Neath RFC

Neath RFC

Full name	Neath Rugby Football Club
Nickname(s)	Welsh All Blacks, The Mourners
Founded	1871[1]
Location	Neath, Wales
Ground(s)	The Gnoll (Capacity: 7,500)
President	Unknown
Coach(es)	Patrick Horgan
Captain(s)	Unknown
League(s)	Principality Premiership
2010–11	2nd[2]
Team kit
Official website
www.neathrugby.co.uk

Neath RFC shop, 13 Old Market Street, Neath

Neath Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The first team is known as the Welsh All Blacks because of the team colours: black with only a white cross pattée as an emblem. Neath RFC is the oldest rugby club in Wales, having been formed in 1871. They are feeder club to the Ospreys regional team.

History

Early history

Neath Rugby Football club was established in 1871 by a consortium of ten enthusiasts, their captain at the time, T. P. Whittington would later play international rugby for Scotland in 1873.^[3]

The club's nickname, 'The Welsh All Blacks', comes from their iconic strip of black jersey, shorts and socks with a white cross pattée. The origin of the team colours is not known for sure. Origally the club's players represented the team in various dark kits and the Cross pattée was introduced by one of their players, thought to have been E.C. Moxham, "to break the monotony". It is believed that the strip was later switched to the pure black kit as a mark of respect to player Dick Gordon, who died from injuries sustained on the field of play against Bridgend RFC in 1880.

On the 12th June 1881, eleven teams met in the Castle Hotel, Neath to form what would be accepted as a Welsh rugby union. The founding clubs of the WFU (Welsh Football Union), as it was originally known, were Swansea C & FC, Pontypool RFC, Newport RFC, Merthyr RFC, Llanelli RFC, Bangor RFC, Brecon RFC, Cardiff RFC, Lampeter College, Llandovery College and Llandeilo RFC.^[4] Strangely Neath RFC was not recorded as being present, even though the meeting took place in the town. It is unknown if this was an oversight by the committee to record the presence of the club, or if Neath RFC did not actually attend. One theory put forward is that the president, John Llewellyn and secretary, Sam Clark of the South Wales Football Union were both Neath men. By attending this new union they would be destroying the SWFU and therefore their own influence in the game. These wounds would soon heal and Neath joined the newly formed WFU in the 1882–83 season and would eventually become pivotal in the union's development, monopolizing the secretaryship from 1896 to 1955.^[5] Sam Clark would in turn become the first Welsh international from Neath RFC, playing in the second Wales game on 28 January 1882.

In 1887/88 Neath RFC undertook their first tour of the northern English clubs, including Hartlepool, Manningham and Wortley. The next season Neath played host to Widnes on Christmas Day before undertaking a further northern tour taking on a further five teams in six days. During the 1890/91 season a South West England tour was introduced, which would later become an annual fixture facing clubs such as Bristol and London Welsh.

2008/09 season

Their 2008/09 cup winning season, in which they claimed a mighty victory over Llanelli at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. This was the first year since the cup name changed from Konica Minolta Cup to Swalec Cup.

2007/08 season

Their 2007/08 championship season, their fourth in succession, was overshadowed by the death of scrum-half of Gareth Jones, on June 16, 2008. Jones had been injured in a match against Cardiff RFC on April 20. ^[6]

Club records

Neath RFC hold the world record for the number of points (1,917) and tries (345) accumulated in one season (47 Games)^[7]. This record was set during the 1988/89 season, it is also worth noting that a try was worth 4 points at the time the record was broken.

The record for the most tries scored in a game in the post-regional era (post 2002) is held by Richard Smith. In January 2010 against Kidwelly RFC Smith scored 7 tries. The pre-regional record of 6 tries is jointly held by Howie Jones (v Aberavon 1928/29), W.D. Williams (v B.P.Llandarcy 1949/50), Keith Maddocks (v Ebbw Vale 1956/57), Alan Edmunds (v Cross Keys 1989/90).

