An Amman Valley rugby club is celebrating 60 years of being associated with a Scottish team which began with two Ammanford men who went to work at a nearby oil refinery in Grangemouth.

The most eagerly awaited match on the Llandybie’s fixture list is the annual encounter with Scottish club Grangemouth, not so much for the game itself but the opportunity it gives for old friends to meet over the weekend trip.

The first reference to the association was documented in minutes from a meeting held by Llandybie RFC committee on October 29 1956 where they had received a letter from Grangemouth asking for a team to be sent to Scotland to play a friendly.

The first match between the clubs was in 1957 and the clubs have played 53 games at alternative towns in total. Llandybie are currently in the lead by winning 29 matches with Grangemouth just behind on 24 wins. Seven games have been cancelled due to weather conditions.

Traditionally the friendly between Llandybie RFC and Grangemouth would be played on the morning of the match between Wales and Scotland, but over the last few years the game has been played on the Friday evening before the main event.

Llandybie RFC Chairman Handel Thomas, who has been a part of the club for 50 years, said: “I haven’t missed a game at Murrayfield in the last 25 years.

“The association is believed to be down to two men from Ammanford who went to work on an oil finery in Grangemouth in the 1950s.”

Over the decades, supporters have travelled to Scotland using the bus but there has been times when they have got to the game in other transports.

“The first bus ever used was Penygroes Coaches and we were quoted £60 for the 800-mile round trip. Now it is more near the £2,000 mark,” added the former Wing and Centre player.

“The only time we have ever flown to Scotland was in 1972, but in 2001 a few club members including myself travelled to Scotland in a limousine as part of an S4C program called Byd at Bedwar using Limo Big Jim which was good fun.”

The trophy played for during the game is in memory of a former chairman Mr Alban Jenkins, who passed away in 1961, and the teams still compete for the Alban Jenkins Memorial Shield to this day.