History
The Beginning Extracts from "Passages of Life"
in Ferndale & District
Our forefathers had established the first
rugby team back in 1882 - 1883, when David Watkins a descendant from Neath
helped to foster the game during difficult times. It was through his
determination that Ferndale RFC became affiliated to the Welsh Football Union in
1891 (as it was called then). In 1894 they played in the newly formed Glamorgan
league with the Monmouthshire league being formed a year later. It was not
until the end of the first decade of the twentieth century (1909) that Ferndale
began to make its name amongst some of the well-known sides in the southern part
of the principality. Names like Neath, Bath, Llanelli, Pontypridd, Headingly,
Cross Keys, Merthyr, Treorky, Glamorgan Police, Tredegar and Bridgewater graced
the sloping playing field at the Darran Lake Grounds. It was not unusual to
see crowds in excess of 3,000 for the regular rugger enthusiasts to be
entertained at half time by the highly successful Ferndale Prize Band, whose
home (Ferndale Band and Musical Institute Club) was officially opened in May
1899. It's also worth mentioning that the famous Ferndale Horse Shows attracted
five figure crowds during the four decades of its existence. It was during
these eventful times that Ferndale RFC (the scarlet bulldogs) won two senior
cups by beating Cilfynydd at Ynysybwl in 1910 and Treorky 4 nil to win the
Glamorgan League Cup in 1912. With the advent of the Great War, rugby was soon
to lose its momentum locally as many of the returning troops became more
familiar with the oval ball with soccer gaining in popularity. By 1921 due to
the lack of finances, which had been enhanced by the mining disputes and the
dangerous playing surface on the Darran Park, Rhondda Fach's premier side
folded. It was left to the Ferndale Bell Boys, the Elmonians and Blaenllechau
to keep the rugby flag flying locally up until 1940, where the Second World War
finally put a halt to competitive senior rugby in Ferndale and Blaenllechau.
By Alun Arwel
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News
The Rebirth
After several conversations with Gomer Clement in 1981 (my grandfather) it was
time to research the former heydays of our rugby past, during the latter part of
1988. Further dialog with Ainsley Evans and my brother Gerwyn over a pint at
the Ferndale Labour Club fuelled additional interest, and with more and more
facts becoming available to other members of the club there was only one thing
in mind. A committee was formed during January 1989 after holding meetings
behind closed doors at the Salisbury Hotel, which included Ian McCandlish,
Russell Howells, Mike (Ffaldau) Davies, Ceri Jones, Jeff Morgan, Gwyn Williams
and Gerwyn Slye, along with Ainsley, Gerwyn and I.
After carefully nurturing the plan over six months the club was accepted as a
probationary member of the Rhondda & East Glamorgan District Union. It was then
decided after permission from the Salisbury Hotel landlady Glynda Mills, to use
the cellar as a base with many long hours spent cleaning and redecorating the
redundant cellar bar by our new membership.
On September 2nd 1989 the first game was played against Fleur De Lys on our home
ground at Blaenllechau Park, in front of several hundred people. Maerdy Junior
RFC, members from Ferndale Male Voice, Cor Meibion Morlais, along with Maerdy
Colliery and Tylorstown Silver Band provided the pre match entertainment. With
the sharp shrill of the first whistle, Tom Bevan at the sprightly age of 91 and
a former committeeman of Ferndale RFC in 1920 kicked the game off. A majority
of our players had never played competitive rugby before and with the huge crowd
watching it was inevitable that most of them were petrified. They say there's
no holding an old dog back and that was certainly the case in Jeff Isaac, who
not only became the clubs first captain but scored the first try, which he then
superbly converted to draw our first game six all.
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