THERE was a time, especially during the early Eighties, when ‘Pooler’ turned Ponty-pool Park into the most forbidding fortress in the British game.
Opposing teams got the message advising ‘abandon hope all ye who enter’ without anyone needing to nail it above the door to the visitors’ dressing-room.
The visit of the All Blacks and Wallabies enhanced the club’s reputation, drawing some 20,000 to the town at a time when it was inconceivable that ‘the Viet-Gwent’ would play anywhere other than at Pontypool Park. How times change.
In giving notice...