CENTENARY TOUR TO DORTMUND, GERMANY 1975
The party was Captained by Brian Llewellyn, with Vice-Captain David Woodhead and Managed by Chairman Bill Orman.
The Tour was arranged by Brian and Captain David Morgan of the Welsh Regiment based in Dortmund.
As on every Rugby Tour, it certainly had its moments and has left lasting memories with all the Touring party. The party left Notts Square, by Bus and headed for Dover and a sea crossing to Ostend in Belgium. The first night was spent there and a quiet time was had by all. The following morning we gathered in the Hotel foyer after a hearty breakfast, only to find that some heartless thief had relieved John `Cain’ Evans of his luggage and wallet.
The bus left the hotel and made for the local Police Station on the advice of the Hotel Manager. Mike ‘Floyd’ Davies used all his legal expertise and his fluent local accent in handling the enquiries, but the pistol waving Police could do nothing, so we left for Dortmund, To the parties credit they had a ‘whip’ round and John’s tour was saved. We arrived at the Army Barracks mid afternoon and all were impressed by the place. It was far from the run of the mill Army Barracks. It was a palatial German mansion taken over at the end of the last war and met with everybody’s approval.
With 2 matches on the schedule, the ‘Players ‘ in the party were early to bed as a training session had been arranged for the following morning, prior to the afternoon match. The remainder did what all Touring parties do and that was to visit the local watering holes.The opening match was against a Combined Army side made up of players from all over Central Germany B.O.A.R. bases. A victory completely vindicated the actions of the previous night.
The party took to the local brews and the next day was a ‘free’ day and many took advantage of what the area had to offer. Some went to Dusseldorf and visited the famous Soccer stadium and the Ice skating rink. Some players had more bruises attempting this exercise than in the previous days match.
The second match was against the local Garrison. Considering all the elbow exercise of the
previous night, the display was pure class, except for the hastily arranged ‘Haka’ devised by Colin Davies. Not a pretty sight. But it had the desired effect and the players rose to the occasion. Nobody really remembers the exact score (well over 40 points) or the events of the following evening, but
someone had the artistic flair to PAINT the match score in the middle of the camp square, which to all Military minds, is sacrilege. Considering the Military presence, how this feat was carried out would have been a credit to the S.A.S.
We took our leave the following morning only to witness the soldiers were on jankers’ struggling to remove the paint off the Square.
We returned to Carmarthen older, wiser and hopefully better for the experience. By the way we returned with the same amount of people as we left!
John Lewis,
Assistant Secretary (Tour Organiser)