Welsh Professional Clubs
There have been various attempts to introduce professional rugby league to Wales throughout the 20th century. Merthyr Tydfil and Ebbw Vale joined for the 1907/08 season; followed closely behind Aberdare, Barry, Mid-Rhondda and Treherbert joined in 1908/09. The 1908/09 season saw the first Welsh League, played alongside the Northern Union League.
Aberdare, Barry, and Mid-Rhondda dropped out after that season, with Treherbert following the next year. Merthyr Tydfil lasted until 1910/11, and Ebbw Vale was the last of these to leave, after 1911/12. The next Welsh club was Pontypridd, who joined in 1926/27; only to dropped out after 8 games of the 1927/28 season. A Cardiff club participated in the 1951/52 season, but disbanded after that season.
Following in the footsteps of Fulham F.C. (who founded the RL team that is now London Broncos), Cardiff City F.C. decided to enter a team for the 1981/82 season. The Blue Dragons, as they were known, shared Ninian Park with the Bluebirds until the 1983/84 season, when the club went into liquidation. They were then moved to Bridgend for the 1984/85 season, where they placed on the bottom of the table, and were expelled after the season for failing to obtain a home ground. The final professional rugby league club was South Wales RLFC, who finished 6th in the Second Division in 1996. Because of small crowds, the club withdrew from the league before the next season.
There are currently two professional rugby league clubs in Wales. The Crusaders Rugby League team, based in Wrexham, play in the Super League competition. Neath-based South Wales Scorpions play in the Championship 1, there are also plans for the CPC Bears, based in West Wales, to join the Championship competition in 2013.
Read more about this topic: Rugby League In Wales
Famous quotes containing the words welsh, professional and/or clubs:
“The populations of Pwllheli, Criccieth,
Portmadoc, Borth, Tremadoc, Penrhyndeudraeth,
Were all assembled. Criccieth’s mayor addressed them
First in good Welsh and then in fluent English,”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“I hate the whole race.... There is no believing a word they say—your professional poets, I mean—there never existed a more worthless set than Byron and his friends for example.”
—Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Wellington (1769–1852)
“We shall exchange our material thinking for something quite different, and we shall all be kin. We shall all be enfranchised, prohibition will prevail, many wrongs will be righted, vampires and grafters and slackers will be relegated to a class by themselves, stiff necks will limber up, hearts of stone will be changed to hearts of flesh, and little by little we shall begin to understand each other.”
—General Federation Of Women’s Clubs (GFWC)