[caption id="attachment_4199" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
From left, FUW president Gareth Vaughan, Scarlets’ players Salesi Finau and Scott Quinnell with 15-month-old 600kg Welsh Black bull Gwarcwm Aron 23rd, Trevor Jones and past FUW president Bob Parry before the Heineken Cup match against Perpignan in 2003.[/caption]
A Welsh Black bull will be paraded around the pitch when the Scarlets entertain Ulster in a televised Magners League rugby match at Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli, on Friday evening February 18.
The event will be a repeat of two previous parades by Welsh Black bulls on the Scarlets' former Stradey Park pitch before Heineken Cup matches against Colomiers in 2001 and Perpignan in 2003 to draw attention to the prolonged French ban on UK beef imports following the foot and mouth disease outbreak exactly 10 years ago.
This time the bull will be the highlight of a unique occasion when the Scarlets team up with the Farmers' Union of Wales to provide a special farming theme at the stadium before Friday evening's match.
The bull will be supplied by FUW stalwart and past Welsh Black Cattle Society president Trevor Jones and his son Huw, of Bow Street, near Aberystwyth.
They have won scores of top prizes and championships at numerous agricultural shows since 1960 including the Royal Welsh show, Pembrokeshire show and the former United Counties show.
Among other events planned before the Ulster match are a display by Meirion Owen’s Quackpack, farm livestock displays, milking a life sized model of a cow and YFC mascots Tiff and Taff kicking goals in wellies.
The Scarlets’ Supporters Village will also house a farmers' market with plenty of local produce on offer. A few spaces remain available for local farmers to set up a stall and they should contact Scarlets' communications officer Nerys Jones on 01554 783910 or 07970 601597 for details.
And in a special promotion with the Scarlets, FUW members can obtain half price admission to the match (£10 for adults, £5 for children) on presentation of a voucher - printed on page 2 of the February issue of the union's "Welsh Farmer" newspaper - which is valid up until the 7.05pm kick-off.
FUW president Gareth Vaughan said: “We are very pleased to be taking part in this special farming theme event. Let’s hope the Welsh Black bull will give the Scarlets more luck than they had at the Bull Ring in Perpignan during last month’s Heineken Cup match!”
Scarlets commercial director Rupert Moon said: “I am delighted to be working again with the FUW after I was involved with them when I worked for the WRU and a Welsh Black bull was paraded on the Millennium Stadium before the Wales-All Blacks match in November 2006.
"That was a great advert for the quality of Welsh livestock which was seen across the world and I'm sure our special farming theme for the televised match against Ulster will boost the profile of farmers throughout Wales once again.”