Around The Touchline Feature – Steve Barnett (Haverfordwest):

 
 
Whenever I visit Haverfordwest RFC I know that lurking somewhere could be Steve Barnett, with his cheeky grin, waiting to pounce as he plays nice little tricks on me or tries to photobomb my amateurish attempts at taking team photographs.
 
But it is all done with the good nature that is very much part of his DNA – and I looked forward to a chat with someone who knows his rugby onions as a former player and current coach!
 

Enjoying his role as Blues’ Ladies’ coach

 
At the moment Steve is coaching the ladies’ team at Pembroke Road, Merlins Bridge, and pleased with the fact that they are currently unbeaten, having beaten Tumble Ladies, favourites to win the title, in a 23-15 away win, Swansea West Hawks (a massive 99-0 home victory) and most recently, a 67-15 win at Crickmarren over Pembroke Ladies.
 
“They are very keen so it is a pleasure to coach them,” Steve told us, “and we can already see the big improvement in skill levels and fitness as a result.”
 

A special walk down Memory Lane

 
When we met Steve recently he was looking forward to the next day because he was travelling down to the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, near Exeter, to meet up with his old friends who attended exactly 40 years ago to come out as Royal Marines, most of whom he hasn’t seen since.
 
“It was a brilliant couple of days and we had a great ‘Walk Down Memory Lane’ as we reminisced about how hard the course was but made us grow up pretty quickly,” admitted Steve.



 

Great playing days with The Royal Marines

 
Whilst in HM Forces Steve played rugby regularly and he is rightly proud of the fact that he played for The Royal Marines, The Royal Navy and The Combined Services at under 21 and senior levels.
 
He played for the Combined Services under 21s against Scotland under 21s at Murrayfield and they unfortunately came off second best but their points were scored by Rory Underwood from a try and Steve landed the conversion and a penalty – and when the pair went out celebrating Steve definitely came out on top and the English international was begging to be left to go home because he was struggling!
 
Steve also kicked points at Twickenham when playing for The Royal Navy against The Army and can still recall the feeling of walking out at such a famous venue.



 

Back home – and a life-saving experience

 
Once he finished his stint in The Marines Steve came home and spent four years as a munitions inspector at the Ministry of Defence Depot in Trecwn. Whilst working there Steve represented the MOD in rugby and then went on to represent the Civil Service, where he ended up playing against his old team The Royal Navy, which was an interesting encounter.

Steve then decided to train as a paramedic and after two years as a technician took on this challenging role.
 
And this specialist training became vital in his chosen sport of rugby because one evening he was helping to coach the youth team under the floodlights at Haverfordwest when a player collapsed and stopped breathing - but luckily Steve was able to step in and his speedy intervention as gave CPR to help save the youngster’s life.
 
This fantastic feat was recognised later in the year at the annual Sport Pembrokeshire Awards’ evening as he received the special ‘Chairman’s Award’ for services to sport - and was deservedly given a standing ovation at Folly Farm for his marvellous work on that night!
 
Since then Steve has also worked at Murco for a while and was heavily involved with Pembrokeshire County Council in working with vulnerable young people, and at the age of 48, gained his honours degree in Youth work at Trinity St Davids University in Carmarthen.


 

Other Sports . . .

 
Outside of his love for rugby, Steve has also enjoyed other sports – and was once the school county champion in the 100 metres, as well as being involved in amateur boxing with his brother Mike, whilst being coached by the late Eddie Davies until he had one punch on the nose  too many and decided he didn’t want his youthful good looks altered too much!

“I also took more than a passing interest in weight-lifting and gymnastics and played junior football for Clarbeston Road, as well as playing for Crundale’s senior team to help my recuperation when I broke my collar bone.”
 

Early start in minis rugby

 
Steve started out in rugby at minis’ level and was immediately put on the wing because I was so small but eventually got into the county team for his age group where he played in the centre with the highly talented Kevin Bailee (Pembroke).
 
At 15 I made my debut for The Blues Youth and in my time at that level I played in the Youth Cup Final where the late Steve James was my biggest influence as he led the team from No 8 – but we lost to a very strong Whitland outfit on our big day.
 

Back with The Blues as an adult

 
Then came his adventures in the Royal Marines, which are well documented above, until he came home to Civvy Street – and going back to his playing days, Steve returned to action with the Haverfordwest First XV when he was 22 and joined a useful team that included players of the calibre of Gary Abrahams, Kevin Walsh, John Griffiths, John Summons and many other quality players.
 
They won the Pembrokeshire League in 1986/87 and the back division then was (from scrum half to full back): John Summons; Gary Abrahams: Nigel Griffiths, Steve himself; Peter Hughes; Andrew Morgan; and the mercurial Paul Walsh.

“Now there was a bit of pace there,” says Steve with typical understatement! 

And the pack was more than useful too because it included (from front row to No 8): Graham Evans; John Griffiths; Derek Coles: Dai Perkins; Gwynfor Howells: Richard Thomas; Keith Fleming; Randal Evans and Steve James. Just imagine that team playing in the National Leagues now!
 
Steve was club captain in the year before the Heineken National Leagues were started – and lists that as one of the high points of his long involvement with The Blues.



 

Time to step down and coaching took over

 
“I loved playing week in, week out but eventually I knew that I wasn’t as sharp as I had been and decided I couldn’t play with pride so I chatted to friends to get advice and decided it was the right time to call it a day as a player.
 
Steve began his coaching with The Blues’ junior section when his son Craig began playing and he took them right through until they left youth.

“It was a very useful team,” Steve told us, “which included Simon Gardiner, Jonathan Morgan and Craig - and reached the final against Whitland but lost in a cracking contest where I was very proud of the way they played.
 
“As they moved into senior rugby I started again with Andy Curtis and the club’s under 15s and it was the strongest squad I ever coached, with Ryan Banner, twins Carwyn and Llewelyn Jones, Will Curtis, Jamie Lewis and Luke Harvard to name just a few.
 
“We won the county youth cup final and (as far as I am aware) became the first Haverfordwest team to complete the double because we also won the league title as a bonus.”
 

Senior coaching continued apace

 
From there, Steve began helping Barry John to coach the first XV and they reached the final of the KO Cup with players of the calibre of Adam and Matthew Clarke, Ollie Reyland, Brett Davies, Ryan Banner, Ashley Sutton and Craig.
 
“We eventually beat Tenby United at Whitland and celebrated well into the night”.

We also managed to make the cup final a few years later but this time we lost to a very strong Narberth side but we were so proud of how the boys performed and we held our heads high.
 
As well as his good work with The Ladies, Steve also helps out with the club’s senior side that is so well coached by Matthew John, Mark Hamer and Simon Lepetit.
 
Steve’s current official title is “Club Representative” alongside his long-time friend Tony George
as they  act as a link between the senior sides and the committee – “to help things to run more smoothly
 
 
“However, I still enjoy my involvement on a Saturday afternoons with the warm-ups and anything else needed on the touchline, and at midweek training sessions whenever my time allows alongside training the girls.
 
“I’m just happy to be involved with Haverfordwest RFC, where I started all those years ago – and part of that joy is meeting old team mates and rivals, as well as having interesting chats  on the touchline with my reporting pals Gordon Thomas and Bill Carne!”