Over 2600 Dragons mini and junior club players, coaches and parents invaded the Millennium Stadium and took over the Lower North Stand ready to roar the Dragons onto the pitch.
As kick off approached over 900 club players along with 100 coaches paraded around the stadium lining the whole perimeter in support of the Men of Gwent.
Community Officer Janice Chappell said: “What an amazing sight of support as all the children were wearing their club colours with pride and they certainly added enormously to the regional atmosphere of the day."
New Tredegar were the official guard of honour and lined up on the pitch to welcome the Dragons and were supported with the army of children from numerous clubs. The club role of honour included:
Blackwood
Penallta
Caerphilly
Risca
Oakdale
Croesyceiliog
Whiteheads
Caldicot
Chepstow
Abergavenny
Cwmbran
St. Julians
NHSOB
Newport Girls
As at Rodney Parade, match day is much more than just rugby, it’s about community engagement and creating a great match day experience, JDIII was no exception.
This was a record Pro12 crowd of over 52,000 beating the previous record by over 1000 supporters. “We would like to offer our thanks to all the Gwent clubs who helped create history and our intention next season will be to further increase our community support of over 2600 to take it to the next level”, said Mike Sage, a very proud Community Manager.
The messages of thanks and appreciation have been flooding into the community department from clubs, coaches, parents and supporters from the regions. Here are just a few:
Chesptow RFC commented, “Thanks for organising such a brilliant day. Players loved it. Epic turn out.”
“Thanks so much Mike. It really showed how much time and effort you put into organising it as it was really well organised and stress free for the kids. I was worried about the logistics but it worked so well, a real credit to all your hard work. Thank you for the amazing opportunity, the boys are bouncing. What a day,” said Penallta RFC
Our Guard of Honour club summed up the day perfectly. “Thank you so much for giving our team a fantastic opportunity which each and every player will remember and have memories to last a lifetime. Thanks again from everyone at New Tredegar RFC."
