Penallta 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 ...

team based in

Ystrad Mynach Ystrad Mynach is a town in the Rhymney Valley in the Caerphilly County Borough, within the ancient county of Glamorgan, Wales, and is north of the town of Caerphilly. The urban area had a population of 19,204 in 2011. Before the Industrial Revo ...

in the county borough of

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; , ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff an ...

. Penallta RFC 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 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 the Newport Gwent Dragons.

History

Penallta Rugby Football Club is based in Ystrad Mynach. The rugby club was inaugurated by a group of miners from Penallta colliery in 1952 and moved from a number of different social addresses until it settled at Ystrad Fawr, hosting both its club and playing ground there. On 1 November 1991

Penallta Colliery Penallta Colliery was a coal mine, located close to Hengoed in the Rhymney Valley in the South Wales Valleys. A Mining in Wales, coal mine which in 1935 held the European record for coal wound in a 24-hour period, it is now the site of an origina ...

shut down but the RFC continued to play under its name. In 2008 Penallta moved from Ystrad Fawr to their new headquarters across the road at Trinity Fields; Ystrad Fawr, its surrounding playing fields and listed buildings were bulldozed to make way for the new

Ystrad Mynach Hospital Ystrad Mynach Hospital () was a community hospital in Ystrad Mynach, Wales. It was managed by Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board. History The hospital was established by converting a war-time miners' hostel located on the western side of the Caerp ...

. The club colours are blue and gold and the first team are known as the Pitmen, the club being immensely proud of its mining heritage. Penallta became a full

member in 2004 and since then it has won Divisions 3, 4 and 5 South East, plus the Silver Ball trophy in 2005. During the 2007/08 season Penallta were promoted to Division 1 East. One of Penallta's biggest Junior Union achievements was winning the Worthington Welsh 'Brewers' Cup in 2001. It was the only time the club won the cup in its junior union history. In 2012 Penallta returned to the Millennium Stadium and won the Swalec Plate against North Wales side Nant Conwy. Captain Kieran Mahoney lifted the trophy to cap a season during which Penallta embarked on an 18-match unbeaten run, narrowly finishing runner-up to rivals Ystrad Rhondda in the league. To complete a hat-trick of successful Millennium Stadium visits since the turn of the century, Penallta Youth won the Welsh Youth Cup in 2014 against Gilfach Goch. The Youth Cup was one of an amazing seven trophies amassed by the youth squad during an unbeaten season. Mike Voyle, a resident of Ystrad Mynach, is the only Penallta player to have represented Wales. He won 21 caps as a tight forward between 1997 and 2001. Penallta's most capped player is Lee Acreman, with over 600 1st team appearances for the club. The most successful player in Penallta's history is Craig Phillips who captained the 1st team on six occasions and won the Player of the Year award on no less than five occasions, his career lasting between 1976 and 1992. Current ex Penallta players who are thriving for higher placed clubs include Dai Flanagan (

Cardiff Blues 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 ...

/ Ospreys/Llanelli RFC), Gareth Davies (Wales 7s/ Cardiff Blues/Cardiff RFC),

Steffan Jones Philip Steffan Jones (born 9 February 1974) is a former professional cricketer who played for Somerset, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and Kent County Cricket Clubs. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium pace bowler. He is now ...

(Dragons/Crosskeys RFC/Bedford Blues), Elliot Dee (

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

), Scott Matthews (Dragons/Crosskeys RFC), Jack Condy (Scarlets), Arwel Robson (Newport RFC / Dragons), Ellis Shipp

, Wales U20s) and Shaun Powell (Cardiff RFC). Penallta is also known for its excellent matchday programmes, written by Mike Guilfoyle and Martyn Rowe. Extracts from the programmes were made into a book in 2007 called "Shaking the Tree Boss - Portraits of a Welsh Rugby Club".

Senior Club honours

*2021–22 WRU National Plate - Winners *2016–17 WRU National Plate - Winners *2014–15 WRU Division One East Champions *2014–15

Glamorgan County Silver Ball Trophy The Glamorgan County Silver Ball Trophy (also known as the Glamorgan County High Motive Silver Ball Trophy) is a Welsh rugby union competition open to all non-premier Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) clubs playing in the Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or s ...

- Winners *2011–12 Swalec Plate - winners *2007–08

WRU Division Two East The Welsh Rugby Union League 2 East (also called the SWALEC League 2 East for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby union league in Wales. Competition format and sponsorship Competition There are 12 clubs in the WRU League 2 East. During the course o ...

- runners up *2006–07

WRU Division Three East The Welsh Rugby Union Division Three East (also called the SWALEC Division Three East for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby union league in Wales. Competition format and sponsorship Competition There are 12 clubs in the WRU Division Three East. D ...

Champions *2006–07

- finalists *2005–06

WRU Division Four South East The Welsh Rugby Union Division Four South East (also called the SWALEC Division Three South East for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby union league in Wales. Competition There are 12 clubs in the WRU Division Three South East. During the course of ...

- Champions *2004–05 WRU Division Five South East - Champions *2004–05

- Winners Penallta Storm Rugby League Penallta RFC has run a highly successful Junior Rugby League division since 2009 and are part of the Welsh Conference Junior League *2011 - Storm U17s Rugby League - Welsh Champions *2011 - Storm U13s Rugby League - Welsh Champions *2010 - Storm U17s Rugby League - Welsh Champions *2010 - Storm U15s Rugby League - Welsh Champions *2009 - Storm U17s Rugby League - Welsh Champions

Notable former players

* Mike Voyle * Elliot Dee * Richard Silver * Buddy Ollie

References

{{reflist Rugby clubs established in 1952 Rugby union teams in Wales 1952 establishments in Wales Sport in Caerphilly County Borough