Ebbw Vale RFC

It was pig iron and a man called Jeremiah Homfray that changed the fortunes of Ebbw Vale, transforming it from a sleepy farming community into a European giant of steel employing tens of thousands. Until it wasn’t. Now, the only Steelmen left in the valley can be found at Eugene Cross Park every other Saturday.

Tucked away in the hills of Blaenau Gwent, a 30-minute or so drive north of Newport, lies the former steel town of Ebbw Vale. Once a thriving hub of industrial Great Britain, now the only noise comes not from steel manufacturing but the rushing of the eponymous river that runs alongside it. That, and weekend cries of ‘Ebbw’ at the rugby. 

Go back far enough and Ebbw Vale was once even quieter. In the late 18th century, it wasn’t even a village, more of a vague gathering of 120 people scattered among the hills around the valley that would eventually become the beating heart of a town and the steel industry.

Pig iron changed things. There was a gap in the market for it that fuelled the birth and subsequent growth of what we now know as Ebbw Vale. In the late 1700s, a nearby forge needed the crude iron, made from smelting iron ore in a blast furnace, and a new ironworks was established by an ironmonger from Merthyr, Jeremiah Homfray, to meet that demand.

The village, such as it was, became a town, 120 people became 850 within a few years and then, a century later, it numbered 21,000, before reaching a peak of 35,283 in 1921. Iron became steel. The process being done at such a rate, Ebbw Vale was one of the biggest steelworks in Europe. Companies changed owners and names, but the output – in whatever metal form it took – continued to be immense. The workforce reached 34,000 in the early 1900s. By the 1960s, that number was down but still a hefty 14,500, given the population was only twice as much. However, the decline had begun, and it didn’t abate. 

In 2002, the final 500 workers left the tin-plate plant for the last time, representing all that remained of the steel industry in Ebbw Vale. In doing so, they added more numbers to an unemployment figure already twice the national average, no longer even earning the wages that were the lowest in Britain.

Steel had been the foundations of the rugby club too, with Ebbw Vale RFC – the ‘Steelmen’ – forming in 1879, with steel workers filling the membership. 

Before the steel and the jobs had completely disappeared, the emergence of professional rugby in 1996 saw Ebbw Vale flourish with the backing of a former blast furnace worker-turned-music manager. Marcus Russell had started booking bands in his hometown of Ebbw Vale aged fifteen, and that initial music interest – matched only by his passion for rugby – eventually manifested in a management career overseeing the likes of Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr. It was the brother of Johnny who put Marcus on to an act called Oasis, who he then managed through their most iconic moments. The boy had done well.

So well, that when professionalism arrived, the club – who already had Marcus’s brother Paul involved – got in touch, and soon he became chairman and majority shareholder. 

He’d later declare that running Ebbw Vale was harder than managing Oasis.

There were eight years of professional rugby in Ebbw Vale, including cup final appearances and plenty of memorable victories, including a win over Toulon in the Challenge Cup – they’re still the only Welsh side to beat Toulon at the Stade Mayol in Europe. 

Some defeats still hurt. In the European Cup, Toulouse inflicted a record 108-16 defeat on the Steelmen, the heaviest in the competition’s history, and so high that the scoreboard couldn’t accommodate the ‘1’, which had to be placed manually next to the other two digits. The French side racked up fourteen tries.

A week later, history was made again. This time, French sun had been swapped for Arctic Gwent, and Ebbw Vale won 19-11, with Toulouse conceding 33 penalties in the process. 

Starting for Ebbw that day were the likes of Welsh international Dai Llewellyn and Tongan forward Kuli Faletau – dad of current Wales No.8 Taulupe – and fly-half Jason Strange, who kicked fourteen of the home side’s points. 

