London Welsh RFC

Rugby team
teamname = London Welsh


location = London, England
country

fullname = London Welsh Rugby Football Club
founded = 1885
ground = Old Deer Park, Richmond upon Thames
capacity = 5,850
coach = flagicon|Wales Martin Jones
league = National Division One
season = 2006-07
position = 12th
url = www.london-welsh.co.uk

London Welsh Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in London that currently plays in National Division One, the second level of the English rugby union league system (below the Guinness Premiership).

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, though it is rarely used, 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 in amateur times): captain John Dawes (now London Welsh president), JPR Williams, Gerald Davies, Mervyn Davies, John Taylor (now board member and ITV commentator), Mike Roberts and Geoff Evans (now a WRU Committee man).

London Welsh is one of the few 'senior' clubs that have retained the atmosphere of an amateur club. Unlike many clubs in the professional era, who have tended to run a 1st XV squad and distance themselves from 2nd, 3rd and lower sides, London Welsh still run multiple senior sides. They also have a successful social section, the Occasionals (or 'Occies'), who go 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 2005/6 season. Whilst 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 also London Welsh Women representatives at England Regional Level.

In December 2006, London Welsh revealed their ambition to turn their back on the English league and become the 5th Welsh team in the Magners 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 Guinness 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.

Notable former players

* Robert Ackerman
* Kevin Bowring
* Colin Charvis
* Gerald Davies
* Mervyn Davies
* John Dawes
* Geoff Evans
* Arthur Harding
* Alun Lewis
* Arthur Lewis
* Bryn Meredith
* Mike Roberts
* Tom Shanklin
* John Taylor
* J.P.R. Williams

Trivia

The club set up a football side in 1890 called London Welsh F.C.. They however disbanded after a couple of seasons.

External links

* [http://www.london-welsh.co.uk Official site]
* [http://www.londonwelshoccies.com Occies site]
* [http://www.lwwrfc.org.uk Women's site]