Llandovery RFC are to install a brand new 3G pitch at Church Bank, ready for the 2024-2025 season writes Huw S Thomas

At a meeting held on Friday, April 19, chairman Peter Rees and the club’s board of directors put forward the advantages of the pitch.

It would be a community-led initiative and other sports clubs would have access to the facility and benefit from it, whatever the weather conditions.

Some senior games and a multitude of Junior Drovers fixtures and competitions have had to be cancelled recently and pitches have been so wet that training sessions have had to be called off.

So is the case with Llandovery FC whose games and training have been badly affected by bad weather.

With the WRU and Scarlets fully in favour of Llandovery’s ambition, the rugby club sees the 3G pitch as a future focal point for east Carmarthenshire and Tywi Valley sports clubs.

The cost of installation of the 3G pitch would be around £750,000, but the chairman explained to the 50 or so members present at the meeting that all but £160,000 would be available as grants.

Sports Wales would contribute £418,906 and a Carmarthenshire County Council sustainable development fund would provide £175,000.

That results in the club itself and other local sports clubs like Llandovery Town Football Club being responsible for finding close to £160,000 to bridge the gap.

Mr Rees was confident that the community would rally to the call and find the remaining £160,000 by selling a multitude of £20 “pitch squares” with all contributors to have their names emblazoned on a 3G Contribution Wall at the ground.

There were doubts expressed that such a sum would be beyond the reach of a small community and that the whole initiative was a risk.

Such fears were dismissed by the majority who gave full support for the work to go ahead in the belief that the money would be found.

An artificial pitch which favours a fast-running game would certainly be an advantage to the current Drovers squad.

Llandovery will be one of 10 clubs to take part in the new Elite Domestic League next season, a WRU initiative that seeks to bridge the gap between semi-professional and professional rugby to benefit Welsh rugby.

Wet heavy pitches that have not suited the style of the side would be a thing of the past and the reliability of the surface and pitch would also mean that representative and even fully professional games might be staged at Church Bank.

The planning application has already been submitted and the hope is that work will be started immediately once the season is over, with the pitch hopefully ready by September.