Chepstow Rugby Football Club is a

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 from the town of

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the western ...

, in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

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 ...

. The club 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

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

with a Mini age groups from under 6's to under 15's].

History

Chepstow Rugby club was formed in 1869 by former pupils of Chepstow Grammar School under the mentorship of headmaster George Dewdney.Smith (1980), pg 24. In 1879 the ''Chepstow Weekly Advertiser'' appealed to local gentlemen to patronise the newly formed club in an attempt to gain sponsorship to allow the club to remain financially stable.Smith (1980), pg 26. In 1880 Chepstow RFC were thought to be one of the clubs at the Tenby Hotel in

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

which is incorrectly believed to have been the founding meeting of the

.Smith (1980), pg 37. The accepted founding actually took place in

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

in 1881, at which Chepstow RFC were not in attendance. In 1881 Chepstow player

Edward Peake Edward Peake (29 March 1860 – 3 January 1945) was a Wales international rugby union three-quarter and county cricketer. Educated at Oriel College, Oxford, Peake would win a Blue for cricket before representing Gloucestershire. Peake is most ...

was selected to represent the very first Welsh rugby international, played against England.Smith (1980), pg 40. In 1969 a match was held between Chepstow and a Welsh XV that included many famous players such as Brian Price. The match was supposedly held to commemorate the founding of what at the time was claimed to be the oldest rugby club in Wales. Chepstow lost by a large margin. Celebrated their 150 year in 2019 150th year Chepstow RFC

Club honours

1994-95 Welsh League Division 8A East - Champions

Notable former players

* Lyndon Mustoe *

(1 cap) Cliff Ashton who was capped seven times for Wales in the period 1959 to 1962 played for Chepstow during most of the 1960s and was for many years captain of Chepstow RFC. Glyn Davidge who was capped nine times for Wales and was the hero of the defeat of the All Blacks by Newport played for Chepstow for a number of years in the early 1960s

External links

* http://chepstow.rfc.wales/

Bibliography

References

Rugby clubs established in 1878 Welsh rugby union teams Chepstow {{Wales-rugbyunion-team-stub