London Welsh RFC

This article is about the rugby club located in Richmond-upon-Thames. For the London Welsh Centre (Y Canolfan) at Gray's Inn Road, see London Welsh Centre.

London Welsh

Full name	London Welsh Rugby Football Club
Nickname(s)	Exiles, Dragons
Founded	1885 (1885)
Location	Richmond-upon-Thames, England
Ground(s)	Old Deer Park (Capacity: 5,850 (1,000 seats))
Coach(es)	Rowland Phillips
League(s)	2015–16 RFU Championship
2014–15	12th (relegated from the English Premiership
1st kit 2nd kit
Official website
www.london-welsh.co.uk

London Welsh Rugby Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) is a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from the RFU Championship in the 2012 and 2014 play-off final. The club returned to Old Deer Park in 2015 after three seasons at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford.

Affiliated teams

Despite professionalism, London Welsh has tried to retain the atmosphere of an amateur club. The first-XV squad are fully professional, and they are complemented with the London Welsh Amateurs, Wizards and Occies are still strong parts of the club. They also have a successful social section, which goes a long way towards maintaining the 'amateur ethos' of enjoying a game and a pint on a Saturday.

London Welsh has one of the longest standing women's sides – LWWRFC, who celebrated twenty years of women's rugby at the club in the 2005–06 season. While still being amateur, the women train hard and have enjoyed recent success with the club, both in XVs in the winter and 7s during the summer. There are London Welsh Women representatives at England Regional Level and on the Wales National Touch team. There is also a popular mini & junior section.

Club history

Early Years

London Welsh, established by and for London's Welsh community, has played senior-level rugby in England since its formation in 1885. Its name in Welsh, is Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain.

Over the years the club has contributed 177 players to the Wales national team and 43 players to the British and Irish Lions. Seven London Welsh players were selected for the 1971 tour to New Zealand (a Lions record which remains unbroken to this day): captain John Dawes (now London Welsh president), JPR Williams, Gerald Davies, Mervyn Davies, John Taylor (now Managing Director and ITV commentator), Mike Roberts and Geoff Evans.

In December 2006, London Welsh revealed their ambition to leave the English league and become the fifth Welsh team in the Celtic League. The club later appeared to go back on this report, claiming they had been misquoted and said this would only be considered if the English Premiership decided to prohibit promotion/relegation, but confirmed their hopes of ground-sharing with Brentford FC either at their current stadium Griffin Park or a new 20,000 seat ground to be built at Lionel Road, near Kew Bridge.

2009 – 2012: Championship era

In June 2009, the club went into administration shortly after turning professional. They were bought from the receivers in July 2009 by Saudex Global, owned by Neil Hollinshead, and allowed to continue in The Championship, albeit with a five-point deduction. According to the BBC in March 2011, court documents show that Hollinshead is "alleged to have submitted forged documents and fake bank account details in order to continue his control of London Welsh and that he repeatedly lied to ensure that ownership of London Welsh was transferred over to him." The former shareholders of London Welsh RFC rescinded the 2009 agreement, by which they sold the shares of the club to Hollinshead, and had regained control by January 2010.

The 2010–11 season was the club's 125th anniversary and to kick off the celebrations they held a military tattoo on the evening of Wednesday 25 August at Old Deer Park with the Band and Corps of Drums of the Welsh Guards, plus the London Welsh Rugby Club Choir.

2012 – 2015: Premiership era and relocation to Oxford

On 1 June 2012, it was revealed that Crystal Palace co-chairman Steve Parish had approached senior figures at the club about a possible ground-share at Selhurst Park, as the clubs plans to play their matches at Kassam Stadium in Oxford were deemed unsuitable by the RFU, after securing promotion to the English Premiership. However a legal appeal by the club against the RFU's actions was upheld on 28 June 2012, after the appeal panel ruled that the criteria were in breach of EU and UK competition laws. Promotion was ultimately secured when it was announced that Newcastle Falcons, the club facing relegation from the Premiership, would not appeal against the ruling. A move to the Kassam Stadium was then confirmed for the 2012–13 season

In 2013 London Welsh caused controversy by fielding an ineligible player (Tyson Keats) in nine league matches during the season, eventually receiving a 5-point deduction and £10,000 fine.

On 14 April 2013, London Welsh were relegated from the English Premiership in their first season (pending the winners of the RFU Championship meeting the Premiership entry requirements) after a 14–31 defeat at home to Northampton Saints. Newcastle Falcons were eligible for promotion and therefore confirmed Welsh's relegation.

