Llanelli Rugby Football Club () is a
Welsh 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 founded on 30 March 1872.
The club's historic home ground was
Stradey Park in
Llanelli
; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...
, but they moved in 2008 to the new
Parc y Scarlets in adjacent
Pemberton. The club song is "
Sosban Fach", a
Welsh song meaning "Little Saucepan", which is sometimes sung by the club's fans during matches as the club anthem. The team colours are scarlet and white.
Following the
2003 regionalisation of Welsh rugby, Llanelli is now a feeder club to the
Scarlets
The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...
regional team.
Club history
In the beginning
After attending a Good Friday service in chapel, a group of young athletes from Llanelli met to discuss the formation of a new rugby club in the area. One of those men was John D. Rogers, a young industrialist who had learned to play rugby union football at
Rugby School
Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...
, the game's birthplace. He was assisted by C. Hilton, who became the club's inaugural honorary secretary. On Easter Saturday, 30 March 1872, the group reconvened to confirm the formation of Llanelli RFC. However, due to a lack of opposition and the limitations of transport at that time, no other town club was within a suitable travelling distance until 1875–76.
The club used People's Park in Llanelli for practice. The playing kit was dark blue, with high-collared jerseys and tight trousers that reached well below the knee, and blue caps.
Up until then Llanelli and Neath were the only first-class clubs in Wales (Neath being one year older).
The early years
Llanelli's first recorded match was against Carmarthen Quins, on 21 December 1875 at People's Park. Unfortunately, the match had to be abandoned due to bad weather and the result is recorded as a 0–0 draw. The club's second fixture, at the same venue on 1 January 1876, was against Cambrian Club, a team based in Swansea. Two days later they played their first away fixture, against Carmarthen Quins at Picton Court, Carmarthen. This was followed by a match at Felinfoel against Swansea RFC on 5 February 1876.
Arthur Buchanan had the honour of being the first captain of Llanelli RFC. He died prematurely after accidentally shooting himself.
In September 1879, it was announced that the club were to move from People's Park, having acquired the Stradey cricket ground for their practices and matches. The first official match played at the new home was against Neath in the Challenge Cup on 29 November 1879.
A further kit change saw Llanelli RFC play in black before the team colours changed to rose and primrose stripes for the 1882/1883 season. In 1883/84, they changed again to red and chocolate quarters. However, on Easter Monday, 14 April 1884, the Llanelli team took the field in scarlet jerseys, complete with scarlet gold-braided caps. The occasion was the visit of the full Irish team, which had played Wales on the previous Saturday and stopped off on their way home. From that date, the scarlet jersey became permanent and Llanelli RFC became known throughout the rugby world as The Scarlets. Nearly 120 years later, the club's nickname also became the name of the regional team,
Scarlets
The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...
.
The Scarlets
Llanelli's first major trophies came in 1884 and 1886 with the South Wales Challenge Cup, the forerunner of the modern Welsh Cup. December 1888 saw the team beat a touring
New Zealand Natives team by 3–0, with a dropped goal from
Harry Bowen. The team claimed their first full international scalp in 1908 when they beat
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
8–3. This would be the first of many famous victories over touring international sides. Players who wore the Scarlet jersey in this pre-war era included
Albert Jenkins, who scored over 121 tries for the club as a
centre.
After the war
Lewis Jones was one of the stars of the game. He was capped by Wales aged just 18 in 1950, and was instrumental in their Grand Slam win that year. However just two years later, he switched codes from the then amateur rugby union to the professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
and signed for Leeds for a then record amount of £6,000.
Success was, however, not away from Stradey for long. A victory over
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
came in 1967 and the club was about to enter what many would argue was its strongest era. Players at Llanelli during the 1970s included
Ray Gravell
Raymond William Robert Gravell (12 September 1951 – 31 October 2007) was a Welsh rugby union Centre (rugby union), centre who played club rugby for Llanelli RFC.
At international level, Gravell earned 23 cap (sport), caps for Wales national r ...
,
Gareth Jenkins,
Delme Thomas,
Phil Bennett
Philip Bennett (24 October 1948 – 12 June 2022) was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a fly-half for Llanelli RFC and the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national team. He began his career in 1966, and a year later he had taken ...
, and
Derek Quinnell; and the team was coached by
Carwyn James and assisted by former captain and Wales international hooker
Norman Gale.
The day the pubs ran dry
"9–3" is a poem by Welsh comedian and singer
Max Boyce and refers to the match between Llanelli and the
New Zealand All Blacks at Stradey Park in front of 26,000 supporters on 31 October 1972. Llanelli took a 6–0 lead through a converted try but New Zealand struck back to make it 6–3. A long distance Andy Hill penalty ensured Llanelli emerged victors by 9–3 and the crowd famously ran onto the pitch at the end and carried off players such as
Delme Thomas. The poem is best known for the line "The day the pubs ran dry", as huge celebrations followed and many pubs in the town sold out of all alcoholic drinks.
