This week I rescued a homeless person from the cold, had a conversation about welsh poetry and got flashed by a speed camera going 34mph

Matt Monkey Jones was reunited with nature on Wednesday when he went to try to find a lost ball in the bushes, somehow he managed to find 3, all of which were rubbish and not the ball he was looking for. Credit goes to Mark for the wayward shot!

On Sunday we had valentines training in the sun, we were uncertain of turnout, so we had another cone / pole fest and put up the two nets, one of which we didn’t use at all! We had a good session though, one member clearly has issues with the way the club is run, as he injured the chairperson not once but twice.

Had an amazing afternoon on Saturday, when Wales were getting beaten by Scotland. After losing to England the previous week, it felt as though we were back to our old ways after a decent couple of Six Nations seasons. I’d given up on the game and briefly gone elsewhere in the house, but thought i’d sit back down just in case. Little did I know what was to unfold, Shane Williams scoring in the 82nd minute in dramatic fashion to win the match when we looked dead and buried. My Scottish roots count for nothing when Wales are playing believe me!

In the evening I joined the other sad and single members of the club for an Anti-Valentines dinner. We eventually went to a curry house on City Road, after having to wait 45 minutes for a table. We had a nice meal and a good night. Nearing the end of my meal I looked to my left and saw what looked like a couple who had had a valentines dinner, but clearly had nothing to say to each other, both staring into space uninterested. Clearly Jason and Amos have no spark for each other at all!

On Sunday afternoon we had a very difficult football meeting,  where we had to select the squad for the Falcons match. To do this we had to chose 16 from 21 interested members. As the numbers are growing at the club, it is becoming an increasingly difficult role to do, but so long as we continue to provide something for everyone, then we should be able to deal with it. In the pipeline is Tuesday night 5-a-side, a Sunday lunchtime skills session, more second eleven style fixtures and training when squads are at matches. It’s really important to me and the club that we can get football for everyone, so please don’t get disheartened if you don’t make this squad or you feel you aren’t getting a lot of competitive football. We are trying our best and as long as we remain organised then every member of the club can enjoy their time here to the full.

The club had some news this week which is yet to be announced or confirmed so I can’t mention it, but in terms of committee work at present everyone is really working hard and should be applauded for doing so. The fabulous Dave Kelly and Lucas Owen who led the club in the early days should be very proud of what they have created and should be even more proud of the way things are going with the current committee so keep up the good work guys.

Muzz

This week I was almost killed by a micro digger, fell asleep in the bath for 2 hours and managed to forget to bring my phone to training in case a new member was going to ring!

Wednesday night saw a return to training at Sophia Gardens and one of the best attacking displays I have seen from Dragons players. The passing, movement and link up play was excellent and gave us poor defenders a very hard time.

On Sunday we were well prepared for the recent high numbers and set up training accordingly. We had expected over 20 members, but at 1pm there were only about 12 members present, it was an absolute cone-fest! The numbers did improve as there had been a few people out the night before who clearly couldn’t face doing any sprinting, so we were able to have a bit of a game on the 11′s pitch at the end.

It’s been a bad week for us Wales supporters, beaten by the old enemy on the weekend in the first round of Six Nations fixtures, followed by the unsettling news of being paired up against England in the upcoming Euro 2012 Qualifying Group Stage. I actually think the Wales v England matches in the Euro’s could be really entertaining games and could be a great opportunity for our young, talented, promising side to take on the established enemy from across the border and possibly get a result. Could Wales actually qualify for a major tournament for the first time in 54 years?

Being around so many different nationalities at the time of the Wales defeat got me on to thinking how incredibly diverse the Dragons as a club is. In my previous teams I have played alongside friends, friends of friends and associates, so the formation of Cardiff Dragons has been incredibly successful bearing in mind that almost nobody knew anybody to begin with.

The make up of the team is quite intriguing, I would have imagined that had the Cardiff Dragons been established in the late 1980s – early 1990s then almost all of the squad would have been Welsh with a few imports, but due to the boom Cardiff has seen since these days we have a very cosmopolitan squad. Of 54 past and present Dragons members 29 are Welsh, 16 are English, 2 are Scottish, 2 are Irish, 2 are Spanish, 1 Frenchman and 1 Romanian.

I think something which makes the club special is that within the squad and its supporters we have a huge variety of people from all walks of life. We cater for all sexualities, genders, backgrounds, affluence, educations, jobs, abilities, ages, heights, weights, ethnicities, ambitions, ideals and beliefs. And the fact that in general everybody gets along with everybody without too many issues is really quite impressive and pays testament to the great attitude everybody has at the club.

Muzz

Assistant Manager (11-a-side)