Organisation and finance

Neath RFC is now known as Neath Rugby Ltd and owns 50% of the Ospreys professional side.

In an effort to generate more income at their home stadium The Gnoll, the club announced in 2008, plans to share it with the town's football club Neath Athletic A.F.C..^[8]

Club honours

• Welsh Club Champions: 1909/10, 1910/11, 1928/29, 1933/34, 1934/35, 1946/47, 1966/67, 1986/87, 1988/89, 1989/90
• Welsh Premier Division: 1990/91, 1995/96, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2009/10
• Welsh Cup: 1971/72, 1988/89, 1989/90, 2003/04, 2007/08, 2008/09
• Welsh Cup Finalists: 1983/84, 1987/88, 1992/93, 1995/96, 2000/01, 2005/06,
• Snelling Sevens 1964, 1970
• Principality Premiership Play Off Champions: 2009/2010

Players and coaches

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under IRB eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-IRB nationality.

Player Position Union Ashleigh James Hooker Wales Andy Littlehales Hooker Wales Gerwyn Price Hooker Wales Jimmy Richards Hooker Wales Ross Davies Prop Wales Nicky Downs Prop Wales Martin Jones Prop Wales Emyr Wyn Lewis Prop Wales Johnny Thomas Prop Wales Neil Edwards Lock Wales Euros Evans Lock Wales Haydn Pugh Lock Wales Ciaran Ruddock Lock Ireland John Bowd Flanker Wales Andrew Llewellyn Flanker Wales Lee Evans Flanker Wales Gareth Gravell Number 8 Wales Nathan Bonner-Evans Number 8 Wales Nathan Thomas Number 8 Wales

Player Position Union Kevin Farrell Scrum-half New Zealand Gareth James Scrum-half Wales Matty James Fly-half New Zealand Stephen Thomas Centre Wales David Evans Wing Wales Kevin James Wing Wales Kristian Phillips Wing Wales Liam Powell Wing Wales Gareth King Fullback Wales Wayne Mitchell Fullback Wales Kevin Morgan Fullback Wales

Notable former players

This list of "famous" or "notable" persons has no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria. Please help to define clear inclusion criteria and edit the list to contain only subjects that fit that criteria.

See also Category:Neath RFC players

Games played against international opposition

Year	Date	Opponent	Result	Score	Tour
19081	15 October	Australia	Loss	0–15	1908 Australian tour of the British Isles[9][10]
1912	19 December	South Africa	Loss	3–8	1912-13 South Africa rugby union tour
19311	28 November	South Africa	Loss	3-8	1931–32 South Africa rugby union tour
19351	14 December	New Zealand	Loss	3-13	1935-36 New Zealand tour
19471	25 October	Australia	Loss	9-19	1947-48 Australia tour
19511	17 November	South Africa	Loss	0-22	1951–52 South Africa rugby union tour
19541	23 January	New Zealand	Loss	5-11	1953–54 New Zealand tour
19571	28 December	Australia	Loss	3-5	1957–58 Australia tour
1970	5 September	West Germany	Win	28–0
19731	24 January	New Zealand	Loss	3-43	1972-73 New Zealand tour
1987	31 October	United States	Loss	6–15	1987 United States rugby union tour of Wales[11]
1989	25 October	New Zealand	Loss	15-26	1989 New Zealand tour[12]
1992	11 November	Australia	Loss	8-16	1992 Australia tour
1994	2 November	South Africa	Loss	13–16	1994-95 South Africa rugby union tour[13]
1995	25 October	Fiji	Win	30–22	1995 Fiji tour of Wales[14]

¹ All these matches were played by a joint Neath/Aberavon team.

References

Neath RFC: 1871–1945 – Mike Price (ISBN 0-7524-2709-1, October 2002) Neath RFC: 1945–1996 – Mike Price (ISBN 0-7524-3106-4, March 2004)

External links

• Neath RFC – official site