Wales Cap (1908)Welsh Rugby Union
Welsh Rugby
Rugby has been central to the life of Wales for almost 150 years. The history of game in Wales is highlighted in this timeline.
Origins
Like many countries, Wales had forms of ‘folk’ football in the middle ages and later centuries. One of these folks games ‘Cnappan’ was first described as being played in rural Pembrokeshire in the seventeenth century but its origins may have been much older.
These folk football matches were played between teams which differed in the number of players in each team were often large and would vary. The rules were crude and not codified. Cnappan or other folk football bear little resemblance to modern Rugby Union.
The Modern Game
The origins of the modern game of rugby union are found at Rugby School in the England. The game we have today derives its name from the place where it was first played.
It was said that that the game was created in 1823 when William Webb Ellis, a pupil at the school, picked up the ball and ran with it during a game of football in the Close at Rugby.
In recent times this theory that the game was founded by Ellis’s fine disregard for the rules has been doubted by the sport’s historians. World Rugby perpetuates the Webb Ellis legend by naming the Rugby World Cup trophy the Webb Ellis Cup.
Codification
In 1847 the laws of the game were drafted for the first time at Rugby School. However those laws were not universally applied. For almost 20 years after the laws were drawn up at Rugby other schools, colleges and universities adopted their own football laws.
Gradually these laws were refined and finally codified in 1871 by the newly formed Rugby Football Union. The game slowly took a form which would now be recognised as rugby football.
Welsh students returning from English schools and universities brought the new laws of rugby into Wales with them. By the mid -1860s a form of football recognisable as being played to the rules of Rugby school was being played at St Davids College and Llandovery College.
A challenge was laid down between the two colleges and on 26th March 1866 the colleges played each other, probably at Caio. This football match has been recognised as the first match under rugby laws in Wales.
The game was soon adopted by other schools and even towns across Wales. It was a game ideally structured to demonstrate the muscular Christianity idealized in the Victorian era.
It must be noted that at this stage the game played under the rugby laws was still popularly known as football. It remained that way for many years. The Welsh Football Union was formed in 1881 was the and remained so known until 1934 when it took the title Welsh Rugby Union.
Club Rugby
The first senior club team to be formed in Wales was Neath RFC in 1871. Others followed along the South Wales coast in the 1870s at Newport, Cardiff, Swansea and Llanelli.
Increasing industrialization in the valleys of south Wales brought with it an influx of people to work in the mines and ancillary industries. Many men involved in these industries found the rugby code of football to be the ideal outlet for their physicality.
Clubs were set up in many of the valley communities along with newly established nonconformist chapels and male voice choirs: the three pillars of Welsh society in the late Nineteenth century.
By 1875 there was an increasing desire from clubs to play in some form of competitive structure. The South Wales Football Club was formed in that year to select players to compete against English teams, organise a cup competition and to offer guidance on disputes between clubs.
International Rugby
The first international match in Britain was played in 1871 between Scotland and England. By 1880 there was a desire for a Welsh international team. This led Richard Mullock, secretary of Newport Athletic Club's football division, to organise a match against England.
The match took place in Blackheath in South East London on the 19th of February 1881. It turned out to be a disaster for Wales as they lost by 7 goals, 6 tries and a dropped goal to nil. In modern scoring terms they lost 82-0.
This defeat evoked a strong response from Welsh clubs who saw the need for an effective organizing body for the game in Wales to be able to select the best players from across the country to represent Wales. 11 clubs met in the Castle Hotel in Neath on the 12th March 1881 and formed the Welsh Football Union.
Wales won their first international match when they defeated Ireland in 1881 but failed to achieve much success until they won the Triple Crown (defeating England, Scotland and Ireland in the same season) and the 4 Nations championship for the first time in 1893.
The First Golden Era
By the 1900, Wales was the strongest team of the Home Unions. In 1900-1911, Wales won the championship 6 times and the grand slam (winning all matches) 3 times. The most famous victory was in 1905 when Wales beat a previously undefeated New Zealand touring team at Cardiff.
The First Women's Match
Most organised rugby in Wales was paused during the World Wars. However, in 1917 the first recorded women’s rugby match was played at Cardiff Arms Park between teams made up of steel and brewery workers from Newport and Cardiff, with the proceeds of the match going to charity.
World War I and the Interwar Years
13 Welsh international players lost their lives in the World Wars, along with many in a generation of other young Welsh men and women. Those who did return came back to a different Wales, one of tough economic conditions.
In the 1920s and 1930s many young Welsh people, including rugby players, were forced to move away from Wales to England in search of jobs. In this period talent drained from Welsh rugby clubs as people left Wales. Many rugby players from Wales went to the professional clubs in Northern England to play for financial reward.
Wales had limited success on the international field for the next 20 years, with the international championship being won on 3 occasions in 1922, 1931 and 1936. However, a Welsh team did beat England at home in Twickenham for the first time in 1933 and New Zealand again in 1935.
1945-1970
In the years following the second world war rugby union recovered as a major spectator sport but it took five seasons before Wales had sustained success on the international field.
There were talented Welsh players, however they were not a great team until John Gwilliam became captain in 1950 when they won the first Welsh grand slam for 39 years and in 1952 they repeated that Grand slam success. In 1953 with tries from Sid Judd and Ken Jones, Wales beat New Zealand for the 3rd and last time to date.
Wales won the Five Nations championship in 1956 and were Triple Crown champions in 1965 and 1969. In 1964 Wales embarked on the first major National tour when the team went to South Africa. In 1969 the Welsh team went to New Zealand and Australia for the first time. In South Africa and New Zealand the Welsh touring team suffered heavy defeats.
The Second Golden Era
The 70s heralded the second golden era of Welsh Rugby. Iconic players like Sir Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Gerald Davies, Phil Bennett and JPR Williams dazzled the new audiences that television brought to rugby.
Wales won the grand slam in 1971, 1976 and 1978 and the triple crown in 4 consecutive years in 1976-1979. The Welsh team became sporting superstars, not only in Wales but around the world. The players in the great Welsh teams of this decade formed the nucleus of the British and Irish Lions teams which toured successfully Australia and New Zealand in 1971 and South Africa in 1974.
1980s and 1990s
The glory of the 70s was not repeated in the eighties and nineties. However, Wales did win a triple crown in 1988 and championship in 1994. The WRU celebrated its centenary season in 1980-81 with a series of special matches and came 3rd in the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987.
The First Welsh Womens Team
Women’s rugby only began to take off around the world and in Wales in the late 80s. The Welsh Women's team played their first match in against England in Pontypool in 1987. The first Women's Rugby World Cup was held in Cardiff in 1991.
1999 and the Early 2000s
Without winning a grand slam or triple crown, Wales won a record 11 matches in a row in 1999 including beating South Africa for the first time and hosting the Rugby World Cup in a newly opened Millennium Stadium.
The Wales mens and womens teams won occasional matches but there was no sustained Welsh success on the international field in this period.
The Third Golden Era
After 27 years, Wales won the Grand Slam in 2005 at home in Cardiff in front of 74,000 spectators and an estimated 250,000 more in the city joining in the celebrations.
More Grand Slams came under coach Warren Gatland in 2008 and 2012. A further grand slam came in 2019 and Six Nations championship wins in 2013 and 2021. Participation and investment in Women’s rugby in Wales has grown significantly since 2020.
