week, as well as free meals and travel expenses. Jones had switched from his old club Treherbert RFC in 1902 to join Aberdare, but in 1906, Aberdare were forced to cut their 'wages' from 10 shillings to five, to combat mounting debts. Jones had taken offence at this and switched back to Treherbert. The WRU held an investigation into all the allegations, and the sub-committees final report, published in September 1907 asserted that the allegations of professionalism being "rampant in Welsh clubs" were not proven, although they did find evidence of certain clubs giving additional payments to their players. The Union's reaction was incisive but unbalanced. Temporary suspensions were given to six players, including Swansea's Fred Scrine, the permanent suspension of the entire Aberdare and Treorchy committees, and the permanent suspension of eight player from the sport of rugby union, including Dai Jones. Although Merthyr Alexandria were let off with just a warning. The reason for the leniency shown to Merthyr is thought to have been connected to the club's apparent move to the professional Northern code. Merthyr Alexandria, had proposed in their AGM of 1907 to turn away from amateurism and join the Northern Union. Although the motion was heavily defeated, the week after the AGM it was reported that fixtures had been arranged, players signed and guarantors found for a new 'professional rugby club' in the town. In July 1907 a new Merthyr Tydfil league team joined the Northern Rugby Union. It was therefore believed the WRU did not suspend or punish Merthyr Alexandria to prevent the squad converting to the newly formed league team. Just prior to the formation of Merthyr Tydfil RLFC, Ebbw Vale RFC had decided to switch from the union game and joined the Northern Union because the members were enraged at the "...bogus amateurism in the Monmouthshire League". Both these clubs formed the first professional challenge from Wales in the Northern League finishing 23rd (Merthyr) and 26th (Ebbw Vale) out of 27 teams in their first season. The spread of professional rugby Before the start of the 1908/09 season, two important matches took place that helped spread the appeal of Northern Union rugby. The first match saw the Wales rugby league team, take on their counterparts from New Zealand in the first true international rugby league game in world history. The team consisted of Welsh exiles form the Northern Union teams, plus two