The demise of Welsh rugby in pictures

Paul Hayward’s tour of South Wales’ rugby clubs took him to three clubs bound by geography and history, and by a shared sense of a beautiful history slipping away. At The Gnoll in Neath, at Bridgend on a rain-soaked Friday night, and in Newport with the Dragons, the photographs trace a game still rich in character but drained of a certain future.

Old grounds, patched-up stands and faces of those who have filled these stadiums’ seats for generations tell stories of a sport once rooted in towns and valleys, now stranded between nostalgia and an uncertain future. The images, all taken by Karen Robinson, linger on the details; a smashed window at the Neath turnstile, fans cheering in the stands, and a steward hugging – or cwtching – a fan on arrival. All capture a culture that survives on loyalty even as its foundations erode.

Hayward witnessed across these clubs the slow unravelling of Welsh rugby’s identity and documents across his coverage a national sport in retreat from its heartlands.

Photographs by Karen Robinson for The Observer

Read more: Welsh rugby in crisis

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  Riven by panic and bitterness, Welsh rugby is on its knees

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  Neath’s bitter decline is a symbol of Welsh neglect

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  Dafydd James: ‘Local rugby clubs are suddenly dying’