Me & Mr.Olds

Ollie Olds.  Page taken from
"The Heart and the Art of my Rugby Photography"

I'm pleased to announce that I will be Sponsoring Wales Rugby League International Ollie Olds during the coming rugby league season as he returns from Leeds U20s to play for the South Wales Scorpions.
 The picture you see to the left is one that I took the first time I photographed Ollie play. It was January 28th 2009 and Brynteg School had a Saturday morning fixture against Plasmawr School. I remember very little about that game as after almost 200 games they all tend to merge into one for me. But what I do remember vividly is the conversation I had a few days later with Paul Bowen - Ollie's coach at Brynteg. I had gone in to give him free copies of the photos I'd taken as being a former Brynteg pupil I was glad to go back and help out. We were looking through a few of the photos together and I remarked how Ollie looked a lot younger than the other players and questioned if he was old enough to play in the senior side. He looked me straight in the eye and with total conviction said "gooooood player!" and as a man who had coached the likes of British Lions Dafydd James and Gavin Henson at Brynteg in recent years, he certainly knew what he was talking about.
 As with all the players I've photographed at youth and grass roots level I like to follow the progress of their careers, and having photographed Ollie again in further Brynteg games and for Wales at age-grade level, I was delighted to see him return to South Wales as a full Wales International. This made him the 4th player I'd photographed go on to gain International honours after Christiaan Roets (Wales Rugby League) Andrew Hoggins (Germany Rugby League) and Tom McGarr (Ireland Rugby League), and with the likes of Lloyd Peers, Matthew "Nipper" Morgan, and Tom Habberfield looking like they have every chance of adding to that list in the future I'm enjoying sitting back and watching the list grow. Good luck lads!

Book Launch from PHP Publications

PHP Publications are delighted to announce their debut publication from Paul Hart of www.PaulHartPhotography.co.uk
This quality hardback book has 288 pages and is bursting with over 300 quality photographs that provide a unique insight into grass roots sport as they capture the action, the people, and the passion of rugby matches in South Wales during five seasons from 2007 to 2012.
The book will be released on September 1st 2012 with a RRP of £20, and will be available from www.PHPpublications.com.
Please contact PaulHartPhotography@Gmail.com with any questions.

Preview - South Wales Students Rugby League Challenge Match.

© PaulHartPhotography.co.uk

This Sunday sees a bumper day of Rugby League at the famous Gnoll Stadium in Neath. A 1PM fixture between the South Wales Scorpions and Whitehaven will be followed by the first ever “South Wales Students Rugby League Challenge Match” between UWIC (Cardiff Met) and Swansea University at 3:15pm.

On paper UWIC go into the game as the big favourites following a successful season in the BUCS National South that saw them progress into the BUCS Championship Competition for the top 8 sides in the country. Conversely Swansea played in the BUCS Wales & West League, and were then disappointingly dumped out of the third tier BUCS Shield competition in the Preliminary round. Without doubt Swansea will want to prove they are better than these raw stats suggest, and give a big performance on the day.

While there are Wales Student Internationals on both sides, UWIC will again have the upper hand on paper in regards to the status of their players, with current Irish International Tom McGarr in their ranks along with new Scorpions signing Callum Wilkinson.

Paul Horrocks, club president of the UWIC side stated "Both universities have worked particularly hard in the previous few years to build respectable and competitive teams. This will be a great occasion to show off all that hard work and hopefully provide a wonderful experience for everyone involved. It has the potential to be another step in the right direction for Rugby League and the student game in Wales. Long may it continue."

Deri Galvin, club president of the Swansea side said: "Students at Swansea are eagerly awaiting the inaugural South Wales Students Rugby League Challenge Match. The match caters for the growing interest in Rugby League in Swansea and will no doubt be an exciting spectacle in a fantastic environment.

This match provides a huge opportunity both sets of players to perform at a great rugby venue, and if they impress the onlooking coaches from the South Wales Scorpions and new feeder side the South Wales Hornets, this game at the Gnoll could become the first of many for them.