The regions changed it all. In Gwent, Tony Brown’s Newport clashed with Russell’s Ebbw Vale, and the result was inevitable. The bitterness ensued for years, and is still felt by some today. At its peak, during one clash between the sides, the animosity led to Brown being locked out of Eugene Cross Park ground one afternoon as nearly 10,000 fans poured in through the gates. Newport were booed as they ran out to face Ebbw by the fans in green, red and white. 

Ebbw Vale were once top of the table contenders, hosts of touring international sides. The All Blacks came calling in 1972 to face a combined Ebbw and Abertillery [the neighbouring town from the valley to the east] and almost came unstuck, overcoming their Welsh hosts by a 16-7 scoreline.  

Today, Eugene Cross Park is slightly different. It still sits at the head of the old steelworks site, the clubhouse standing on the grave of the deceased stand, taken down following the Bradford City FC disaster. The new stand is to its left, the vast concrete bank standing proud above the pitch to its right. A symbol of the industry that built it, a memorial if you will.

At the north end of the ground there’s the vast open fields of the cricket club, with its familiar gentle slope that heads down toward the clubhouse end. 

The visitors today are common foes, Pontypridd. The rivalry peaked in the late 1990s when the likes of Welsh internationals Dale McIntosh and Mark Jones clashed at No. 8 and each side fought for silverware every season. Records go back as far as 22nd December 1923 when Ebbw Vale won 3-0. 

Roy Lewis has seen the clash many times over, having watched Ebbw Vale since the 1930s. Even now, aged 93, he still writes a column for every programme.

He was stood at the cricket pavilion where Glyn Turner scored for the combined side against the All Blacks.  “It was great to see the world’s best playing in one’s hometown,” he says. “We also went to see them at Pontypool, Abertillery and Newport. Ebbw Vale also played Canada, Romania, the United States,” says Roy.  “I was standing at the cricket ground end when Glyn [Turner, former scrum-half and dual code Wales international] got his try – sending Sid Going the wrong way! Glyn Turner, not just a great player but a very nice chap.” 

He turns his attention to the match in hand. “Our supporters,” he begins, quickly adding, “and Pontypridd’s also – they make their presence felt wherever the team plays.” 

Reminders of the good old days are everywhere at Eugene Cross. The ‘Tongan Embassy’, a sole detached house, is right outside the clubhouse. It was once home to not only the Faletaus but also their Tongan relatives the Vunipolas, whose dad played for Pontypool, spent time here during their time in the valleys.

The Faletaus arrived when Jonah Lomu’s manager – Phil Kingsley Jones, father of Wales and Ebbw Vale flanker Kingsley Jones – invited Kuli and full back Josh Taumalolo to play for the club when Tonga toured Wales in 1997. 

A year later Kuli moved his family over to live in the house with himself and Josh, including eight-year-old Taulupe.

Even those coming from the south coast of Wales struggle with the weather here, let alone those who hail from the south Pacific. Even now, every home game, come relentless rain or very rare shine, the hardened Ebbw supporters line the bank. 

Captain Ashley Sweet – the lock forward from nearby Trevethin, a school rugby officer for Bynmawr Foundation school, one valley over from Eugene Cross – leads the team out with the “Ebbw!” chants echoing from the base of the valley. Once a fixture that saw 5,000 fans pile through the turnstiles will now be lucky to witness 2,000, today it’s around the 1,500 mark.

Ebbw Vale are bottom of the Premiership – the highest division of the Welsh club pyramid – heading into the game, Pontypridd are fifth and are firm favourites to overhaul Ebbw, who have only won twice this season. Relegation is now on the cards again after three years of enforced ringfencing, so the dog fight has now commenced.

Falling down through the Premiership trapdoor to the Championship doesn’t hold quite the same fear it once did. The last time they left the top division, in 2010, they were in a much more perilous position. In the May that followed the drop, the club were left with just four players on the books – Andrew Bevan, Mathew ‘Chunky’ Williams, Ben Parry and Gary Wilkes.

