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Port Talbot’s troubled steelworks will serve as an unlikely backdrop to a story of rugby league success against the odds on Sunday when Aberavon Fighting Irish return to the Challenge Cup for the first time in over two decades.
Few members of Aberavon’s part-time squad have been left unaffected by the shutdown of the plant’s blast furnaces in September, with the loss of nearly 3,000 jobs as well as immeasurable repercussions in the South Wales town.
But since the club’s reformation in 2021 they have gone from strength to strength, reaching three consecutive Welsh Grand Finals, culminating in their first title win over rivals the South Wales Jets last year, which earned them a place in the first-round draw and a home game against St Helens-based Blackbrook.
“Everyone in the town has been affected by what’s happened at the steelworks, whether it be directly or through families, friends or other businesses that have been affected like the corner shops and bakeries,” Aberavon head coach Dean Scully told the PA news agency.
“I think the club’s role is just to provide some hope. It’s a relatively under-privileged area where a huge amount of livelihoods have been affected, and I believe we have helped bring some togetherness to the town, and provided people with an outlet to some frustrations.”
In a region that remains a hotbed of rugby union, the Fighting Irish – named for the proud history of Irish immigration to the industrial region of South Wales in the mid-19th century – defiantly buck the trend.
Port Talbot’s official graffiti walk, which includes murals of famous names who were born in the town including Richard Burton, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Michael Sheen, recently had a further addition in the shape of former St Helens star and current Cardiff rugby union wing Regan Grace.
Grace was born in Port Talbot and played junior rugby league for one of the Aberavon club’s previous iterations, the Port Talbot Steelers.
Scully played one season for the Celtic Crusaders, who were based in nearby Bridgend, in National League Two in 2006, during a short-lived attempt to establish a permanent top-flight rugby league team in South Wales.
Such ambitious plans may have fallen by the wayside for now, but Scully believes success stories such as Grace more than justify the club’s determination to keep the league code alive in the area – even if it means having to accept the established order.
Scully will only be able to determine his full squad for Sunday’s game based on who emerges unscathed from playing in club rugby union matches the previous day – and they will start as underdogs against their opponents, long-serving members of the North West Men’s League.
“We will certainly give it a good shot and we believe we’ve got a good chance,” said Scully. “If the wind and rain are up, nobody is going to fancy stepping off the bus after a five-hour drive and playing against us in an open field.”
Aberavon are confident the game will go ahead, but the weather has played havoc with the first round schedule, with more than half of this weekend’s 18 scheduled matches already postponed.
