Scandal of King hits Neath when they are down

FOR a club whose homegrown players famously went the distance against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, Neath experienced something yesterday they had never experienced before. They were counted out without throwing a punch.

Instead of giving Pontypool a run for their money, the original All Blacks took the only course of action left open to them after failing to raise a team. They threw the towel in and for the supporters rallying behind the club in these desperate times that will have been very hard to take.

For the benefit of the uninitiated, Pontypool v Neath would have been a match to roll back the years, to the Eighties when between them they won seven successive Welsh club titles – Pontypool in 83-4, 84-5, 85-6 and 87-8; Neath in 86-7, 88-9 and 89-90.

Like the band on the Titanic, Neath’s diehard fans will never jump ship. The passion and ferocious pride they take in their club, even one on its last legs, could be heard at nearby Aberavon the other week when they borrowed 17 players from 13 different clubs and gave the Wizards a run for their money.

Unable to work another miracle, the club issued yet another appeal for their embattled owner, Mike Cuddy, to end his ‘chaotic management’, including an allegation that players have not been paid for three months.

All but a stoic few have gone, including the oneTest All Black Regan King. When Neath heralded his signing last year, Cuddy said: “He will be nothing but positive for the club.’’

King was among those who left when the balloon went up and now a number of his former partners allege that the former Scarlets centre deceived them into lending him money under false pretences. No wonder the fans feel short-changed.