By Ian Golden at Ammanford RFC. Photos by “Captured by Kate”. See the albums here.
I think it was the moment that I stood in between pitches where three U9s matches were taking place that I thought “Wow, this is actually happening, this is a massive success,” and “This could be one of the best rugby league events I’ve ever been to in Wales.”
“Jets Fest” took place on Saturday 5th July at Ammanford RFC, home of West Wales Jets, the second arm of Jets Rugby after South Wales Jets, originally formed as a charity rugby union side before switching to league, was formed just after the pandemic.
South Wales Jets won the WRL men’s title in their first year of operation in 2023. A year later, they formed junior sides at almost every level and took an U12 title. This year, the club became more ambitious. Founder Liam Price, originally for Ammanford, wanted to introduce rugby league to that area, at as many levels as possible. He made it from U8-U16 (boys) levels. So how could he celebrate this?
He came to me at the start of the year? Could I, when organising fixtures for WRL, ensure that WWJ take on SWJ at as many levels as possible, on the same day, which would be July 5th?
It was tough, but we did it, but we went the extra mile. There was no SWJ U16 side so Swansea Rams agreed to come down to face WWJ. Same with the men’s with West Wales Jets, so the home game between SWJ and Bridgend Blue Bulls, scheduled for Penallta, was switched to Ammanford.
When I arrived around 9.15am, the music was already on, which played throughout most of the day, and it wasn’t a distraction either, it just added to the atmosphere. The burger stand was already selling at this time, as were the teas and coffees, whilst a couple of other stalls were selling sweets and chocolates. It was raining but it was trying to stop but by 10am, there was just a little bit of spitting here and there. No-one got soaked.
This was no ordinary “let’s turn up and play”. I was told the 378 adult tickets (all children came in free) were sold in advance and there was a queue to pay when the players from SWJ and WWJ U12s ran on to “pitch 1” to start their match at 10am.
On “pitch 2” there was action between SWJ and WWJ U8s. Around 40 players taking part in mini matches with often the rules being explained to them as they played if they needed reminding.
“Every child will have a run-out today,” said coach Julian Stadden. “We try to introduce the offload as we go along, so before we call the tackle, we encourage them to off-load to keep the ball alive. It’s little things like that so they can learn as they go along.”
I walked up to pitch three where the U10s were playing. There were 22 players here for this level and SWJ coach Darren Humphries split them up and played 11-a-side.
“We’re playing 11 side today, but we try and play 12 a side,” he said. “We’ve 22 players today, so we’ll probably mix and match a couple of these.
“They play 15 minutes, 4 fifteens. To be honest, the rules are a bit different most weeks. Some weeks we play markers, sometimes we don’t. We adjust to what we think is best for them.”
Everything from U12s to above is a competitive match in a WRL league. U11s and younger are friendly matches as they learn the game.
The U12s saw a 42-0 win for SWJ after being 30-0 up at half-time. It may sound a lot, but of the five matches they’ve played this season, it was only their second lowest win.
So Liam spoke the WWJ boys after the game as he was impressed with the effort they put in.
“Those boys have been playing rugby league for a lot longer than you,” he told them. “They’re about three or four years ahead of you and and you’ve kept them down to that school line and you should be proud. So keep your heads up, finish off next week strongly with your final game of the season and we’ll be back next year with a vengeance.”
Onto the second hour, starting at U11, where the U9s, U11s and U13s took to the field.
Coaching the U9s was former Super League player and Wales international Lloyd White.
“It’s just really good to have so many kids down here,” he said. “We’ve had Swansea Rams down playing at U9s as well as 16s, they did us a real favour here to boost a few numbers, and it’s good to see bits and bobs put on for the kids too, it’s a great event.”
The bits and bobs that were being set up were the bouncy castles, put on pitch 2 facing pitch 1, as events were about to conclude on that pitch.
As we went into the third hour, it was U14s action, boys and girls. SWJ took wins in the U13s and U14s boys games, 52-16 and 58-0 respectively, to keep all three SWJ sides top of their respective tables. But it was the girls event, running for an hour, that was a welcome addition to the day.
SWJ U14s girls are currently the only girls side in South Wales, but WWJ quickly did a recruitment drive and six girls were registered, a couple of whom hadn’t picked up a rugby ball before. So players were mixed and matched, they had a light training session and practice match.
Carla Humphries, who is setting up the WWJ girls side, said: “So, West Wales Jets girls started up this week.
“We had about 30 people turn up to the first meeting. Some have never played any union or any league before.
“We’ve got until next season to be able to build up more teams. We’re hoping to get about three or four U14s teams and three U16 teams by next year.
“Then we’re hoping to get a seniors team and then a women’s team together too.”
From 1pm, it was the U16 league match between WWJ and Swansea Rams which saw a healthy 42-6 win for Swansea, and then there was a healthy crowd watching the men’s game between SWJ and Bridgend Blue Bulls, where the Jets ran in a 46-0 win.
By that time, another 250 adults had come through the gate, with many children, leading to over 1,000 people being involved throughout the day, most of which was snapped by “Captured by Kate”, where Mrs Pronger and her husband Chris took over 5,000 images between them in a marathon six-hour plus stint.
So concluded, arguably the best event I’ve been involved in, and I’ve been to a number of junior and schools finals days in my time. It was the added extras and the carnival atmosphere, in addition to seeing so many people play rugby league in one space, that made it such a success, and Liam Price is now looking forward to Jets Fest 2 in Penallta in 2026.
“Oh, it’s been fantastic, hasn’t it,” he said. “It’s the first of this of this kind in Wales. We’ve brought in must be, over 400 players today, you know, across 8s to 16s and then the seniors.
“The weather was a little bit off here and there, but we’ve had a cracking day anyway.
“We’ve brought about 500 kids into the game this year and if all we do raises the standard and brings more people into the game elsewhere, then that’s brilliant.
“We’re trying to grow the game in Wales and hopefully a few other clubs can follow our lead and do something like this next year. There’s nothing stopping other people doing their own festivals.
“For us, Jets Fest 2 will be even bigger and better up in Penallta.”