The new character stars in the extended comic book which is targeted at children between three and 14 years old. The fully bilingual Welsh-English book will be made available to pupils in every school in Wales.
Headmasters at each of the 1,380 primary schools and 284 secondary schools in Wales have received a letter offering the graphic novel, complete with historical references and a unique take on Arthurian mythology – laying claim to fictional wizard Merlin’s Welsh roots and citing the ‘sword in the stone’ legend.
The WRU hopes their dramatization of Scorch’s back story, which involves a group of young adventurers travelling back in time to 1856 to visit Evan and James James, the composers of the Welsh National Anthem (Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau), can be a useful tool for teachers as they attempt to meet the challenges of the new literacy drive in Wales.
The Merlin character, whose legend is said to have originated in Carmarthen, is quoted early in the WRU book – which was written before last year’s RBS 6 Nation’s triumph – in confident mood about the future of Welsh rugby:
“Look here. Welsh rugby is entering another golden age. We’ve had great teams in the past I know, but we’ve never dominated the world! The time has come! …to unleash the Dragon! … to unleash all of the passion … all of the pride of Wales that has been built up over centuries…”
Read in the context of the recent British & Irish Lions tour successes in Australia, and the role the Welsh contingent played down under after successfully defending their RBS 6 Nations title of 2012 in 2013, the story appears somewhat prophetic.
History will record four RBS 6 Nations titles in nine years since, and including, 2005 for the Welsh national team and a sizeable contribution, coaching and back room staff included, to the 2013 Lions heroics.
The Scorch book previews a tough Dove Men Series campaign this Autumn, which will see South Africa, Tonga, Argentina and Australia come to Cardiff, and so young Welsh rugby fans will still be hoping Merlin’s confidence is well placed.
“In Scorch we have created a character which will form an integral part of the international rugby experience for fans in the season ahead and beyond,” said WRU Group head of sales and marketing Craig Maxwell.
“We are hoping he will be able to reach out to children and adults alike in his various forms and he will certainly be a highly visible part of the match-day experience at the Millennium Stadium for the foreseeable future as well as forming an integral part of our Dove Men Series marketing campaign.
“The comic is a great way for us to introduce him to a younger audience and it also enables us to reach out to a school age audience at a time when we have matches – such as the Friday night clash with Tonga – specifically targeted towards a family audience.
“But also we felt that if Scorch is going to be accepted into the hearts and minds of the Welsh rugby watching public, as we hope he will be, for the foreseeable future it was important that we spelt out his back story and created a genuine context for his arrival at Millennium Stadium this November.”
Wales’ Education Minister Huw Lewis has also backed the WRU’s latest initiative. He said: “We want to drive up literacy standards and encourage good reading habits for all children in Wales. By giving children access to all kinds of reading materials, whether books, websites, comics or magazines we can show them that reading can be fun.
Thanks to this new initiative from the WRU I’m sure children in schools across Wales will have great fun following Scorch’s adventures while also improving their reading skills.”
The Scorch graphic novel is also widely available to all fans via a digital online i-comic which can be downloaded now from www.wru.co.uk HERE as well as being freely available via i-tunes. The i-comic has its own sound track recorded by local Welsh actors and features a choir in full voice.
And to complete the full multi-media experience there is also a selection of Scorch themed games, which comes in the form of an app for i-phone and i-pad and is also freely available from the above outlets (with game upgrades being the only product to carry a small fee).
