Ebbw Vale Rugby League Football Club was a professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
club based in
Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr con ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
playing in the
Welsh League
The Welsh League was the first club rugby league competition in Wales.Lush (1998), pg. 19 Its inaugural season was in 1908/09 when four additional teams were formed to join Ebbw Vale RLFC and Merthyr Tydfil RLFC, which allowed a league tournamen ...
and Northern Union. Based at
Bridge End Field, Ebbw Vale were one of the first professional Welsh teams, and the last to disband in 1912 after the failure of the Welsh League. Ebbw Vale produced seven players who would go on to represent the
Wales national rugby league team
The Wales national rugby league team represents Wales in international rugby league football matches. Currently the team is ranked 17th in the IRL World Rankings. The team was run under the auspices of the Rugby Football League, but an indepen ...
, and were seen as the only Welsh team of the time who could challenge the Northern League.
Formation
The Ebbw Vale rugby league team was the first club in Wales to 'turn professional' being founded on 15 July 1907,
[Lush (1998) pg. 24] the same month that
Merthyr Tydfil RLFC
Merthyr Tydfil Rugby League Football Club was a professional rugby league club based in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales playing in the Welsh League and Northern Union. Based at College Field, Merthyr Tydfil were one of the first professional Welsh teams, ...
formed. The team formed out of
Ebbw Vale RFC
Ebbw Vale Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Glyn Ebwy) is a Welsh Rugby Union Club based in the town of Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, South Wales.
The club play in the Welsh Premiership and act as a feeder club for the Dragons regional team.
...
, an amateur
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 its m ...
team, whose members were enraged at the "...bogus amateurism in the Monmouthshire League".
Rugby union, led by the
Welsh Rugby Union
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, 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 ...
in Wales, had strict laws, barring all players to accept any wages or expenses to play the union code of rugby. This rule was often broken, to not only keep players at a club, but also to prevent them from "Going North", to join the professional Northern League in England. Ebbw Vale made a stand, and after a meeting at the Bridge End Hotel in the town, the club voted 63-20 in favour of adopting professionalism and joined the Northern Union.
The switch to professionalism had been orchestrated by their secretary, William Evans, who not only steered the club to adopting Northern Union rules, but had also won guarantees from the NU Committee that the club would be paid £10 for every match played in the north.
Evans was made secretary of Ebbw Vale Rugby Football Club Company Ltd., and the company was formed with capital of £250.
The Welsh Rugby Union reacted by suspending all players, officials and the club for life.
The Northern Union tried to counter this, by stating that no South Wales players would be allowed to switch to northern professional clubs unless refused places by Ebbw Vale and Merthyr first.
Honours
*
Welsh League
The Welsh League was the first club rugby league competition in Wales.Lush (1998), pg. 19 Its inaugural season was in 1908/09 when four additional teams were formed to join Ebbw Vale RLFC and Merthyr Tydfil RLFC, which allowed a league tournamen ...
: 2
**1908-09, 1909–10
Club career
1907–1908
Ebbw Vale's first fixture as a professional club was against
Keighley
Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish
in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford.
Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...
at
Lawkholme Lane, on 7 September 1907, losing 26-3.
The team's first home game was a week later, on 14 September, a 29-0 loss to
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
.
[Lush (1998) pg. 256] Ebbw Vale's first win, was against fellow Welsh converts Merthyr Tydfil, beating them at Merthyr on 12 October 1907,
this was followed the very next game with their first success over a northern team, a 10-2 victory against
Swinton. The Swinton match was played in front of 2000 home supporters, while matches against Halifax in January 1908, and Barrow in February, saw crowds of around 4000.
Ebbw Vale finished their first season with 30 games played in the Northern League, six won, two drawn and 22 lost, finishing 26th out of 27 clubs.
[Lush (1998) pg. 25]
The 1907–08 season was also notable for the first overseas touring international team to visit Britain;
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
's
All Golds. The All Golds had already beaten Merthyr in November 1907, and New Year's Day 1908, the team played the
Wales rugby league team in the first true international rugby league game between two nations. Played at the
Athletic Ground in
Aberdare
Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tyd ...
the game was watched by a crowd of 12000. Ebbw Vale supplied two of their players to the Wales team,
Chick Jenkins
Thomas Henry Jenkins ( – 1932), also known by the nicknames of "Chic", and "Chick", was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Pontypool RFC, ...
and
Oliver Burgham
Oliver Ruck Burgham (21 May 1885 – 6 May 1967) was an English professional rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Gloucester RFC, and representative le ...
