South Wales RLFC was a rugby league club formed in 1995. South Wales during their existence played at Morfa Stadium, Swansea, the Talbot Athletic Ground, Aberavon and Cardiff Arms Park.

A team formed in late 2009 also used the name South Wales RLFC before going on to become known as South Wales Scorpions then South Wales Ironmen before moving to West Wales and playing as West Wales Raiders.

History

History of rugby league in South Wales

The South Wales region had always been an attractive area to the rugby league because of its similarities to Yorkshire and Lancashire in having a mass industrial population which followed rugby enthusiastically. In 1907 a team representing Aberdare was formed, and by 1908-09 there were six Welsh rugby league teams with clubs based in Ebbw Vale, Merthyr Tydfill, Mid Rhondda, Treherbert and Barry. All of these clubs were defunct by 1912. Ebbw Vale survived the longest, five seasons.

Encouraged by the 22,000 strong crowd which attended the Wales vs England match in 1926, local promoters established a club in Pontypridd. The club initially experienced good sized crowds however poor results soon saw attendances drop, and the club only lasted eight games into its second season before folding.

A team was formed in Cardiff and played in the 1947/48 and 1951/52 seasons.

Rugby league would not revisit south Wales until 1981 to 1985 when the Cardiff City Blue Dragons existed as a club. Much like its predecessors initial interest waned when the club suffered from poor results, low attendances and a relocation to Bridgend before they finally disbanded at the end of the 1985 season.

South Wales RLFC South Wales RLFC during their first season (1996) in the Rugby Football League were reasonably successful and came fifth in the second division; winning twelve games and losing ten. Games were played at Talbot Athletic Ground Aberavon, one game was played at Morfa Stadium Swansea against Bramley and all the games for the second half of the season were at Cardiff Arms Park. They were coached by Clive Griffiths and assisted by Danny Sheehy.

Initially the club had no playing kit of their own so they borrowed the Welsh international team's kit for the first three games. After that they wore a specially designed plain red strip with the traditional three feathers logo to distinguish them from the national side.

The first home game played at Aberavon on 31 March 1996 saw an attendance of 1,876, when the club played Hull Kingston Rovers and lost 70-8. Crowds fluctuated depending upon where the club played, and the last home game of the season saw a crowd of only 400 witness the club defeating York 20-16 at Cardiff Arms Park.

Due to the relative success of the club and their geographical location outside the heartlands of British rugby league, the club had high hopes that it would be awarded a Super League franchise. A case was put forward by Mike Nicholas and Clive Griffiths and was initially accepted after a 16-11 vote by the RFL council. However at the beginning of September, the RFL Board of Directors refused a final endorsement of a Super League place with a £1 million guarantee of support deemed 'insufficient'. The franchise was then awarded to Gateshead Thunder instead. A meeting a few days later decided to place the South Wales in the second tier of British rugby league, the First Division, but the club decided that this would not be financially viable and the decision was made to disband the club altogether before the start of the 1997 season.

Players

During their first, and only, season South Wales utilised forty-two players.

