Rhiwbina Rugby Football Club is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

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 ...

club based in

Rhiwbina Rhiwbina ( cy, Rhiwbeina, also ''Rhiwbina'') is a suburb and Community (Wales), community in the north of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Formerly a small hamlet within the parish of Whitchurch, Cardiff, Whitchurch, Rhiwbina was developed through ...

, a suburb of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

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 ...

. Rhiwbina RFC is a member of 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 ...

and is 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

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...

. Rhiwbina RFC also runs a mini and Junior Section with teams from Under 7's up to Youth.

History

The club was established on 14 February 1962, when a notice was put up in a Post Office window in Rhiwbina by Jack Treeby. Jack asked for interested people to a meeting and following this meeting the club was formed. The "Squirrel" name and logo came about as a result of the newly formed club meeting in the Butchers Arms, an

Ansells Ansells Brewery was a regional brewery founded in Aston, Birmingham, England in 1858. It merged with Taylor Walker and Ind Coope in 1961 to form Allied Breweries. The brewery remained in operation until 1981, after which production transferred ...

pub which used the squirrel motif as an emblem. Rhiwbina Rugby was awarded full Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) status in 1975, the nominator's included Pontypridd and Penarth Rugby clubs. Rhiwbinas previous President was

Keith Rowlands Keith Alun Rowlands (7 February 1936 – 18 November 2006), was a Welsh international lock rugby union player and later administrator, who was the first chief executive officer of the International Rugby Board. Playing career Rowlands was born ...

, who was also the President of the WRU and who played for Wales and the British Lions. Rhiwbina has in recent years enjoyed success on and off the field. There were wholesale change of the committee in 2008, this saw the club head in an exciting new direction, with a new enthusiasm. The introduction of the experienced new coaching team of Gareth Lintern and Jared Lougher saw a turn around of fortunes on the pitch. Back to back promotions in 2010/11 and 2011/12 saw the club narrowly miss out on a third promotion in 2012/13. In 2013 there was the opening by WRU CEO Roger Lewis of new changing rooms and floodlights, this proved a worthwhile addition to the club. In the following season Rhiwbina RFC won the Div 2 East title gaining promotion to Div 1. During this season there was an appearance at the Millennium Stadium in the final of the SWALEC Plate competition. The team narrowly lost to Merthyr 29-26. In the same season there was a first appearance in the Silver Ball Final. James Bird a Rhiwbina RFC product gained international honor's with the USA in 2016. With three senior sides, a youth team and a thriving mini and junior teams the future for Rhiwbina RFC looks bright.

Notable former players

Sam Warburton Sam Kennedy-Warburton, OBE MStJ (born 5 October 1988), commonly known as Sam Warburton, is a Welsh former international rugby union player. Warburton played rugby for Cardiff Rugby and was first capped for Wales in 2009. He usually played as ...

Gareth Delve Gareth Leon Delve (born 30 December 1982) is a former Wales international rugby union player, and former captain of Gloucester. In late 2010, he moved to Australia where he went on to captain the Melbourne Rebels. His usual position is number 8 ...

Nick Macleod Nick Macleod (born 23 March 1983 in Cardiff, Wales) is a former professional rugby union player who played for Cardiff Blues, Sale Sharks and Newport Gwent Dragons. Primarily a fly-half, Macleod also played at Fullback. Professional career M ...

James Goode James Goode (born 5 September 1982) is a Welsh rugby union player. He played for the Cardiff Blues in the Celtic League but left the team at the end of the 2007–08 season. He also played for the Manawatu Turbos in Palmerston North, New Zeal ...

* James Bird (USA)

Club honours

*WRU Division Five South East 2006/07 - Champions (Perfect season P18 W18 D0 L0) *WRU Division Four South East 2010/11 - Champions *East District Cup 2010/11 - Winners *WRU Division Three South East 2011/12 - Runners Up *SWALEC WRU Division Two East 2013-2014 Champions *SWALEC Plate 2013-2014 Runners up *Brains Smooth Silver Ball 2013-2014 Runners up *SWALEC Division One East 2014/15 Runners up

References

Rugby union teams in Wales {{wales-rugbyunion-team-stub

History

Notable former players

Club honours

See also

References