Aberdare RFC

Rugby team
teamname = Aberdare RFC
fullname = Aberdare Rugby Football Club

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imagesize = 150px
nickname = The Snakes
location = Aberdare, Wales
country

founded = 1890
ground = Ynys Stadium
capacity = 500
president = P.M. Walters
coach = Humphrey Evans
league = WRU Division Three South East
season = 2007/08
position = 2nd [ [http://www.wru.co.uk/1154_2132.php? WRU official site] ] (WRU Division Four South East)
url = www.aberdarerfc.co.uk/
pattern_la1=_goldshoulders| pattern_b1=| pattern_ra1=_goldshoulders| leftarm1=191970| body1=191970| rightarm1=191970| shorts1=191970| socks1=191970

Aberdare Rugby Football Club are a Welsh rugby union club based in the town Aberdare in South Wales. Aberdare RFC plays in the Welsh Rugby Union Division Three South East league and is a feeder club for the Cardiff Blues. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/3877085.stm |title=Wales' regional rugby map |author=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=2004-07-08 |accessdate=2008-05-22] .

Aberdare RFC began as Aberaman Rugby Football Club, a team formed in 1890, though the earliest written conformation of their existence is from a match in 1895 against a team from Ferndale. In the early 1900s the team joined the Glamorgan league, playing other coal mining towns such as Maesteg, Treorchy and Treherbert.

In 1907 Aberdare were involved in an early rugby scandal linked to professionalism. Local collier Dai 'Tarw' Jones was one of Aberdare's star players and captained the club from 1905 to 1907. For his services to the club he was paid 10 shillings a week along with meal costs and train fares. When the club cut the wage to 5 shillings, Jones switched allegiance to Treherbert, commuting from his home town of Aberdare on match days. Aberdare's ex-secretary E. Rees in 1907 made several allegations in the press that broke multiple union rules. Not only did he mention the wages but also stated that leading teams had been paid to visit the town and stated Aberdare was involved in match fixing. During the 1904/05 season, Aberdare won the Glamorgan League by beating Treorchy in the last match. Rees claimed that Treorchy had agreed to lose the game for £15. ["Fields of Praise, The Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union 1881-1981", David Smith, Gareth Williams (1980) pg 180 ISBN 0708307663]

The resulting investigation from the WRU, at the time still called the Welsh Football Union, spread far further than the two clubs mentioned by Rees. The union saw 6 players temporarily suspended, including Welsh international Fred Scrine, Merthyr escaped with a warning but Treorchy and Aberdare saw the permanent suspension of their entire committees. The union also permanently suspended eight players, including Jones who switched to rugby league. ["Fields of Praise, The Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union 1881-1981", David Smith, Gareth Williams (1980) pg 180 ISBN 0708307663]

Notable former players

* Dai 'Tarw' Jones (13 caps)
* Keith Rowlands (5 caps)

References