Vertical Editions - publisher of fine books on sport

Steve Lewis

The story of how Newport RFC came back from the brink of obscurity in 1998 to be league title challengers and cup winners in 2001.

Excerpt:
‘...It rained in Caerphilly on Saturday May 8th 1999. The heavens opened and it rained. This was not your common or garden rain, this was the stuff of monsoons.

Watching from the shelter of the clubhouse at Caerphilly Rugby Football Club, expectant supporters looked on as ground staff worked to get a surface ready that would please referee Nigel Williams and allow the match to proceed as scheduled at 2.30 pm. Armed with buckets of sand and forks, indeed, looking more like fishermen digging for worms on the Gower Peninsula, they succeeded. In a few short hours the black and amber faithful, who had travelled the short distance up the A468 from Newport, would wish they hadn’t. For them this was to be their Armageddon. Why an end of season game that had no bearing on any promotion or the relegation issue should merit the attention of this encounter needs explaining.

The 1998-99 season in Wales had started in chaos and had proceeded through the winter months into spring reeling from one crisis to the next. Newport RFC had been in the thick of it from day one. More accurately – Newport RFC had been in the thick of it from day one minus five. Confused? So was everybody else…’

Hardback - Size: 234 x 156mm - 208 Pages - Approx. 30 photographs - ISBN: 1-904091-01-6


	home · products · search · checkout · about · authors · contact