Inside your Rugby Journal Weekly #17
|
Inside your Rugby Journal Weekly #17 |
Rugby Lives Tonia Antoniazzi MP/ex-Wales prop
This weekend’s winners
WIN Beer + Coffee + Chocolate
Ghost Grounds #7 The Reddings
Saracens in lockdown: Maro Itoje, Mark McCall, Lucy Wray & Jackson Wray
The Mark Ring Story
Rugby Journal 17
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi is the only British MP to represent their country at rugby, earning nine caps (and one try) for Wales, appearing at a World Cup, and being part of a Benetton Treviso set-up years ahead of its time. Even today, at 50, she can still be tempted to put on her boots for Commons & Lords RUFC.
This is the story of Tonia Antoniazzi’s rugby life...
I grew up overlooking Stradey Park. It’s so iconic, for every game you could just hear this massive noise. It was a big influence on my life. You could even see into the stadium from our house, until they built it up for one of the World Cups. It used to be free to get in at half-time, so I’d go down with my dad for the second half of every game.
My older brother played for Llanelli. He was tall, dark, handsome and everybody fancied him, and he was a bloody good rugby player as well. He had caps for Wales at under-18s, rugby was his life but, unfortunately, he had a really nasty knee accident when he was young and never played again.
Seeing Jonah Lomu come down and play with the Barbarians was amazing. I went with my younger brother and the only reason we went was to get his autograph, and just witness the largesse of this man – and to see how big his thighs were!
I first played rugby at a taster session when I was doing A levels. When I went to university my older brother said to me, ‘now you've got to go and find a women's rugby team’. He knew I was a good sports woman, a good team player and that I needed to go and throw my weight around. The university didn’t have a team, so I joined Exeter Ladies.
Exeter had proper setup. It was 1991, but we had coaches, everybody was taking it very seriously, and the girls were well respected at the club. And it was in the County Ground days when they had the track [around the pitch]. So, we’d be finishing training and they'd then have the greyhound racing. We’d play against good sides too, such as Cardiff Harlequins, before they were kicked out of the English League, and they had future Welsh internationals.
In my third year I went to Italy and played there. I was at Venice University, studying Italian and French. My surname’s Italian but my father didn’t speak it. I found Benetton Treviso women’s team who were the best in Italy at the time. As soon as I spoke to them on the phone, I rang up my mum and got her to send over my boots, gum shield and sports bra.
Benetton Treviso were ahead of their time. All of the sides trained at the same venue, the men’s, the under-20s, youth, and it was all so well-supported and funded, it was something I'd never experienced, to be honest. When I was selected to play for Welsh universities, the coach said to me, ‘we only picked you because you had nice kit’.
I was front row, but I played second row in Italy. They already had internationals in the front row, I really enjoyed it, I got really fit because of the set-up. We even had fitness tests before we were actually allowed to play. That was 1993, and they’d also given us everything we needed kit-wise, even boots. It was a much higher standard than we had back home.
I went to Cardiff University for the rugby. My dad shouted at me because I should’ve gone to another university for the course I needed, and he said, ‘you’ve only got to Cardiff because you want to play rugby, not become a teacher’, and I was like, ‘yes that’s right, I did’.
I won my first cap for Wales against Ireland. We won, I set-up a try and I'll never forget it. Gwyn Griffith was our fitness coach, and I think he couldn’t believe I broke the line, because I was never fit enough!
I was so out of my comfort zone when I got called up. I kind of knew the girls, but I didn't really know them that well because I’d come in at the end of the season. I did have all these self-doubts: am I going to be okay? Am I good enough? Even now, when I go to watch a rugby match, I just remember that feeling and the smell of bloody Ralgex. I just love it, but it stills strikes me with fear. It’s an adrenaline rush, y’know?
I was supposed to be driving the minibus on the day I broke my leg. It was sevens for Cardiff University, but three girls had gone down injured. I had my boots so I had to play. I was really fit at the time, and much older than the other girls – 25 as opposed to 18 – so they just gave me the ball and nobody could tackle me. I was scoring loads of times, but a really good team came along, saw our strategy of giving the ball to me, and all of them jumped on top of me at once and broke my leg. I didn’t play for more than a year.
My next Wales cap came in the World Cup in 1998. We were sharing a hotel with the Kiwis, and they were so well-drilled, focused and on-point, a class set-up. Not to say we weren't a class set-up, but we were light years behind them really. My last cap was during the World Cup, I hung up my boots after.