Cup success
The next notable period for Llanelli RFC was during the late 1980s and early 1990s. With players such as
Ieuan Evans amongst the squad, Llanelli won the Welsh Cup five times in eight years between 1985 and 1993 including in consecutive seasons in 1991, 1992 and 1993. They achieved their most recent success against international opponents when they beat
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, the world champions at the time, in 1992.
Rupert Moon was captain when they won the cup and league which earned Llanelli the title of Best Team in Britain for the 1992–1993 season as well as the nickname "Cup Kings of Wales" due to their success in the Welsh Cup. The late 1990s and early years of the 21st century also produced many Welsh internationals including Rupert Moon,
Ricky Evans,
Wayne Proctor,
Scott Quinnell
Scott Quinnell (born 20 August 1972) is a Welsh former rugby union and rugby league player who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He was a Number eight (rugby union), number eight for Wales, Llanelli RFC, Scarlets, Llanelli Scarlets, Richmond F.C., ...
and
Stephen Jones.
The side reached the semi-finals of the
Heineken Cup
The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...
three times: in 2000 against
Northampton Saints who went on to win the trophy, in 2002 against
Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...
and in 2007 against Leicester Tigers again. In the first match against Leicester, Llanelli appeared to be going to their first final as they led 12–10 in injury time. But Leicester were awarded a penalty 8 metres inside their own half;
Tim Stimpson's kick for goal bounced off both the post and crossbar before just falling over the post to deny Llanelli.
Prior to the regional era, Llanelli RFC were considered the third most successful team in European club rugby, having played the third largest number of games (behind
Toulouse
Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
and
Munster
Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...
) in the
Heineken Cup
The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...
due to the club's consistency in qualifying for the knockout stages of the tournament. However, they have never won the competition.
The regional era
Top-level professional rugby changed at Llanelli RFC in 2003 when Llanelli's first team was rebranded, as part of the WRU's move to five professional teams, as
Llanelli Scarlets and Llanelli RFC became the club's premiership brand. The Llanelli RFC team now plays in the
Welsh Premier Division and Welsh Cup. Under coach
Scott Quinnell
Scott Quinnell (born 20 August 1972) is a Welsh former rugby union and rugby league player who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He was a Number eight (rugby union), number eight for Wales, Llanelli RFC, Scarlets, Llanelli Scarlets, Richmond F.C., ...
they won the cup in 2005, their first silverware in their new format.
On 28 March 2023, Llanelli RFC announced their withdrawal from the Premier Division for the 2023–24 season, as they would be unable to field a team in the expanded league. Llanelli RFC would instead seek to arrange friendlies as a development side for the Scarlets, and look to join a proposed eight–team league above the Premier Division.
Llanelli did not join the new competition,
Super Rygbi Cymru, with
Carmarthen Quins and
Llandovery
Llandovery (; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on the River Tywi and at the junction of the A40 road, A40 and A483 road, A483 roads, about north-east of Carmarthen, north of Swansea and w ...
representing the Scarlets region. Funding was no longer allocated to the side and the team was disbanded, with players allocated elsewhere.
Match traditions
As a link to the club's team anthem ''
Sosban Fach'', there were ''sosbenni'' on top of the uprights of both sets of posts at Stradey Park. The saucepans were installed at Parc y Scarlets.
When Llanelli RFC play
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
, it was tradition that a rag doll was hung from the crossbar, which the winning team then kept until their next encounter. Llanelli RFC last won the doll in 2002. Since 2003 this tradition was continued by the Regional side who successfully 'defended' it when they played Bath in the
Powergen Cup semi-final in 2006.
Ground
The Scarlets play at Parc y Scarlets in
Pemberton. From 1879 to 2008 they played at Stradey Park in Llanelli. Planning for the new stadium began in 2004.
Club honours
*
Welsh Premier Division: 1992–93, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2010–11
*
Welsh Cup
The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...
: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2010
*
Snelling Sevens: 1960, 1971, 1973, 1979, 1988
British and Irish Lions
The following former players were selected for the
British and Irish Lions
The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...
touring squads while playing for Llanelli RFC.
Wales International Captains
The following former players captained the
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team () represents the Welsh Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international agai ...
while playing for Llanelli RFC.
''See also
Wales rugby union captains''
Other notable former Llanelli players
Former Llanelli RFC players who have at some time represented Wales or toured with the British Lions.
:''See also
:Llanelli RFC players''
Games played against international opposition
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
References
External links
Llanelli RFCLlanelli ScarletsWelsh Rugby Union
{{Authority control
Rugby clubs established in 1872
Rugby union teams in Wales
Sport in Llanelli
1872 establishments in Wales
United Rugby Championship teams