, both men becoming the club's first international caps. On 1 February, Ebbw Vale faced the same touring New Zealand team at their own ground, losing narrowly.
On 20 April 1908, Burgham and Jenkins won their second caps with the club in the first Wales encounter with
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
; and were joined by teammate W.J. Saunders who won his first cap.
[Gate (1986) pg. 141]
1908–1909
The next season saw four more Welsh teams join the Northern Union, and with these additional teams the country was able to form the Welsh League. The League consisted of a home and away game, and the team joining Ebbw Vale and Merthyr were
Treherbert
Treherbert () is a village and community situated at the head of the Rhondda Fawr valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Historically part of Glamorgan, Treherbert is a former industrial coal mining village which was at its eco ...
,
Mid-Rhondda,
Aberdare
Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tyd ...
and
Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name
* Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
. In addition the Union promised each team four home and away games with teams from the north.
It was an excellent first season for Ebbw Vale in the Welsh League, only losing to Treherbert in the last match of the tournament, when the title was already theirs.
Gate receipts rose that season, with the Northern League encounter with Merthyr reportedly watched by 8,000 people; though when Barry failed to show on the 1908 Christmas Day encounter, the club lost an estimated £80 to £90 in takings.
Ebbw Vale finished the season, not only the very first Welsh League Champions, but also finished 14th out of 31 teams in the Northern Rugby League, with 12 wins, a draw and 11 losses. The only blemish to the season was being dumped out of the
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...
by amateur team Beverle
This was Ebbw Vale's first entry into the Cup, and their first round exit was described by the ''
Athletic News
The ''Athletic News and Cyclists' Journal'' was a Manchester-based newspaper founded by Edward Hulton in 1875. It was published weekly, covering weekend sports fixtures other than horse racing, which was already covered by the ''Sporting Chronicl ...
'' as a 'Welsh disaster'.
Ebbw Vale would be the last professional team to be beaten by an amateur team in the Challenge Cup until Beverley repeated the feat against
Highfield in the
1994–95 season.
At international level Ebbw Vale again supplied a player to the Wales national team,
Jack Foley in an away match with England.
Although they did not play an international against Wales, the
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
team that toured Britain during this season, did schedule games against both Merthyr and Ebbw Vale. Ebbw Vale played the Australians on 18 January 1909, losing the match 8-9.
1909–1910
The 1909–10 season saw Ebbw Vale share the
Bridge End Field with
Ebbw Vale AFC, the local
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
team. Ebbw Vale again won the Welsh League, but after Mid-Rhondda, Barry and Aberdare all wound themselves up, only three clubs survived to contest the tournament. The club performed slightly worse than the previous season in the Northern League finishing 17th out of 28 clubs, with nine wins, two draws and 13 losses.
The highlight of the season for Ebbw Vale this season was their run in the Challenge Cup. Their first team they drew in the Cup was Merthyr, and in front of a crowd of 4000, Ebbw Vale won their first Challenge Cup match winning 12-7.
[Lush (1998) pg. 27] The next round, Ebbw Vale were given an away tie at
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...
, the first encounter between the clubs. Ebbw Vale's victory over Huddersfield was seen as a shock result, to which the ''Athletic News'' later reported, 'NU club football in South Wales has, with one exception, made little progress. That exception is Ebbw Vale,'
In the quarter finals of the Cup, Ebbw Vale were drawn at home to Salford, but gave up home advantage to play at Salford's ground.
Ebbw Vale lost 8-2, ending their most successful cup run in the club's history.
Two international matches were played by Wales this season, both against England; and Ebbw Vale were represented in both, by Foley in the first and
Lewis Llewellyn, Jenkins and Foley in the second.
The second encounter with England was held at Bridge End Field, the first rugby league international to be played at the ground, and Jenkins was given the captaincy in a 39-18 victory for the Welsh.
Another honour achieved by the club during the 1909/10 season was the inclusion of
"Chick" Jenkins in the
very first over-seas tour of the Great Britain team.
[Gate (1986) pg. 163] Led by
James Lomas, Jenkins was one of seven Welshmen selected for the tour, but he was the only player to be selected directly from one of the Welsh teams.
