You will note than in addition to our main sponsors occupying the RSU Suite today, our match sponsors attending today’s game are Evans Buildings Cwmffrwd. Now I can assure you that the proprietor, John Llewelyn Evans, is a rugby man through and through, which you may think is stating the obvious, especially since three of his four sons play Rugby Union at the highest level, i.e. two in the WRU National League Division 1 and one in Division 2. The reason why I highlight this point is to pay tribute to our Chairman who is able to attract sponsorship from a wide cross-section of the community, including those not necessarily all that much interested in Association Football but who are prepared to support our Club. John Llew’s guests partaking of our hospitality today will no doubt be rugby boys as well, which illustrates the community spirit that exists in this town of ours. Isn’t it nice that John is occupying the TV Studio today, as mentioned in our Sponsors’ Spot in another part of our programme, after being so much involved in its construction last summer?

Last weekend I attended a special meeting on behalf of our Club, of LoW clubs at Caersws. In this meeting details for the licensing procedure for clubs, based on minimum criteria laid down by UEFA, as a condition for participation in the UEFA club competitions from the 2001/2003 season were explained. Earlier in the month our Chairman, as a delegate of the FAW, had attended a meeting of UEFA at Amsterdam to discuss these points and, no doubt, Jeff will report in detail on this matter in the future. Briefly, however, the criteria to be achieved can be categorised in five ways, i.e. sporting criteria (which includes such matters as a Youth Development Programme within clubs), financial criteria (which relates to the assessment of clubs’ financial affairs), personnel and administrative criteria, and legal criteria. The ‘hot potato’ , however, is that of the infra-structure criteria one of which one is the necessity for a minimum capacity of 10,000 seats in the stadium. But do not be alarmed on this last point as UEFA may grant exceptions according to the size of the country and I foresee that the FAW may gain exemption on this point. No doubt, we will return to this again and for the time being this is just food for thought.

SO, HERE WE ARE at today’s game, hoping for fine weather this time and a good result! And to close, many thanks to Matthew Delicate for his ‘Letter from America’ in this programme - long live his continued association with us in this way.

Talking of referees, there has been a lot of publicity lately regarding the standard of refereeing in the Dr Marten’s League where two of our Welsh clubs operate and potent views have been expressed that the standards of refereeing are nowhere near those in the LoW. I can quite agree with these views as, after all, officials in the LoW are the best in Wales whereas the Dr Marten’s League is well down the English Pyramid in relative terms. Referees in Wales expressed great disappointment back in 1992 when the Welsh Pyramid System was established and they were no longer allowed to operate in England. However, opportunities to get to the top are still as good as they were for Welsh referees in so far as we now have greater representation in FIFA and more referees and assistant referees on their list. I also think that referees now have a fairer chance of progressing since the assessments of match delegates now assume greater importance than possibly club markings. I remember refereeing in the good old days when the marks of the club secretaries was the ‘be all and end all’. On one occasion when I was officiating at Clydach in a Welsh League match between the home side and Ebbw Vale, Clydach scored the winning goal in the last minute which, on reflection, may have been in dubious circumstances, and which I allowed. After returning to the dressing room at the conclusion of the game the door crashed open and in marched the Ebbw Vale manager and before he could utter any unchoice phrases I politely informed him that before he thought of marking me 0 out of 10, I felt I deserved at least one mark for turning up and refereeing his team! Getting my retaliation in first seemed to knock the wind out of his sails but, as I said earlier, inevitable controversial decisions which occur from time to time do not mitigate against the progress of referees these days as valued assessments are made by knowledgeable assessors co-ordinated by the National Referees Officer for Wales, Keith Cooper.

It would be very invidious of me to mention any names but like the boys on the field there were many within the Club who worked as a team off the field. My comments can be reinforced by the letter received from the BBC which is published in another part of the programme.

Inevitably, the only negative response has come as usual from our favourite Sunday newspaper and I am at an utter loss to comprehend any reason why the scribes of that paper continue in such a mode. And one questions the credibility of such reporting!

So it’s Gilbert Cup time again, and it seems that even if we win tonight our chance to qualify as one of the two best second placed teams is very much in jeopardy due to our very inferior goal difference. Still, our cup season is still very much alive with, of course, the Premier Cup and the Welsh Cup. One of the rewards for finishing fourth in the LoW last season, which went generally unnoticed, is that we are exempt until Round 3 of the Welsh Cup this year. So we have been able to sit back and watch whilst the dog fights for a place in Rounds 1 & 2 went on for the privilege of meeting us in Round 3!!

Finally, I had an interesting interlude last week when I attended the ‘After School Club’ at the Model VCP School when as part of the National Book Week our Programme Editor, Alun Charles, addressed the youngsters about the production of our matchday programme. As an observer, I can vouch for the fact that Alun captured totally the children’s attention. Having the experience of my wife being a schoolteacher for many years, I can tell you that this was quite an achievement, especially as the children were there voluntarily after school hours. He posed an interesting question to the children and I wonder whether you could possibly give an answer - ‘What three features on the front cover of our programme link the Club to the Town of Carmarthen?’. Answers on a post card please.

HOPE TO SEE YOU on Saturday, for the very important game against Bangor City in the Premier Cup where points gained from now on are a must.

I can recollect with some nostalgia a dedicated and enthusiastic but very small band of committeemen travelling on wet Saturday afternoons to the far reaches of the Garw Valley or to Pontlottyn where the pitch was perched on top of a mountain side with absolutely no cover or protection from the elements. But these enthusiasts carried on regardless every Saturday in the same vein and the rapid development shown by the Club in the 90’s has made their efforts in the past worthwhile. Of course, the transformation came with the recruitment of new faces to the Club in the early 90’s and the skills, know-how and dedication of those individuals who came on board was the springboard for such a successful evening as we are having tonight.

This evening’s match has only been possible due to the existence of the FAW Premier Cup, a competition which has been a big boost to the LoW in many respects. The excellent publicity given to this prestigious competition has rubbed off on clubs such as ourselves, with sponsors gaining the benefit of the exposure on television and no-one recognises this more than Dorian Roberts, the owner of RSU Windows, our main sponsors. I hope that tonight’s occasion will contribute positively to any negotiations that the FAW Premier Cup Board of Directors will have with the BBC regarding the renewal of the contract. In addition, of course, the financial rewards offered by the BBC can boost our finances, not least of all in funding the improvements of grounds of LoW clubs as is visible here at Richmond Park.

SO HERE WE ARE playing one of the most famous teams in Wales and it will be an occasion I’m sure I will never forget. I would like just to offer a word of thanks to Newtown for agreeing to postpone tonight’s scheduled LoW match against us Yes indeed, such an occasion as tonight is what dreams are made of! I hope you all enjoy the game.