Welsh Valley rugby clubs devastated by flooding following storm Bert
Today at 08:52 AM
During a difficult time for Welsh rugby at a professional level, the British weather has dealt grassroots and lower-level rugby clubs a horrid card with storm Bert causing widespread damage throughout the South Wales area.
Clubhouses have been left decimated by flooding, and pitches have been completely swamped in areas around Caerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taff, seeing widespread flooding in towns with rugby clubs being caught in the crossfire many of which are only now just recovering following storm Dennis’ destruction four years ago.
One club that has been badly affected both by storm Bert and Dennis was Blackwood RFC, situated in the Caerphilly area. Ruck writer Max Drinkwater-James is from the area and has played for the club through their junior years He now plays for the senior squad, and he was there during the cleanup of yesterday’s aftermath.
Blackwood’s clubhouse was badly hit with the clubhouse and pitch sitting adjacent to the Sirhowy River. When news broke early Sunday morning, the news that the club had been hit again quickly spread through social media, which sparked a monumental community effort to help with the clean up. Players from all year groups as well as from rival clubs came together to clear floors of water. Parents, coaches and volunteers all came to the clubs aid in anyway they could by helping put further flood defences up, making sure tables and chairs were removed and helping clear the clubhouse’s kitchen and bar areas.
The pitch was still resembling a small ocean when the clean-up started, but the damage was obvious to the eye, with the club’s scrummaging machine being pushed fifty meters down the field along with tree trunks littering the field.
Blackwood RFC only recently opened their brand new all weather pitch which was constructed following the rebuild of Dennis.The project was partly funded by the WRU and Sports Wales which accounted for around a third of the final project total. Blackwood actively raised funds to complete the project whilst smaller grants were obtained which allowed the club to add to the finished project with things such as goalposts and a curtain to divide the playing area.
The club has recovered from this before and there is zero doubt within the community that they will recover again with the water levels now dropping allowing for the community effort to expand further. The club has set up a gofund me link below to help with the rebuild with any form of donations being hugely appreciated towards getting Blackwood RFC back up and running.
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