’ve already signed up at our AGM earlier in the summer or at our Coaches Q&A evening a couple of weeks ago. It was encouraging to see to many people join up for the first time, as a result we’re on course to have our biggest membership yet.

Planning of activities for this season is already well underway. Our first event will be at the Cardiff game on October 8th where we support local historian, Bernard Lewis with the launch of his book documenting Neath’s record breaking season in 1988/89.

It was a season when the club broke world records for tries and points scored – and much more! Paul Thorburn, Brian Williams, Kevin Phillips, Lyn Jones, Chris Bridges and a host of other Neath stars feature.

The book contains 88,000 words, 280 pages, and 80 illustrations and will be available to buy direct from the author at the supporters club table in the clubhouse. The book is priced at just £10 and will be a must have for any Neath fan.