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Introduction Of Regional Rugby Union Teams In Wales
Welsh regional rugby is the top tier of professional Welsh club rugby and is composed of the Scarlets, Ospreys, Cardiff Rugby and the Dragons which compete in the United Rugby Championship. The regions were established for the start of the 2003/04 rugby union season. From this date, Wales was represented by a smaller number of regional teams in both the Celtic League and European Cup competitions, where previously the top club sides were entered into them. Current regions Cardiff Rugby/Rygbi Caerdydd Based in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, Cardiff Rugby (Welsh: ''Rygbi Caerdydd'') play at Cardiff Arms Park and are owned by Cardiff Rugby Ltd, who also own and run Cardiff Rugby Football Club. From 2003 to 2021 the club were known as the Cardiff Blues before changing their name to Cardiff Rugby prior to the start of the 2021-22 season. Cardiff Rugby are responsible for developing rugby in the city of Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil and south Powys ...
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Scarlets
The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which replaced the Heineken Cup from the 2014–15 season). The club was originally named the Llanelli Scarlets but was renamed at the start of the 2008–09 rugby season. The Llanelli Scarlets were founded in 2003, as one of the five (now four) regional teams created by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). The Scarlets are affiliated with a number of semi-professional and amateur clubs throughout the area, including Welsh Premier Division sides Llanelli RFC, Carmarthen Quins RFC and Llandovery RFC. Through the 2007–08 season, they played most of their games at Stradey Park in Llanelli, but they have also played matches at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham. The club's new stadium, Parc y Scarlets ( en, Scarlets Park), was constructed in nearby Pe ...
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Merthyr RFC
Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, who according to legend was slain at Merthyr by pagans about 480 CE. generally means "martyr" in modern Welsh, but here closer to the Latin : a place of worship built over a martyr's relics. Similar place names in south Wales are Merthyr Cynog, Merthyr Dyfan and Merthyr Mawr. History Pre-history Peoples migrating north from Europe had lived in the area for many thousands of years. The archaeological record starts from about 1000 BC with the Celts. From their language, the Welsh language developed. Hillforts were built during the Iron Age and the tribe that inhabited them in the south of Wales was called the Silures, according to Tacitus, the Roman historian of the Roman invaders. The Ro ...
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Llanelli
Llanelli (" St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. The town had a population of 25,168 in 2011, estimated in 2019 at 26,225. The local authority was Llanelli Borough Council when the county of Dyfed existed, but it has been under Carmarthenshire County Council since 1996. Name Spelling The anglicised spelling “Llanelly” was used until 1966, when it was changed to Llanelli after a local public campaign. It remains in the name of a local historic building, Llanelly House. It should not be confused with the village and parish of Llanelly, in south-east Wales near Abergavenny. Llanelly in Victoria, Australia was named after this town of Llanelli, using the spelling current at that time. History The beginnings of Llanelli can be found on the lands of present-day Parc Howard. An I ...
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Stradey Park
Stradey Park (Welsh: ''Parc y Strade'') was a rugby union stadium located near the centre of the town of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It was the home of the Scarlets region and Llanelli RFC rugby teams. The stadium was a combination of seating and standing with a total capacity of 10,800 (22,500 before 1990). Following the Scarlets' move to Parc y Scarlets in 2008, Stradey Park was demolished two years later and replaced with housing. History The ground originally opened in 1879 for use by Llanelli RFC. In 1887, Stradey Park was chosen to host its first international rugby union match. In the early days of international rugby, all the British countries switched venues on a regular basis to allow supporters the chance to see their team and clubs the opportunity of share gate receipts. Stradey Park was selected as part of the 1887 Home Nations Championship, with the opening home match for Wales being against England. The game was arranged for 8 January and a temporar ...
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Llandovery RFC
Llandovery RFC ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Llanymddyfri) is a Welsh rugby union club based in Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The club is an inaugural member of the Welsh Rugby Union, currently play in the Welsh Premier Division and is a feeder club for the Scarlets, a Pro14 club. Early history Prior to 1878 written evidence exists of a Llandovery rugby team, though in these reports it is not clear if this was a town or college team. On 22 February 1878 a report in the ''Carmarthen Journal'' refers to a rugby game between 'Llandovery' and other local teams but these were specifically named as college teams while Llandovery was not. In 1879 Llandovery College, played their first recognised official match against Christ College, Brecon. This was a college and not a town side as the match report indicated it was the first time the two schools had met. are nowadays recognised as an inaugural member of the Welsh Rugby Union at a meeting held at the on 12 March 1881 in the Castle Hotel, ...
