Caerphilly Rugby Football Club is a Welsh

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

team founded in 1887. Their home ground is Virginia Park in Caerphilly and their nickname is ''The Cheesemen''. Caerphilly RFC currently play in the

WRU Division Two East Central WRU may refer to: * Welsh Rugby Union, sports association in Wales * Waikato Rugby Union, sports association in Waikato, New Zealand * Wesleyan Reform Union, Methodist church group in Britain * WRU, station code for West Ruislip station, Hillingdo ...

and are a

feeder club In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

for the Newport Gwent Dragons. Caerphilly RFC also run a thriving Mini and Junior Section with teams from Under 6's up to Youth. The Youth compete in the Dragons A League whilst the Seconds (known as the Diamonds) compete in a mid district 2nds league. Caerphilly Rugby Football Club is the largest Community Rugby Club in Wales by participation numbers

History

The club was formed on 17 August 1887, and their first reported match was played on 20 October 1887, when Caerphilly played away to St. Andrew's (Cardiff), winning by 1 goal and 2 minors to 2 tries and 1 minor. Caerphilly played 25 matches in their first season, winning 12, drawing 8, and losing 5. Since then Caerphilly RFC have spent many years in the top divisions of Welsh league rugby. Caerphilly has twice been admitted as members of the WRU, once in 1900 and again in 1955 after the club had disbanded and then reformed.

Home ground

Their home ground, The Mollex Stadium (Virginia Park,) is a small stadium with all-seated stands on either side of the pitch and a non-seated stand at one end of the pitch. The ground has a maximum capacity 6,000. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, German planes bombed Virginia Park, as they incorrectly believed it was being used as an

airfield An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

. On 6 May 2018 Caerphilly played host to the PRO 12 match between the Dragons (rugby union) and the Cardiff Blues which was switched from

Rodney Parade Rodney Parade is a stadium in the city of Newport, South Wales, owned and operated by the Welsh Rugby Union. It is located on the east bank of the River Usk in Newport city centre. The ground is on Rodney Road, a short walk from the city's c ...

. The match finished 26–24 to the Blues.

Recent success

Caerphilly made the national Bowl final in the principality stadium on 16 April 2017. The side lost to Shane Williams' Amman Unite
43-31
Caerphilly have featured in two recent cup finals, the European Shield Final 2003 (losing to French team Castres Olympique) & the Welsh Cup Final in 2004 (losing to

Neath RFC Neath Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Castell-Nedd) is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the WRU Championship. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The team is known as the All Blacks because of the team colours: black with onl ...

). The club were also narrow runners up in Division One East in 2007/2008 season. The club made it to the final of the Worthingtons Mid-District Bowl Final for the 2014/15 season, the final being held at Beddau RFC. Caerphilly lost to Porth RFC 29–23.

References

Caerphilly Rugby clubs established in 1887 Welsh rugby union teams Sport in Caerphilly County Borough {{Wales-rugbyunion-team-stub