I did go back to play club rugby after the birth of my son. It was Waunarlwydd RFC, Liam Williams’ club, and I ended up playing until I was probably my late-30s when I finally stopped. I last played for Kidwelly against Seven Sisters. I’d separated from my husband, living with my parents, and they were short and asked me to play. But their props weren't very good, they kept collapsing scrums and I ended up popping a rib, I’ve never been in such pain, I couldn’t even go to the bathroom on own. My mother had to come and get me off the bus like some ten-year-old and she said, ‘I don't think you're going to play rugby again are you?’. But I did!
I played once for the Commons and Lord’s rugby team. It was only fifteen minutes for the men’s side, because it’s very social, and I’ve stayed involved since. I was meant to play for them before covid hit, and even though I’m fifty now I do intend to play for them again, I just love the spirit in which the rugby’s played.
New Zealand have a Black Fern as an MP. I went to New Zealand with the Welsh Affairs Select Committee and got to meet Louisa Wall, an MP, who also played in the World Cup in 1998. We were in the same hotel during the World Cup, so we shared a few stories about what happened back then, including how we stole their mascots, which I may have been involved with!
We played an inter-parliamentary netball match against New Zealand when the netball World Cup was on, and Louisa was an international at that too, so I had to use a lot of elbow against her. But rugby and sport has helped us build a friendship, we're still in touch now, and she keeps asking me to go over for the Women's World Cup now in the autumn.
A lot of things have happened that politicised me. I was taught in the northwest of England (and played for Waterloo) and then moved back to Wales in 2005. Then I lost my dad, got divorced, and just had a lot issues going on – life was a bit shit.
My younger brother was a huge influence on me, he said to me ‘when you’re complaining about your own life, you’ve got to reflect on what other people have’. He got me to sign up to the Labour party as a Christmas present – he paid me £40 – and then I ended up knocking doors for them, and started to see how people were living, what they were going through, and that motivated me. I thought ‘maybe in ten years’ time, I’ll go for a seat’, but then Theresa May called a general election, and I went for it. I’ve been an MP for five years now.
Politics is like a rugby team. There's a place for everybody. And in politics, it’s the same as rugby, I found myself quite comfortable in the front row. But yeah, people of all shapes and sizes and people of all backgrounds are welcome.
Rugby and politics have collided quite a bit recently. I am very, very keen to see women's rugby improve, especially in Wales. I feel very strongly that women and girls in Wales have been let down. I'm going back about four years, and I was looking at the set-up and thinking, ‘does it work? Is it any better than when I was playing?’. And when I was thinking about those questions, the answers were ‘it doesn't look much better, we're not playing much better, we're not getting the support’. It hadn't progressed in 25 years, as much as it should have, and there were a lot of ex-players that were very, very angry that they feel that the girls had been let down.
I was interviewed as part of the review of women’s rugby in Wales. I also brought people to the table for them to speak to, and I think it's important that there are lessons learned. But people need to know that those lessons have been learned. And change must happen. I've spoken to people that said, ‘we don't really look forward to playing in Wales, because they're easy’, but that’s already changed, hasn’t it, we had a fantastic game against Ireland.
I hope that England are preparing for a good fight. I'm not saying [Wales will win], England will probably win. But the Welsh women's team have made a considerable effort, I think their morale is up, their skill level is up, fitness levels have improved as well. And the only way is up for them really.
The progress of Wales has to continue beyond the World Cup. There needs to be a pathway. I’m an ambassador for West Swansea Hawks, a girl's hub in in Swansea, in my constituency, and I was watching the under-14s and under-16s against Cardiff the other day, and the level of rugby was absolutely tremendous. Whatever has gone on in the WRU regarding women's rugby thus far, can't be there anymore, the attitudes have to change, and the opportunities have to be there for young girls like this coming through. We need to ensure they're never treated the way some of the girls have been treated.
Niger Walker has made immediate changes. I've spoken at length lately, and he's making changes for the long term, but he is one man and it's very difficult to change a culture which is going to embrace women's rugby and be fully inclusive. You have to see long term changes that go beyond and one of the things I'd like to see is a Celtic or European League, so that we can get regional women’s rugby in Wales playing a higher level of rugby, and get the girls back from England.
There’s a lot of work to be done in women’s rugby in Wales. And I would like to see the Welsh Rugby Union apologise for the mistakes of the past and promise never to make them again.