Jenkins played in ten matches of the tour, scoring three tries and four goals, but was never selected for any of the Test matches.
1910–1911
With the withdrawal of Treherbert as a rugby league club, the Welsh League came to an end, with only Merthyr and Ebbw Vale remaining from the six Welsh clubs. They experienced a difficult start to the Northern Rugby League, with just one win from the first seven games, but a good run through October and November saw the team achieve wins over Runcorn,
Hunslet
Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past.
It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...
, Coventry and
Halifax. After a win over Merthyr on Boxing Day, the club then went into a slump, losing 13 games in a row, which was only halted on the last game of the season when they beat
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
. Ebbw Vale finished the season with nine wins from 30 matches, ending 25th out of 28 teams. Ebbw Vale again entered the Challenge Cup, this time going out in the first round to
Batley
Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...
.
Wales played two more international games this season, and Ebbw Vale fielded three players in both games, Jenkins, Llewellyn and Foley.
The first game was played away at Coventry, while the home match was again played at Bridge End Field.
1911–1912
1911–12 was to be Ebbw Vale's last season, Merthyr Tydfil having folded at the end of the previous season, leaving Ebbw Vale as the lone representative rugby league team in Wales. The start of the Northern Rugby League campaign saw Ebbw Vale lose the first five matches, and their form did not improve much throughout the season; winning just four games, drawing three and losing 23. They ended the season 25th out of 27 clubs, and in April, towards the end of the campaign, they failed to field a complete team of 13 players in matches to Halifax and Hull Kingston Rovers.
[Lush (1998) pg. 28] The team also failed to get past the first round of the Challenge Cup, this time losing 10–2 to Halifax.
A second touring Australian team came to Great Britain during the season, and although the team did not play against Ebbw Vale, they came to Bridge End Field to face Wales.
Ebbw Vale supplied three players to the Wales team, Jenkins, H. Smith and G Hitchings; Jenkins was again given the honour of captaining the national team.
The second Wales game of the season, held against England at Oldham, saw the last two players to represent Wales from Ebbw Vale, Jenkins and Llewellyn.
Dissolution
In August 1912, a month before the new season was about to start, the club lost two key members; Llew Llewellyn switched to Wigan and W. Higgins moved to Hull. Rumours began to circulate that the club finances were in a poor state, and the ''Merthyr Express'' reported that the club may not start the coming season.
Despite the rumours, Ebbw Vale were expected to begin their programme with an away match to Huddersfield on 7 September. However, two days before the game it was announced by the club that they would not be able to send a team and that Vale had resigned from the Northern Rugby League, and the club disbanded.
Players of note
Players Earning International Caps While at Ebbw Vale…
*
Oliver Burgham
Oliver Ruck Burgham (21 May 1885 – 6 May 1967) was an English professional rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Gloucester RFC, and representative le ...
won caps for ''Wales'' while at Ebbw Vale in 1908 against New Zealand, and England, and won a cap for ''Great Britain'' while at Halifax in 1911 against Australia
*
John "Jack" Foley won caps for ''Wales'' while at Ebbw Vale in 1909 against England
*
William Higgins represented Wales League XIII while at Ebbw Vale in 1909 against Australia
*
G. Hitchings () won a single cap for ''Wales'' while at Ebbw Vale in 1911 against Australia
*
W. E. 'Chick'/'Chic' Jenkins won caps for ''Wales'' while at Ebbw Vale in 1908…1912 7-caps
*
Lewis Llewellyn won caps for ''Wales'' while at Ebbw Vale 1910…1912 4-caps.
*
W. J. Saunders won a single cap for ''Wales'' while at Ebbw Vale in 1908 against England
*
H. Smith () won a single cap for ''Wales'' while at Ebbw Vale in 1911 against Australia
Other players
*?. Bingham
*?. Bowen ()
*
Dai Davies ()
*?. Harvey ()
*?. Monks ()
*?. Smith
*?. Thomas ()
*?. Thomas ()
*?. Williams ()
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
References
External links
Wakefield Trinity v Ebbw Vale 1910{{DEFAULTSORT:Ebbw Vale RLFC
Welsh rugby league teams
Defunct rugby league teams in Wales
Rugby clubs established in 1907
Ebbw Vale