Blaina RFC

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Blaina RFC
Full name Blaina Rugby Football Club
Nickname(s) Lambs
Founded 1875
Location Blaina, Wales
Ground(s) Central Park
League WRU Division Three East
2007/08 5th[1]
Flag of Wales

Blaina Rugby Football Club are a Welsh rugby union club based in Blaina in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent in South Wales. They presently play in the Welsh Rugby Union Division Three East league and are a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons.[2]

[edit] History

Towards the end of the 19th century industrialism in the late Industrial Revolution was spreading through the South Wales Valleys. With the migrant workers into the South Wales coalfield came the game of rugby union and in 1875 players from local sides amalgamated to form a club which played on a ground provided by the Lancaster company.

Their chief patron and founder was a Mr. Sidney Lancaster.[3] The club applied for and was accepted into the Welsh Rugby Union in 1895.[4]

In May 2006 Blaina RFC were one of the 13 'Rebel' clubs who brought a vote of no confidence against the WRU, which centered around financing and the handling of former coach Mike Ruddock's departure. The vote failed heavily with only 20 votes for the motion and over 300 against.[5]

[edit] Notable players

  • Flag of Wales Mike Ruddock
  • Flag of Wales Jack Williams (7 caps) [6]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ WRU Official Website - Sourced 18th May 2008
  2. ^ BBC News (2004-07-08). Wales' regional rugby map. BBC. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
  3. ^ Fields of Praise, The Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union 1881-1981, David Smith, Gareth Williams (1980), pp27 ISBN 978-0708307663
  4. ^ Fields of Praise, The Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union 1881-1981, David Smith, Gareth Williams (1980) pp101 ISBN 978-0708307663
  5. ^ Welsh clubs give backing to Union - BBC Sports, sourced 16th Aug 2007
  6. ^ Fields of Praise, The Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union 1881-1981, David Smith, Gareth Williams (1980) pp473 ISBN 978-0708307663