This weekend’s winners chosen by Tonia Antoniazzi
England beat Wales 28-12
Scotland lose to France 5-36
Ireland lose to Italy 5-36
Cardiff lose to Scarlets (men) 18-22
Dragons lose to Gloucester (men) 10-20
Exeter lose Munster (men) 18-27
WIN Beer + Coffee + Chocolate
Dragons’ front-rower Greg Bateman [featured last week, read his interview here] has launched his own beer range, People’s Captain, and partnered with everybody’s new favourite chocolate Tony’s Chocolonely and Easy Jose Coffee – all to raise £1m for mental health initiatives.
They’ve handed us 5 gift packs each including some of Greg’s finest People’s Captain brews, bars of Tony’s Chocolonely and coffee from Easy Jose Coffee.
Enter via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
Competition closes: 22.04.22
Ghost Grounds #7
The Reddings, Moseley RFC 1883-2000.
As amateur-era grounds go, few were as tough as The Reddings, home of Moseley RFC, where even the mighty All Blacks fell to defeat.
“I was spectating that day,” recounts Derek Nutt, Moseley captain from 1981-82, of the day a Midlands Counties West side featuring nine Moseley players, defeated the 1972 All Blacks 16-8. “We were watching the game when, all of a sudden, Martin Cooper was flying down the wing. The crowd surged forward to see. With the weight of the crowd trying to get a glimpse, the fencing around the pitch collapsed. They went on to beat the All Blacks that day, it was a very special occasion for the ground.”
Incredibly, this was not the only victory against New Zealand that had been recorded at The Reddings, where Moseley had played their first game back in 1883. Just five years into their residency, the club would become the first team to beat an international side touring the British Isles when 5,000 fans watched them defeat New Zealand Natives 6-4.
The club eventually acquired the freehold for The Reddings in 1925, becoming the sole proprietors, as Moseley Cricket Club moved on. It wasn’t all halcyon days in this era, with the 1930-31 season, seeing them record only ten wins out of thirty four, but form began to improve over the next decade, until war broke out, sport was brought to a halt, and The Reddings became HQ for the War Agricultural Committee.
It wasn’t until the late-50s that Moseley would step out of the post-war darkness into their golden era. In 1957, a brand-new thousand seat stand was built, and floodlights followed, developments that brought with them a vastly improved fixture list. Regular battles with the finest clubs in England and Wales turned Moseley into a feeder club for the international stage, with 34 players representing their country .
In their centenary year, 1973, the club defeated Fiji and the Barbarians and then, in 1978, Moseley provided ten players including Derek, for a North Midlands XV to play against a touring Argentina. “This was probably the most memorable one for me,” recalls Derek, “I was sent off after a mass brawl erupted."
Argentina would go on to win 22-14, an irrelevant detail for Derek who still revels in the memory.
It wasn’t the internationals that were getting the Moseley faithful excited, as they were also witnessing the steady improvement of their club. Derek captained his side in the final of the RFU’s knockout cup in 1981, the third time they had been there, having lost to Gloucester 6-17 in 1971, and to Leicester 12-15 in 1978. An infamous 12-12 draw with Gloucester meant for the only time in its history, the cup was shared.
League rugby in England commenced in 1987. Their recent success saw Moseley land in the Courage National Division 1; the top tier at the time. However, their fairy tale trajectory was about to change. They failed to finish higher than seventh during their time in the league; and were eventually relegated after finishing twelfth in the 1990-91 season.
Worse was to come as, in 1994, half of the thousand-seater stand was lost to a fire. A devastating blow at a time money was being squeezed by the arrival of the professional era.
“I remember when the game went pro, most of us amateurs were made redundant,” says Derek.
In the 1996-97 season, New Zealander Mark Anscombe (father of Welsh fly-half Gareth) was appointed director of rugby, and six international players were signed. But his reign was short with Allan Lewis, former Welsh backs coach, taking over in February. The uphill struggle proved simply too much and, after finishing eighth in National Division, the club went into administration for the first time.
Despite the best efforts of former players and members to rescue the club, The Reddings did not survive. The 120-year-long love affair was finally over. The last home game was a 34-17 victory against Worcester. The grounds were sold to soften the financial burden incurred during the professional transition, with the land being used for housing. Moseley RFC became Birmingham-Moseley and, after a brief spell at the city’s university grounds, they landed a new permanent home at Billesley Common, where they now play in National League 1.
For long-term club members like Derek, the romance lives on despite the change of landscape: “I’ve been at the club for over 50 years. I joined as a colt, then moved from the second team to the first XV. I’ve mainly coached since then, but we started walking rugby last season. I was the instigator in doing that and it has become very successful. We are the newest section of the club with the oldest membership.”
By Tyrone Bulger
