Why the anger lives on at Ponty

They used to pack them into Sardis Road like sardines to see the valley boys of Pontypridd whip the cream of Europe.  The town, more than any other, put rock 'n' roll into the Heineken Cup, a fact which had nothing to do with it being the birthplace of Tom Jones.

The World of Rugby By PETER JACKSON 27th October 2006

THE DAILY MAIL

The fans would rock the joint by cranking up the volume to full blast and the team would roll over a succession of champion clubs to the thunderous sound of 'Ponty, Ponty, Ponty'. Brive, then the best in Europe by some distance, went there as holders nine years ago and were mighty glad to escape with a 29-29 draw. Bath lost in Pontypridd that same season, the year before they won the tournament in 1998.

As standard bearers for the Rhondda Valley, Ponty were bursting with pride in January 2000 when Munster lost on their way to the final. They were even more proud in October of the same year when the Sardis experience proved too much even for Martin Johnson's Leicester, then at their zenith as reigning European champions. It was the only time the Tigers came unstuck during their two-year monopoly of the tournament. They will be happy to give Sardis Road a miss when they return to south Wales on European business this weekend.

They will be counted out of the tournament if they lose to Cardiff at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Sadly, Pontypridd have been counted out of the professional game for good. They have become the ghost club of Europe, shamefully sacrificed on the altar of Welsh rugby's regional concept. They still play at the same place but, where there used to be crowds of up to 10,000, now only 1,200 turn up to watch the part-timers of the Welsh Premier League.

Even now, three years after losing their status, the bitterness is still there, fuelled by the resentment at being absorbed against their will into the region governed by Cardiff, the team they revelled in beating more than any other.

The Welsh capital is barely 10 miles away but if the gate for Cardiff's clash against Leicester on Sunday does reach 30,000, not many are likely to be Pontypridd fans.

"Probably about 20, maybe a few more," says Sam Simon, a legendary Ponty figure as player, coach, touch judge and president. "I'll tell you how many Ponty fans won't be there - at least 5,000. "They won't go because of the internecine warfare between the clubs. We've been fighting each other on the rugby field, in the nicest possible way, for 125 years and with sticks for the 125 years before that. "There is a huge amount of ill-feeling at the club being shafted. Maybe future generations will take a different view."

The fans left high and dry are reminded every weekend of the disintegration of their club. They see ex-Pontypridd players across a wide spectrum of clubs and think what might have been. The majority are internationals - 19 of them.

There are Duncan Bell and Christian Loader at Bath, Jason Strange, Craig Morgan and Geraint Lewis at Bristol, Mefin Davies at Gloucester, John Bryant at Sale and Richard Parks down in Perpignan via Leeds. Then there are the players snaffled by the Welsh regions: Brent Cockbain and Sonny Parker at the Ospreys, Robert Sidoli, Gethin Jenkins, Martyn Williams at Cardiff, Dafydd James and Matthew Rees at Llanelli, and Kevin Morgan, Michael Owen, Ceri Sweeney and Gareth Wyatt at the Newport Dragons.

Cenydd Thomas, at times an international referee, club coach and chief executive and now a director, said: "There is still a lot of bitterness and it's exacerbated by the fact that there's more than a whole team of ex-Ponty players out there. "We can be all bitter and twisted but all we do is make ourselves feel worse. A lot of our people were totally disenchanted so they turned their back on the game. "The lovely thing is that the ex-players like Martyn Williams come back to watch us whenever they can. We do dwell on our memories and we have been right up there in some legendary matches."

At least they can never take that from them.

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