St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future
Two
Transcript:
This is part two of the audio trail documenting the student project and display produced in 2022 by Cosmin Gregor and Lewis Douglass. This trail follows the story of the 1954 Swansea RFC tour behind the Iron Curtain, in socialist Romania, as well as the reciprocated tour the following year and the defection that followed it.
This entry’s item is a participatory trophy awarded to the Swansea side during their first game in Romania. It is shaped as a steel rugby ball, fixed to a wooden base. The steel ball itself is 21cm wide by 13cm high, making the whole piece quite sizable. There is a plaque attached to the base, with text in Romanian, that translates to: ‘Offered by the sports team Locomotiva Grivita Rosie, Bucharest.’ The team Locomotiva has changed its name on a few occasions through its lifetime, with some rendition of Locomotiva. Like the pennant in the previous part, this trophy was chosen by the students for their display at St Helens.
Picking up where the last part of the trail left off, on the selection of Swansea RFC to play in Romania, due to swimmer Dick Smale and the Swansea club’s reputation against touring sides Swansea were selected noticeably over Cardiff RFC, or the Cambridge University rugby team. The archive here at St Helens holds minute books from many years of club meetings, with one such book being selected for display by Lewis and Cosmin. The display revealed pages within where the selected players and travelling officials were listed by name. There are a number of Welsh caps within this list, Terry Davies, D. H. Phillips, W. O. Williams, skipper R. C. C. ‘Clem’ Thomas, W. D. Johnson and former player turned committee member Rowe Harding. Unfortunately, the meeting’s minutes are very brief and so little is revealed of what was discussed around the topic of the tour. Perhaps the lack of specific mention of concerns is evidence that there weren’t any - that this tour would be like any other.
Before even arriving in Romania there were some complications. As revealed within the student project that can be found on the website, the travel plan for the Swansea team was to fly from London to Brussels, before flying again to Prague, and then to be escorted by the Russian air force into Bucharest. However two of the three planes out of Prague were forced to return there after encountering a heavy storm over the Carparthian mountains. Tour manager Rowe Harding was among those caught by the delay, but the team were fully reunited with those delayed, successfully reaching Bucharest the following day. Also, despite the lack of recorded concerns from Swansea RFC’s board meetings, the Swansea players were asked to submit timetables of their movements and reportedly saw their hotel rooms bugged, that is to say, with listening devices. Despite this, the Swansea players were treated very well, being chauffeured around Bucharest and wined and dined. Also, despite the ‘bugging’, the players found great enjoyment in their lack of privacy, choosing to shout anti-communist abuse without fear of repercussion.
The Swansea team, having left on the 16th of August, had little time to prepare for the first of their two games. 32 degrees celsius met them on the 21st of August, and travel delays for the majority caused most to be completely unadapted to the heat. In the first half, Locomotiva had fourteen points on the Swansea pack’s zero, in front of a crowd of 45,000. The sun, thankfully no doubt for the All-Whites, began to set by the second half and the Swansea team managed to answer the home side: the game ending in 23-12, Locomotiva. Despite the loss, the team were presented with this trophy, to commemorate the historic match.
This trail continues in the next part, with a vase awarded to the team at the end of the 1954 tour. Please don’t forget to press next.