As Owen Sheers' year as the WRU writer in residence draws to a close, it seems like an appropriate time to consider what impact the role has had.
Sheers was appointed in December 2011 as the first of a series of three writers in residence to the WRU, in a project funded by the Welsh Arts Council. His tenure, which has just come to an end, has witnessed the Welsh rugby team's dramatic slide from Six Nations champions to a disappointing performance in the Autumn internationals. Having been granted access to all areas of the sport, Sheers was positioned alongside players and coaches to capture the drama as it unfolded. So what has been the outcome of this interesting new scheme?
Firstly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a book. Faber and Faber have just published Calon: A Journey to the Heart of Welsh Rugby, the primary literary output of Sheers' year with the WRU. Sheers has also turned his talents to the field of poetry, penning a number of poems for the team during his residency.
Perhaps most interesting about Sheers’ work in this role is his ability to link the highs and lows of rugby to a powerful, nationalist undercurrent. His match day poems, such as ‘Now and Then’, depict a nation coming together for eighty minutes to forget the past and focus solely on the present. Whether or not this idea is wholly realistic, it certainly seems to connect with the impassioned crowds who filled pubs and stadiums during last year’s Six Nations competition. A recent review of Calon: A Journey to the Heart of Welsh Rugby, published in the Independent, suggests that its passionate descriptions of the moment Wales secured Six Nations victory are enough to win the support of even English rugby fans.
But what of the long-term literary benefits of the scheme? If the idea was to engage rugby fans with literature then the project, to date, has certainly seen some success. The publication of a number of Sheers' rugby poems in match programmes clearly being one way of bringing poetry to a new generation.
For Sheers, the end of his run as writer in residence is far from the close of his relationship with rugby. In a recent BBC interview he revealed his hopes for a collection of rugby poems and perhaps even a piece of theatre based on the sport. Rugby is, he claims, ‘an amazing opportunity to engage people’ and based on the results of his year with the WRU, few would argue with this statement. Most notably, the connection between two of the strongest cultural traditions in Wales, rugby and writing, has been forged for a new generation.
What remains to be seen is whether the next two years of the scheme can build on this success and further extend their creative output to rugby fans of all ages.
Sheers was appointed in December 2011 as the first of a series of three writers in residence to the WRU, in a project funded by the Welsh Arts Council. His tenure, which has just come to an end, has witnessed the Welsh rugby team's dramatic slide from Six Nations champions to a disappointing performance in the Autumn internationals. Having been granted access to all areas of the sport, Sheers was positioned alongside players and coaches to capture the drama as it unfolded. So what has been the outcome of this interesting new scheme?
Firstly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a book. Faber and Faber have just published Calon: A Journey to the Heart of Welsh Rugby, the primary literary output of Sheers' year with the WRU. Sheers has also turned his talents to the field of poetry, penning a number of poems for the team during his residency.
Perhaps most interesting about Sheers’ work in this role is his ability to link the highs and lows of rugby to a powerful, nationalist undercurrent. His match day poems, such as ‘Now and Then’, depict a nation coming together for eighty minutes to forget the past and focus solely on the present. Whether or not this idea is wholly realistic, it certainly seems to connect with the impassioned crowds who filled pubs and stadiums during last year’s Six Nations competition. A recent review of Calon: A Journey to the Heart of Welsh Rugby, published in the Independent, suggests that its passionate descriptions of the moment Wales secured Six Nations victory are enough to win the support of even English rugby fans.
But what of the long-term literary benefits of the scheme? If the idea was to engage rugby fans with literature then the project, to date, has certainly seen some success. The publication of a number of Sheers' rugby poems in match programmes clearly being one way of bringing poetry to a new generation.
For Sheers, the end of his run as writer in residence is far from the close of his relationship with rugby. In a recent BBC interview he revealed his hopes for a collection of rugby poems and perhaps even a piece of theatre based on the sport. Rugby is, he claims, ‘an amazing opportunity to engage people’ and based on the results of his year with the WRU, few would argue with this statement. Most notably, the connection between two of the strongest cultural traditions in Wales, rugby and writing, has been forged for a new generation.
What remains to be seen is whether the next two years of the scheme can build on this success and further extend their creative output to rugby fans of all ages.