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Carmarthen Quins RFC
Carmarthen Quins Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Cwins Caerfyrddin) are one of two Welsh rugby union clubs based in Carmarthen in West Wales, the other being Carmarthen Athletic. They currently play in the Welsh Premier Division and are a feeder club for the Scarlets regional team. Club history During the 2005–06 season Carmarthen Quins were relegated from the Welsh Premier Division and placed in Division One West, making a return to the Premier league after winning the West league in 2008–09. Carmarthen were to face Blackwood, winners of Division One East in a play-off for promotion; but because Blackwood's ground was deemed not to meet WRU standards for the Premier league, the game was forfeited. .Blackwood RFC would dispute that their ground was not up to standard with new modern stand and floodlights and thought by many as having one of the best valley grounds in Gwent. Would have also been an interesting game to watch to see who was the best as both sides playe ...
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Llanelli RFC
Llanelli Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Llanelli) is a Welsh rugby union club founded on 30 March 1872. The club's historic home ground was Stradey Park in Llanelli, but they moved in 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent Pemberton. The club song is "Sosban Fach", a Welsh song meaning "Little Saucepan", which is sometimes sung by the club's fans during matches as the club anthem. The team colours are scarlet and white. Following the 2003 regionalisation of Welsh rugby, Llanelli is now a feeder club to the Scarlets regional team. Club history In the beginning After attending a Good Friday service in Chapel, a group of young athletes from Llanelli met to discuss the formation of a new rugby club in the area. One of those men was John D Rogers, a young industrialist who had learned to play rugby union football at Rugby School, the game's birthplace. He was assisted by C. Hilton, who became the club's inaugural honorary secretary. On Easter Saturday, 30 Marc ...
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Welsh Rugby Union
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clubs, the Welsh national team and National Leagues and Cups. The WRU is headed by the President (Gerald Davies), chairman (Ieuan Evans) and CEO Steve Phillips History The roots of the Welsh Rugby Union lay in the creation of the South Wales Football Club in September 1875; formed, "...with the intention of playing matches with the principal clubs in the West of England and the neighbourhood. The rugby rules will be the code adopted. The South Wales Football Club was superseded in 1878 by the South Wales Football Union in an attempt to bring greater regulation to the sport and to select representatives from club sides to represent the international game. The SWFU though were poorly organised, and although they arran ...
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Heineken Cup
The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a predominantly European league. Clubs qualify for the Champions Cup via their final positions in their respective national/regional leagues (Premiership Rugby, English Premiership, French Top 14, and United Rugby Championship) or via winning the second-tier European Rugby Challenge Cup, Challenge Cup; those that do not qualify are instead eligible to compete in the second-tier Challenge Cup. Between 1995 and 2014, the equivalent competition was known as the Heineken Cup and was run by European Rugby Cup. Following #Disagreements over structure & governance, disagreements between its shareholders over the structure and governance of the competition, it was taken over by EPCR and its name was changed to the European Rugby Champions Cup, without ...
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Parc Y Scarlets
''Parc y Scarlets'' (, en, Scarlets Park) is a rugby union stadium in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, that opened in November 2008 as the new home of the Scarlets and Llanelli RFC. The ground replaced Stradey Park, the home of Llanelli's rugby teams for almost 130 years. The stadium complex includes facilities for matchday supporters and for non-matchday revenue generation, as well as a training barn and a training pitch with athletics track. The stadium also occasionally hosts some matches of the Wales national under-21 and senior football teams, as well as Llanelli Town A.F.C.'s matches in European competitions. Swansea City A.F.C. Reserve Team played all of their home fixtures at the stadium in the 2011/2012 season. In 2020 the venue was used for Wales home games during the Autumn Nations Cup due to the Millennium Stadium being used as a backup Covid venue to Dragon's Heart hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design and construction The ground was built by Port Talbot-based ...
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2009–10 European Challenge Cup
The 2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 14th season of the European Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from six nations in European rugby. It started on 8 October 2009 at Sixways Stadium in Worcester with Worcester Warriors hosting Montpellier, and ended with the final at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on 23 May 2010. The reigning champions were Northampton Saints, who did not defend their title as they qualified for the 2009–10 Heineken Cup. Cardiff Blues won the trophy after a 28–21 win against Toulon. Teams Five English teams and eight French teams competed because an English team – Leicester Tigers – progressed farther in the 2008–09 Heineken Cup than any French or Italian team. Other countries will have their usual number of teams: Ireland one, Romania one and one from Spain. Pool stage The draw for the pool stages took place on 15 June 2009. The seeding system was the same as for the 2008–09 tournament. The 20 competin ...
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2008–09 EDF Energy Cup
The 2008–09 Anglo-Welsh Cup, known as the EDF Energy Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 38th season of England's national rugby union cup competition, and the fourth to follow the recently adopted Anglo-Welsh format. As in the previous two years, the competition is contested between the twelve teams of the Guinness Premiership and the four Welsh regions from the Celtic League. The sixteen teams are arranged into four pools, with one Welsh and three English teams in each. Teams are randomly drawn into groups, as opposed to previous years when English sides were grouped according to proximity to one another. Each team plays the other team from their group only once, meaning that two teams in each group face two away games, whereas the other two teams have two home games. Group stage In the pool matches, teams receive: * Four points for a win * Two points for a draw * A bonus point for scoring four or more tries, regardless of the match result * A bonus point for losing by seve ...
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