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Neath RFC

Neath Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The first team is known as the Welsh All Blacks because of the team colours: black with only a white Maltese cross as an emblem. Neath RFC is the oldest rugby club in Wales having being formed in 1871.

History

Early History

Neath Rugby Football club was established in 1871 by a consortium of ten enthusiasts, their captain at the time, T. P. Whittington would later play international rugby for Scotland in 1873.

The club's nickname, 'The Welsh All Blacks', comes from their iconic strip of black jersey, shorts and socks with a white Maltese cross. The origin of the team colours is not known for sure. Origally the club's players represented the team in various dark kits and the Maltese cross was introduced by one of their players, thought to have been E.C. Moxham, "to break the monotony". It is believed that the strip was later switched to the pure black kit as a mark of respect to player Dick Gordon, who died from injuries sustained on the field of play against Bridgend RFC in 1880.

On the 12th June 1881, eleven teams met in the Castle Hotel, Neath to form what would be accepted as a Welsh rugby union. The founding clubs of the WFU (Welsh Football Union), as it was originally known, were Swansea C & FC, Pontypool RFC, Newport RFC, Merthyr RFC, Llanelli RFC, Bangor RFC, Brecon RFC, Cardiff RFC, Lampeter College RFC, Llandovery RFC and Llandeilo RFC. Strangely Neath RFC was not recorded as being present, even though the meeting took place in the town. It is unknown if this was an oversight by the committee to record the presence of the club, or if Neath RFC did not actually attend. One theory put forward is that the president, John Llewellyn and secretary, Sam Clark of the South Wales Football Union were both Neath players. By attending this new union they would be destroying the SWFU and therefore their own influence in the game. These wounds would soon heal and Neath joined the newly formed WFU in the 1882-83 season and would eventually become pivotal in the union's development, monopolizing the secretaryship from 1896 to 1955.

In 1887/88 Neath RFC undertook their first tour of the northern English clubs, including Hartlepool, Manningham and Wortley. The next season Neath played host to Widnes on Christmas day before undertaking a further northern tour taking on a further five teams in six days. During the 1890/91 season a South West England tour was introduced, which would later become an annual fixture facing clubs such as Bristol and London Welsh.

2007/08 Season

Their 2007/08 championship season, their fourth in succession, was overshadowed by the death of scrum-half of Gareth Jones, on June 16, 2008. Jones had been injured in a match against Cardiff RFC on April 20.

Club records

Neath RFC hold the world record for the number of points (1,917) and tries (345) accumulated in one season (47 Games). This record was set during the 1988/89 season, it is also worth noting that a try was worth 4 points at the time the record was broken.

Organisation and finance

Neath RFC is now known as Neath Rugby Ltd and owns 50% of the Ospreys professional side.

In an effort to improve their home stadium The Gnoll, the club announced in 2008, plans to share it with the town's football club Neath Athletic A.F.C..

Club honours

Welsh Club Champions: 1909/10, 1910/11, 1928/29, 1933/34, 1934/35, 1946/47, 1966/67, 1986/87, 1988/89, 1989/90
Welsh Premier Division: 1990/91, 1995/96, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08
Welsh Cup: 1971/72, 1988/89, 1989/90, 2003/04, 2007/08
Welsh Cup Finalists: 1983/84, 1987/88, 1992/93, 1995/96, 2000/01, 2005/06
Snelling Sevens 1964, 1970

Notable former players

Games played against international opposition

Year	Date	Opponent	Result	Score	Tour
1908'*'	??/??		Loss	0-15	1908 Australian tour of the British Isles
1912	December 19		Loss	3-8	1912-13 South Africa rugby union tour
1970	September 5	West Germany	Win	28-0
1987	October 31		Loss	6-15	1987 United States rugby union tour of Wales
1995	October 25		Win	30-22	1995 Fiji tour of Wales