Rhiwbina Living Issue 57

sport
the story of
Welsh
rugby
Cardiff has been home to Welsh rugby for more than a century. This is the
story from its roots in the late 1800s through to the modern game
Sport divides and it unites. As far as
Welsh culture goes, rugby is part of
its very soul.
Sport goes a long way back in
Welsh history. In fact, the earliest
documented source for a group
ball game in Great Britain actually
comes from Wales. Historia
Brittonum (The History of the
Britons), written in the ninth century,
depicts group ball games after the
Romans had left Britain. Cnapan
was a Celtic medieval form of
football around that time. The
sport was one of the ball games
traditionally played to celebrate
Shrovetide and Eastertide within the
British Isles.
Rugby union is believed to have
reached Wales during the 1850s,
when the Reverend Professor
Rowland Williams brought the
game with him from Cambridge to
St. David's College, Lampeter. The
college fielded the first Welsh rugby
team later that year. In September,
1875, the South Wales Football
Union was created ‘with the
intention of playing matches with
the principal clubs in the West of
England and the neighbourhood –
the rugby rules will be the adopted
code.'
Rugby union spread throughout
the industrial south Wales valleys
not long after, brought there by
former college students who had
played the game during their
education away from home in
England. At a time when soccer was
flourishing in other parts of the UK,
rugby union was taking Wales by
storm. By 1892, there were 70 rugby
clubs in south Wales alone, and by
14
1905, Cardiff had over 200 known
teams.
The Welsh Rugby Union was
formed in 1881 to help facilitate the
game more formally and out of the
many clubs that were being formed,
there rose some of the larger clubs
throughout south Wales, such
as Cardiff, Swansea, Llanelli, and
Newport. Known as the 'Big Four';
these clubs led the way in the
game's development.
It's been argued that the game's
popularity could be down to the
fact that rugby had originally
been embraced by the betteroff
students that attended the
universities in the south and the
west of the country. It would also
explain why rugby never gained the
same affection in the north of the
country.
South Wales was also a heavily
industrialised part of the UK, and its
workers were traditionally involved
in more manual labour. This meant
that they already had a physical
advantage over other players who
were perhaps in more white-collar
work. Rugby was embraced by the
working class as it gave them a
sense of identity.
At a more local level, many clubs
were also being created from
work places and social groups. As
industrialisation spread and the
towns and cities expanded, so too
did the number of clubs popping up
in the communities.
Here in the capital, Cardiff Rugby
Football Club was founded in 1876
following at meeting at Swiss
Hall, Queen St. The club was
the amalgamation of two clubs,
Glamorgan and Cardiff Wanderers,
and their first competitive game
took place against Newport at
Wentloog Marshes in December of
that year.
The club's home games were
initially played at Sophia Gardens
but they subsequently relocated to
Cardiff Arms Park, named after the
nearby pub.
Originally the Arms Park had a
cricket ground to the north and a
rugby union stadium to the south
and the first spectator stands
appeared at the ground during
1881–1882. That same season also
saw the first Welsh international
match taking place, and the team
included four players from Cardiff
Rugby Football Club.
It wouldn’t be until 1890, and their
seventh attempt, that the Welsh
national team achieved their overriding
ambition and finally beat
England. The team's first Triple
Crown came in 1893 and was the
launch pad for the first ‘Golden Era’,
when Wales dominated the world
game.
They won Triple Crowns in 1902
and 1905 and were also runners-up
in the 1901, 1903 and 1904 Home
Nations Championship. They won
the title in 1906 and even beat the
touring Australian team in 1908.
In 1905, Wales played New
Zealand in what has since become
known as 'Gêm y Ganrif' or 'The
Game of the Century'.
The game was part of the New
Zealand 'Originals' tour, where they
played 35 games. By the time the
All Blacks arrived in Wales, they
hadn't conceded a single point