The Scarlets in the USSR

05.08.2015

Owain Pennar

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The Scarlets in the USSR

In 1957, in the midst of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear war hanging over the world, Llanelli’s rugby team travelled to Moscow to face teams from the Communist world.

A special documentary on S4C, Y Gêm Gudd, which is broadcast on 18 August, looks at the highly unusual tour behind the Iron Curtain and we hear from players involved in the tour as well as the families who were left behind.

The programme also includes archive film footage of the trip to the Soviet Union showing the players and their legendary coach Carwyn James venturing where no western rugby team had ventured before.

“You heard such big stories about Russia,” explains the Scarlets fullback on the trip, Terry Davies. “To be honest, it wasn’t the sort of place you would want to go to. Nobody knew what to expect and nobody had seen anything like it before.”

The programme explains how the Scarlets were invited to the World Youth Games in Moscow in 1957 that was attended by 34,000 young people from 131 countries.

By reminiscing about the journey from Llanelli to East Berlin and on to Moscow, the opening ceremony, the games against Romania and Czechoslovakia and the extracurricular activities, Y Gêm Gudd gives a complete picture of the tour and what it was like to live in Russia at the time.

Dr Martin Johnes is a historian and lecturer at Swansea University. He says that the decision to go on the trip in the first place was a step into the unknown.

“What made the Cold War so scary was the fact that it was going to be a completely different war compared to what had happened before,” he explains. “If there had been a nuclear attack on Britain, Cardiff and Swansea would have been on the frontline. People were expected a bomb to drop on Cardiff and that was what made the Cold War so scary to people.”

The programme also recalls how the coach, Carwyn James, captivated their Russian hosts with his unique version of the song Myfanwy, before being questioned by the secret police because he could speak Russian.

As Terry Davies recalled: “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. If someone were to ask me what I remember most about the trip to Russia – it would have to be Carwyn singing Myfanwy. But when the soldiers came in, it was a little bit serious.”

Although the Scarlets filed to bring the trophy back with them to Wales, and even though about half a dozen of the players had been struck ill, there’s no doubt that the trip put the Scarlets on the map in the red continent and it had been an experience of a lifetime for those who went.

Terry Davies said, “They couldn’t believe how we behaved. They couldn’t believe we could say this and say that because there was a big foot over them, you know? But it wasn’t a way of life I’d seen before and I’m certain that youth is the secret – they always want something different from their parents.”

Y Gêm Gudd Tuesday 18 August, 9.30, S4C

English subtitles available

A Tinopolis production for S4C

Website: s4c.cymru