On 4 June 2014, London Welsh won promotion to the English Premiership again, defeating Bristol Rugby 27–8 at home and 21–20 away, 48–28 on aggregate. However, the club endured a difficult season back in the English top-flight, and suffered defeat in all of their 22 league fixtures of the regular season, claiming only 1 bonus point throughout the entire campaign. The team therefore finished bottom and was relegated to the RFU Championship for the 2015–16 season. The team was also defeated in every single European Challenge Cup game, as well as every single Anglo-Welsh cup game. As a result, they became the first top-flight English side to suffer defeat in every single competitive match over a season, for over 10 years.

2015 – present: Return to Richmond

The club left Oxford and returned to Old Deer Park at the end of the 2014–15 season.

Club honours

• Middlesex Sevens winners (8 times): 1930, 1931, 1956, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1984
• Courage League Division 5 South champions: 1994–95
• RFU Championship champions (2 times): 2011–12, 2013–14
• John Player Cup runner-up 1985

Merit Table Rugby

Sunday Telegraph Pennants

• English-Welsh champions 1967–68, 1970–71

runner-up 1965–66 third 1971–72

• English champions 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1977–78, 1978–79,

runner-up 1965–66, 1971–72 third 1972–73

• Welsh champions 1970–71, 1971–72

third 1965–66

Western Mail

• Welsh Championship champions 1972–73

runner-up 1967–68, 1971–72

Daily Mail

• Anglo-Welsh third 1978–79

Whitbread

• Welsh Merit Table champions 1971–72

Promotions

• National Division 4 – runner-up, 1995–6 (Fourth tier of English rugby)
• Jewson National League 1 – 3rd, 1997–98 (Third tier of English rugby)

• Lowest league position 6th 1993–4 Courage League Division 5 South (5th tier)
• Highest league position 12th Aviva Premiership 2012–13 (1st tier)

Current squad

For player movements leading up to the 2016–17 season, see List of 2016–17 RFU Championship transfers § London Welsh.

2015–16 Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union Harry Allen Hooker England Koree Britton Hooker England Nathan Morris Hooker England Eddie Aholelei Prop Tonga Ben Cooper Prop England Jack Gilding Prop England Darryl Marfo Prop England Ricky Reeves Prop England Nathan Trevett Prop Wales Matt Corker Lock England Daniel Leo Lock Samoa Josh McNally Lock England Brendon Snyman Lock South Africa Ben West Lock England Ryan Hodson Flanker Australia Gus Jones Flanker England Jesse Liston Flanker England Will Skuse Flanker England Richard Thorpe Flanker Canada Darren Waters Flanker Wales Kieran Murphy Number 8 Wales Ben Pienaar Number 8 South Africa

Player Position Union Josh Davies Scrum-half Wales Ryan Glynn Scrum-half England Rob Lewis Scrum-half Wales Olly Barkley Fly-half England Joe Carlisle Fly-half England Will Robinson Fly-half England Guy Armitage Centre England James Lewis Centre Wales Nic Reynolds Centre Wales Alan Awcock Wing England Josh Drauniniu Wing England Chris Elder Wing England Seb Jewell Fullback Wales Martyn Thomas Fullback Wales

Notable former players

British and Irish Lions

The following former players were selected for the British and Irish Lions touring squads while playing for London Welsh.

Robert Ackerman 1983 Gerald Davies 1971 Mervyn Davies 1971 John Dawes 1971 Geoff Evans 1971 Vivian Jenkins 1938 Tommy Jones-Davies 1930 Alun Lewis 1977

Douglas Marsden-Jones 1924 Teddy Morgan 1904 Billy Raybould 1968 Clive Rees 1974 Mike Roberts 1971 John Taylor 1968,1971 J.P.R. Williams 1971,1974 Jack Williams 1908

Wales International Captains

The following former players captained the Wales national rugby union team while playing for London Welsh.

See also Wales rugby union captains

• Teddy Morgan 1908
• Wick Powell 1927
• John Dawes 1968–71

Other notable former players

See also Category:London Welsh RFC players

Piri Weepu Gavin Henson Lee Beach Neil Bennett Norman Biggs Kevin Bowring Ronnie Boon Colin Charvis Willie Davies Rhys Gabe Arthur "Monkey" Gould Bob Gould

Tony Gray James Hannan Arthur 'Boxer' Harding Keith Jarrett Arthur Lewis Bryn Meredith Wick Powell JEC 'Birdie' Partridge

Reg Plummer Tommy Rees Tom Shanklin Haydn Tanner Watcyn Thomas Harry Uzzell Frank Whitcombe Jeff Young

London Welsh Football Club

The club set up an association football side in 1890 called London Welsh FC. They disbanded after a couple of seasons.

See also

• London Scottish
• London Irish
• Rugby union in London

Bibliography

• Jones, Stephen; Paul Beken (1985). Dragon in Exile, The Centenary History of London Welsh R.F.C. London: Springwood Books. ISBN 0-86254-125-5.

External links

• Official site
• Occies site
• Women's site