The soon-to-be chairman, Jon Jones, had the task of overhauling the club. He’d grown up less than half a mile away in Holland Street where his dad held a job in the steelworks, while his mum ran a shop on the high street. Ever since he was five, the club has been like a second home.  “I was asked by Christian Owen [a player at the time] the year before they were relegated to represent the players because there were issues – players hadn’t been paid,” says Jon. “He asked me if I’d get involved because he knew I had a business background. He just turned up at my house one Sunday morning and said, ‘we need your help, will you do it?’” 

The club was at a tipping point. If the money hadn’t had been paid there was a genuine threat that it could have gone the way of the industry that gave them their name. Jon managed to shake down enough local businesses to pay the players with the hope of giving the club a different life. “We wanted a locals-based side,” he says. ‘I’m a big believer that the best sides we’ve seen in Ebbw Vale have been based on Blaenau Gwent guys. 

“Going back to when I was watching in the ‘70s, you had Clive Burgess, Gareth Howls, Arthur Lewis from Crumlin. All former internationals.”

Ebbw knew their goal. “Straight back up,” says Jon. “It belongs in the Premiership. I wasn’t interested in finishing fourth in Division One East and just slowly turning it round. It wouldn’t have been any good for the club.” 

A healthy Premiership club in the north of Gwent wasn’t just good for Ebbw Vale, but for the game. 

Ebbw Vale sits as the main route for the likes of RTB, Blaina, Nantyglo and Brynmawr into the Dragons region, which covers Gwent.

The nearest Premiership rival clubs are fifteen minutes down the valley in Cross Keys, or to the west is iron town Merthyr. All small towns built upon industry and with the historic rivalry built around having the better teams, filled with industry workers.

“We held a meeting with the supporters and it was packed,” recalls Jon. “We asked the supporters to continue paying season ticket prices at a Premiership level – £125 today – and that would help fund a better team to come straight back up.”

While the fans agreed, the dream comeback was delayed. Their first season saw them win the league but lose a play-off against Glamorgan Wanderers. “There was a kick ahead and it was the cruellest bounce you’d ever seen,” Jon chuckles as he tries to forget the fatal moment. “It bounced about two yards out from the line, Dorian Jones was coming back and he isn’t the tallest of chaps bless him, it went over his head. 

“It was gratefully received by Josh Navidi, who scored the try.” Glamorgan won 16-13.

Even if they’d progressed, Jon didn’t fancy their chances against the final opponents. “Bridgend [who were the side they had to play-off against if they’d won] were heavily stocked with Ospreys academy players and had given us a pasting in the cup earlier that season,” he says. “I don’t think we’d have beaten them.”

Given that Jon and his band of ‘Ebbw Addicts’ – the Ebbw hardcore – had saved the club from falling into the abyss, and managed to ride out the worst of the post-regional fall out, defeat didn’t seem too bad. At least the club were on a sound footing. 

What they hadn’t considered was the Welsh Rugby Union would then implement ring-fencing, meaning no club could go up until 2013/14 – three seasons away.

Fans were bitter, it was just another ‘whipping’ from the union, they said. The club were dead against it, but bit their tongue and began the fight to earn their spot at the top table again.

They brought in Sweet, Ross Jones, Rob Sevenoaks and Dan Haymond alongside the likes of Cunliffe and Hudd – local players from places such as Tredegar and Abergavenny, towns less than 15-20 minutes from Eugene Cross Park.  They were working men. Teachers, butchers, slaughtermen. “There’s nothing better than playing for the club in the community that you live,” says Jon. “It does mean more to the boys.”

Keeping the squad sharp and focused for three seasons was no mean task, but Jon had a plan. “The target was to win the league by ten points,” he says. “The year after, win it by twenty points and then, when ring-fencing is away, don’t lose a home game. Then, when ring-fencing is away, don’t lose a home game and make the margin twenty points plus.” 

