Llangwm Rugby Football Club celebrated being heavily involved in local rugby by holding their 140th anniversary when 120 guests flooded into the social club in Milford Haven, to share a special night with ‘The Wasps’, with the highlight being a speech by Nigel Owens, the Welsh referee rightly regarded by many as the best match official of his time (writes Bill Carne)
 
Nigel has now retired and specialises in breeding Hereford cattle at his farm - but on this occasion he was able to captivate his audience with stories from the time he reffed his first match through to being honoured as the match official for the World Cup Final between New Zealand and South Africa.
 

Fantastic support from Wasps past and present

 
It was good to see that most of the current squad were in attendance, looking smart in their dinner jackets and bow ties, alongside some of the ‘greats’ from the past when The Wasps were a real force in the old Pembrokeshire League and were league and KO Cup winners at various times.
 
Also gratifying was the support given by some other local clubs as MC Bill Carne opened the evening before Nigel arrived, with his own thoughts about some of the characters who had become his friends over his 40 years of covering the club for local newspapers, PembrokeshireSport.co.uk and Radio Pembrokeshire.
 
He gently pulled some of those friends’ legs but had the table turned on him a little later as Nigel Owens, who sat with the MC, club president Michael John and chairman Danny Chesmer, who had organised the dinner with current player Owain Jones - and said that in all his time speaking at dinners he had never met such a boring trio in all that time!
 
This was met with uproar from the packed audience, including the afore-mentioned trio, but he did quietly admit afterwards that it was the traditional opener to all the functions he spoke at.
 

Great insight into players around the world

 
He also made earthy comments about players around the world, especially with regard to some of the ‘’tough guys’ up front who he had to deal with in the full glare of the world’s sporting cameras, and some of his trips ‘abroad’ to referee in England and France, with a more gentle approach to the Scots and Irish.
 
Nigel certainly helped to make the evening a memorable one but the other major factor was the opportunity it gave to retired players to meet up with colleagues from their era and talk about matches and events that took place.
 

Special Wasps win in the Bishop Cup remembered by old-timers

 
I actually listened in to one such conversation about a shock win at Pill Parks against Narberth in the KO Cup, when The Otters were the top team in the county and The Wasps were playing in the lower echelons - but won the game 9-3.
 
This correspondent was there to watch and as well as a fantastic performance by the home squad there was such joy at the final whistle that Martin Inward, who is very much a Llangwm born and bred, and an ex-county cricketer, jumped with delight and fell awkwardly.
 
He managed to have a few celebratory pints in the clubhouse afterwards and it was only the next morning that he could hardly walk and a visit to accident and emergency department revealed that he had broken his ankle!

 

And finally . . .

 

I also spoke to Dave Duly, down from London and a key player when Llangwm beat old rivals Haverfordwest in the Bishop Cup, played annually between the clubs, and he was there with the likes of Ian ‘Gwangie’ Thomas, Tim Pounder, and Simon Kiff as they relived the events of that distant day.
 
And after that it was back to the rugby clubhouse for a few pints that took them well into the early hours - and other than the real old-timers, a number of them will be looking forward to the 150th anniversary in another ten years!