Mar
13
2010
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Llandovery RFC v NewportVenue: Church Bank Playing Fields, Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, SA20 0BA
Llandovery RFC home match
The Llandovery clubhouse is situated at the end of the 1st XV pitch inside the club grounds at Church Bank. Built around 20 years ago the club has a
main bar area which can seat 120 at a formal dinner or cater for many more on match days.
Llandovery was one of the founder members of the WRU in 1881. The history of the Welsh Rugby Union will show that Rugby Football in Wales was first
played at Llandovery well over a hundred years ago.
Controversy exists as to how rugby was first brought to the borough - some say that the strong links established between Oxford and Cambridge resulted
in the game being brought West, whilst others suggest that the drovers were responsible. Both suggestions seem plausible.
Since the 'College' had established strong academic links with the Oxbridge Universities in as much as many masters obtained their degrees
there, it is easy to accept the notion that they introduced the game to the town.
Similarly, Llandovery was an important stopping point on the drovers routes which took in such notable early centres of Rugby Football as Blackheath
and indeed Rugby itself, where the legendary William Webb Ellis who, 'with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time,
first took the ball in his arms and ran with it, thus originating the distinctive feature of the rugby game in 1823'.
One old resident used to recall how a drover gave vivid descriptions of the game as it was played at Blackheath. These drovers were engaged in moving
cattle from all parts of West Wales during the middle of the nineteenth century, and Llandovery was the rendezvous for collecting cattle from the
surrounding districts as well as much of the west of Wales. It is possible therefore that the drovers did bring the game to the town, but it is likely
that the origin of the game in Llandovery will remain as much of a mystery as the origin of the game of Rugby itself.
It is clear, however, that the game was not welcomed with wholehearted enthusiasm - a strong Puritan element within the town objected to this
'barbaric pastime'. So as not to offend the town inhabitants, the game was often played in moonlight in 'Cae Glas y Bwci' - a
field adjoining the town.
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