Brecon Rugby Football Club () is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club from the town of

Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...

, Mid

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The club is a member of the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) 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 clu ...

and is a feeder club for

Cardiff Rugby Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...

. Since 2024, the club has played in the

Welsh Premier Division The Welsh Premier Division, () known for sponsorship reasons as the Admiral Premiership, (''Uwch Gynghrair grŵp indigo'') is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) for the 1990–91 season. 2025–26 se ...

Origins

The club was one of the eleven founding members of the

in 1881. Brecon, along with

Pontypool Pontypool ( ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in South Wales. , it has a population of 29,062. Locat ...

, Llandovery College, Lampeter College,

Llandeilo Llandeilo () is a town and Community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated where the River Towy is crossed by the A483 road, A483 on a 19th-century stone bridge. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had ...

and

Merthyr Merthyr Tydfil () 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 Kin ...

inaugurated the South Wales Cup competition in the 1877-78 season. The first recorded match with a Brecon rugby team first appeared on 9 November 1867 in "The Brecon County Times" where a Town team from Brecon lost 2-0 to Christ's College, Brecon on 6 November 1867. An ad appeared on 24 October 1868, in The Brecon County Times, stating the formation of a new club in the town, playing their inaugural match on 21 October 1868 on the cricket field, with the captain's side beating the secretaries side. Their kit for the match was "white Jerseys bound with green, and a fleur-de-lis on the left side". There was no name of the new club mentioned. On 9 January 1869, another team was formed in Brecon, called "The United Rangers".

Recent history

In 2004 the club became a

feeder club In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, 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 pl ...

for

. In 2019, Brecon completed a double: they won the 2018–19 season of the WRU Division One East less than a week after winning the WRU National Plate at the Principality Stadium. In spite of their league success, the club missed out on promotion after losing a two-legged play-off against

Glamorgan Wanderers Glamorgan Wanderers are a Welsh rugby union club based in Ely, west Cardiff in Wales. The club is located just to the north of Western Cemetery. They currently play in the WRU Admiral Championship. Glamorgan Wanderers began as the Old Monkt ...

. The club went on to finish runners-up in the 2023–24 Welsh Championship West behind Narberth, with the top five teams promoted to the

for the 2024–25 season.

Club honours

* 2018-19 WRU Plate - Winners

Past players of note

References

External links

Brecon Rugby Football Club
{{Authority control Rugby clubs established in 1879 Rugby union teams in Wales Brecon Sport in Powys