№ Name Date of birth (Age) Début Position Appearances Tries Goals Drop goals Points Age on Début Representative Records/Notes 1 16 7 45 0 118 25 yrs 6 mths 29 days Search for "Bebb" at rugbyleagueproject.org 2 12 6 0 0 24 23 yrs 4 mths 3 days Search for "Perryment" at rugbyleagueproject.org 3 Right- 22 14 0 0 56 29 yrs 11 mths 23 days 4 Left- 22 7 0 0 28 25 yrs 4 mths 9 days 5 21 15 0 0 60 27 yrs 9 mths 30 days Search for "Marshall" at rugbyleagueproject.org 6 3 1 4 0 12 30 yrs 6 mths 8 days Search for "Rees" at rugbyleagueproject.org 7 10 2 0 1 9 22 yrs 10 mths 3 days for "Churcher" at rugbyleagueproject.org 8 Left- 5 0 0 0 0 23 yrs 11 mths 2 days Search for "Picton" at rugbyleagueproject.org 9 4 0 0 0 0 25 yrs 11 mths 12 days Search for "Lloyd" at rugbyleagueproject.org 10 Right- 15 1 0 0 4 36 yrs 6 mths 30 days alternative (incorrect?) date of birth of 1 September 1959 given at walesrugbyleague.co.uk 11 Left- 1 0 0 0 0 22 yrs 11 mths 3 days Search for "Taylor" at rugbyleagueproject.org 12 Right- 5 0 0 0 0 20 yrs 5 mths 15 days Search for "Lippiatt" at rugbyleagueproject.org 13 9 4 0 0 16 28 yrs 10 mths 11 days Heritage № 376 14 14 5 0 0 20 25 yrs 6 mths 30 days Search for "Alvis" at rugbyleagueproject.org 15 1 0 0 0 0 24 yrs 6 mths 17 days Search for "Jarman" at rugbyleagueproject.org 16 3 0 0 0 0 20 yrs 4 mths 25 days 17 21 5 0 4 24 20 yrs 5 mths 27 days Search for "Hatton" at rugbyleagueproject.org 18 4 0 0 0 0 27 yrs 11 mths 14 days Search for "Romanello" at rugbyleagueproject.org 19 5 0 0 0 0 27 yrs 0 mths 27 days Search for "Isherwood" at rugbyleagueproject.org 20 10 0 0 0 0 22 yrs 7 mths 4 days Search for "Rylance" at rugbyleagueproject.org 21 7 0 0 0 0 28 yrs 8 mths 17 days Search for "Thomas" at rugbyleagueproject.org 22 8 1 18 0 40 30 yrs 7 mths 10 days Search for "Healy" at rugbyleagueproject.org 23 6 2 0 0 8 30 yrs 9 mths 23 days Search for "Wysocki" at rugbyleagueproject.org 24 5 1 0 0 4 23 yrs 2 mths 23 days Search for "Kelly" at rugbyleagueproject.org 25 1 0 0 0 0 25 yrs 9 mths 13 days Search for "Moffatt" at rugbyleagueproject.org 26 14 0 0 0 0 33 yrs 9 mths 24 days 27 18 2 0 0 8 28 yrs 3 mths 17 days 28 5 2 0 0 8 21 yrs 7 mths 3 days Search for "Morris" at rugbyleagueproject.org 29 3 3 0 0 12 26 yrs 5 mths 15 days 30 6 1 0 0 4 27 yrs 3 mths 6 days 31 5 1 0 0 4 31 yrs 10 mths 1 days Heritage № 350 32 6 4 0 0 16 35 yrs 7 mths 27 days Heritage № 357 33 14 4 0 3 19 23 yrs 10 mths 14 days 34 11 1 0 0 4 22 yrs 1 mths 30 days Search for "Mills" at rugbyleagueproject.org 35 11 2 0 0 8 22 yrs 3 mths 23 days 36 11 0 0 0 0 23 yrs 5 mths 4 days Search for "Cash" at rugbyleagueproject.org 37 2 0 0 0 0 27 yrs 6 mths 1 days Search for "McIntosh" at rugbyleagueproject.org 38 5 1 0 0 4 23 yrs 11 mths 2 days 39 8 2 0 0 8 25 yrs 8 mths 23 days Search for "Barnard" at rugbyleagueproject.org 40 7 0 0 0 0 27 yrs 0 mths 17 days Search for "Edmunds" at rugbyleagueproject.org 41 3 0 0 0 0 26 yrs 5 mths 19 days Search for "John" at rugbyleagueproject.org 42 5 1 2 2 10 19 yrs 6 mths 22 days Search for "Doherty" at rugbyleagueproject.org

Seasons

SeasonLeaguePlay-offsDivisionPWDLFAPtsPos1996Division Two2212010528548246th

See also Sport in Cardiff Rugby league in Wales

References