Former player Jason Strange returned as head coach after a successful playing stint in England with Leeds and Bristol and, having tasted the best of the glory days with that Toulouse victory and the ‘98 Welsh Cup final, he knew what it took to be successful at the club. “He was focused on being the best he could and that was drummed into the players,” Jon explains. “One of the best comments I’ve ever heard was from hooker Mathew ‘Chunky’ Williams. We were playing Mountain Ash and we were 20-odd points up at half time, and he said to me, ‘I thought we were 30 points down with the bollocking we had at half time’.” 

They won the league again, this time by nine points. The next campaign saw them compete in the newly formed Championship, which brought together Divisions One East and West.

It mattered little to Ebbw. They scored over 1,000 points that season, losing just once – at Whitland. 

They claimed the inaugural Championship title at Eugene Cross Park with a 66-17 victory over Glamorgan Wanderers.  

The next season, they finally sealed promotion, winning 25 of their 26 games. They settled in quickly to life in the Premiership and found themselves in the final, against today’s guests. “The amazing thing was that when we played in the first play-off final for the Premiership, the front five was the same five that started the first game in Division One East six years earlier,” says Jon.

It was a game too far, as they fell 28-14 to Ponty. Strange’s achievements of two Division One East titles, two Championship wins and a play-off final hadn’t gone unnoticed and he left to coach the Wales U20s, leading them to a Grand Slam no less. 

Former Scarlets and Wales coach Nigel Davies took the helm. “The players are important, but coaches are the main thing,” says Jon. “If you’ve got a good coach, they’ll make an average player into a good one.”

The tactics of Davies were helped by a World Rugby six-point-try law trial, tested only in the Premiership, as Ebbw mastered the ‘Catch N’ Kynes’, inspired by the classic catch and drive move, but renamed in homage to flanker Ronny Kynes, who finished top try-scorer that season on 19.   

Ebbw finished third in the league and would travel to Llandovery in the semi-final play-offs, the winner facing familiar foes Pontypridd – who hadn’t just won the previous Premiership title, but the three before that as well – at Sardis Road. “Everyone was nervous going to Llandovery, that was our final,” says Jon. “We were confident at Ponty because we had taken them a few times and had the edge over them.”

They duly turned over Llandovery 20-16 and steamrollered Ponty 38-12 to win their first crown.

Despair to silverware in six seasons. 

“To make that transition, and keep improving standards on and off the field for the ring-fenced period was tough, but this built togetherness and purpose,” says Jon. “Having gone very close to winning the Prem the year before and then doing it was a very special moment, many of these players lifting the trophy had come in during the first year, stayed loyal and got their reward as the top semi-pro club in Wales.”

Since winning their maiden title, fortunes have been mixed. Eighth from sixteen sides, seventh from eight  and last season a respectable fifth from sixteen. 

Off the field, finance hasn’t always been easy, but never quite as bad as before. “The club’s finances had worsened over three years,” explains Jon. “The move to sixteen clubs, ring fencing and changing of league formats saw interest wane while costs increased. As a club it was necessary to rebalance our costs and expenditure or we would have very quickly been trading insolvent, an illegal situation which the directors would not do.”

But they’re still here. And as if to prove the point, right now Ebbw are putting the title-chasing Pontypridd to the sword once again, just like old times. A game built on a strong defence, the basic foundations of the game solid, just like the running of the club. They win 18-5.

Proof that there’s still plenty of steel in the valley, even if it’s not the metal kind. “The area and town is among the most economically deprived areas in Europe,” says Jon. “So having a community hub is so important and that’s what this club can be.

“We want it to be a home for the locals – not just those that like rugby, but a place for other sports and activities too. Like the steel works once was, the ground has been a beating heart of Ebbw Vale for such a long time, and it’s role within the town is more important than ever.”  

Story by Robert Rees

Pictures by Nick Dawe

This extract was taken from issue 9 of Rugby.
To order the print journal, click here.