ALTHOUGH the action on the field is often fiery and fierce, the sport of rugby is really all about community – and that has been typified by one Mid Wales club this week following the shock and sudden death of a rival club’s player.

Teenager Dylan Price died tragically in a suspected hit and run collision last Sunday [September 19], on the eve of his 18th birthday. Dylan, who represented Bishop’s Castle Rugby Club, was found in Brampton Road between Lydbury North and Bishop's Castle just after 2am on Sunday. Police officers believe he had been hit by a vehicle while he was walking along the road, which led to him suffering fatal injuries.

Dylan had been in the Bishop’s Castle team that played Powys-Shropshire border rivals Tref-y-Clawdd a day prior to his death – and the Knighton club have this week paid their own unique tributes to the much-loved teen, who was known to and friends with many of the Knighton players. Several Trefy players attended a rather more sombre birthday party held in Dylan’s honour and memory in Bishop’s Castle on Monday night, September 20, with his family deciding to stick to the celebratory plans rather than cancel them.

Tref-y-Clawdd have also derived their own plan to remember Dylan, organising a raffle to be drawn at their home game with Crickhowell next weekend, with proceeds to be donated to a fundraising page set up to support Dylan’s family – one that has already raised almost £8,000.

On Sunday, Tref-y-Clawdd posted a picture of the Bishop’s Castle club crest on their Facebook page, accompanied by a single word – ‘Brotherhood’. And it is one that sums up the game of rugby, according to Trefy’s first team coach Graham Rimmer.

County Times:  Dylan Price pcitured with his sisters. Pic courtesy of the Price Family Dylan Price pcitured with his sisters. Pic courtesy of the Price Family

“Irrespective of who Dylan was the fact he was someone on our doorstep brought his death home a lot more,” said Graham.

“No-one in the rugby community wants to read that about another player. We played them last Saturday and then the accident was on Saturday night so it was even more poignant because the lads had been on the pitch with him the previous day. They were gutted.

“And, to compound it, some of them know him from going to school in Bishop’s Castle or know people who know him, so it’s hit very close to home. It’s a massive shock. It’s always a shock when someone’s hurt but even more so when someone’s fatally hurt.”

Dylan’s own club paid tribute to him on Monday, describing him as a committed member who had a “smile everyone loved to see”.

“From where the family sit it’s horrendous because not only have they got to mourn his loss but they don’t actually know what happened to him,” added Graham, who said Bishop’s Castle contacted him on Monday to ask if anyone from the Radnorshire club wanted to attend Dylan’s birthday party, which was still going ahead.

“They contacted me on Monday as I was there contact, to say they were still going ahead with his birthday plans, a trip to the pub in Bishops Castle, and would some of the lads from here go over.

“It was great to be asked. I couldn’t make it but I put a message out on our message board and nine of them [the players] went, which was great. It shows solidarity.”

Sport is so often about intense rivalry and competition, but it’s also about camaraderie and compassion – and no more has that been evidenced this week than the reaction to Dylan’s death by the Knighton club.

Graham says Trefy just wanted to do their bit to remember Dylan and support his family. Graham’s wife Andrea and club bar manager Darren Hipgrave saw the gofundme page set up by a friend of Dylan’s and they began brainstorming their own fundraising ideas.

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Graham said: “They hashed the idea of a raffle and an auction which will start after the home game against Llandrindod Wells on Saturday.

“It’s just something little, a mark of solidarity, respect and remembrance for a boy who shouldn’t have died that way, at that age.

“Dylan’s family have been on the phone this morning and bought £30 worth of tickets and said thank you and that means a lot to us that they’re aware of what we’re doing. There are few words you can say when something like this happens but it’s our way of doing something.”

The club say they have been overwhelmed by the generous offers for the raffle since introducing the idea on Tuesday, with almost 40 prizes now available. These range from meal and food vouchers at local cafes and restaurants to hampers, paintings, bouquets of flowers, beauty treatments, alcohol and sweet treats, as well as sports and fitness items such as a golf day out and personal training sessions.

Tickets are £1 a strip and are on sale via Facebook messenger – visit the club’s Facebook page and click on the button below the club – and can be purchased from the Clock Tower Tea Shop too. They will also be on sale at Trefy’s Border Park home from 2pm this Saturday, September 25, ahead of their game with Llandrindod, and next Saturday, October 2, against Crickhowell.

Tickets will be drawn at approximately 5.30pm on October 2 following the game.

For more information visit the Tref-y-Clawdd RFC Facebook page or to contribute to the Bishop’s Castle donation page in memory of Dylan, click here.

West Mercia Police is urging people who may have seen Dylan walking along Brampton Road or any vehicles or people in the area acting suspiciously to get in touch. Officers would also like residents and businesses with CCTV or doorbell cameras, or motorists with dash-cam footage of the area at around that time, to contact police. Anyone who has any information can call 101, quoting incident 00140i of September 19.