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Neath Rugby Football Club can trace its origins back to 1871/72 when the first recorded match took place against Swansea - the outcome was disputed ! - and Neaths first captain was Dr. T.P. Whittington who was capped for Scotland against England in 1873. In 1874, a 17 year old, Sam Clarke, started playing and he was to become the Clubs first Welsh international.
From the beginning, games were played at The Gnoll which was also used for cricket so other grounds were used in the Town, most notably the Bird-in-Hand field where Neaths Civic Centre is now situated.
In the early days, the team wore assorted dark jerseys and a player, allegedly E.C.Moxham, introduced the famous White Maltese Cross to break the monotony of their dark garb. Popular belief holds that the All Black jersey itself was adopted following the death of Dick Gordon from injuries sustained while playing against Bridgend in 1880.
Neaths status as one of the leading Welsh clubs was soon confirmed by their record in the South Wales Challenge Cup that did much to generate interest in the Game. In 1879/80, an amazing sequence of seven matches was fought with Swansea before Neath emerged victorious thanks to a Beth Heycock try before Neath lost in the final to Newport, a fate they suffered again in 1884/85.
In 1880, Neath attended a meeting in Swansea to discuss the future organisation of the game in Wales. A year later, the WRU itself was formed in March, 1881 at the Castle Hotel, Neath but, oddly, Neath were not recorded as having been present at the inaugural Meeting although the Bird-in-Hand hosted the South Wales Challenge Cup final that day between Cardiff and Llanelly. Local reasoning for Neaths absence from the Meeting is that either Neaths attendance was taken as read due to the venue or maybe Neath were not represented because their officials were too preoccupied with making arrangements for the final.
As the games popularity increased and the railway system developed, so Neaths horizons began to broaden. In 1887/88, the first northern tour took place with fixtures against Leeds Wortley, Manningham (Bradford) and Hartlepool Rovers. The following season, Neath hosted Widnes on Christmas Eve and then visited Leeds Parish Church, Bramley, Radcliffe, Brighouse Rangers and Huddersfield within the space of six days !
The annual tour to the South-West was introduced in 1890/91 when captain Dr. E.V.Pegge, a Welsh international, reportedly commandeered a train to join his team-mates while Northampton, London Welsh and Bristol were soon to join the fixture-list.
In 1890, one of the great Neath characters made his bow. He was Bill Jones, originally a wing, who later moved into the pack due to failing eye-sight and captained the Club for some seven seasons before becoming its first Life Member. His brother Howel was capped by Wales but died at the tragically young age of 26 after leaving the field against Cardiff - Howels son Howie was also to be capped.
The funereal colour of their strip and their association with tragedy led to Neath becoming known as The Mourners and the Club steadily built up a fearsome pack which included R.K.Green who toured New Zealand with the Anglo-Welsh XV in 1908. In 1909/10, captained by centre Frank Rees, Neath broke the monopoly of the Welsh Big Four when they were beaten only twice in 37 games. In the penultimate game of the season, they defeated Newport at The Gnoll in a game billed by the Western Mail as the Welsh championship decider. After Neath had won the title the visitors claimed that they were the real champions because Neaths fixture-list did not bear comparison with theirs as fixtures with Llanelly and Swansea had been suspended.
However, in 1910/11, there could be no denying Frank Rees and his men who became undisputed Welsh Club champions as they surged to the title by such a margin that even Newport could not pretend otherwise. The great Bill Jones retired to run the line and was installed as Neaths first Life Member.
As early as 1908, Neath had joined with Aberavon to take on the touring Australians (such joint-ventures were oft-repeated but the combination rarely reflected the talent of its constituent parts) and lost nil-15. However, Neath went it alone for the first time against the Springboks in 1912. Fred Davids team matched the mighty South African pack but narrowly lost 3-8 amidst some highly controversial refereeing and, by the time Britain followed the rest of Europe into the abyss of the Great War, Neath were well and truly established as a Welsh rugby force.
Immediately after the Great War, Glyn Stephens became the first Neath man to captain Wales against the New Zealand Armed Forces but he missed his Clubs narrow 3-10 defeat by the tourists. Englands legendary W.W.Wakefield married a Neath girl and played holiday games for the Club whose most impressive performances came in defeating the Barbarians twice. That rare character Dai Hiddlestone captained the Club and earned international honours, leading the Wales team in an impromptu war-dance in response to New Zealands haka at Swansea before becoming a top referee.
In 1928/29, Tom Evans led Neath to the Welsh championship again. They set a Welsh record of 930 points and wing Dan Jones established a world record 59 tries. Despite a drain of players into rugby league ranks, Neath carried off the Welsh title in 1933/34 (led by Arthur Hickman) and 1934/35 (led by Glyn Daniels). Again, forward strength was the key and great names like Tom Arthur, Arthur Lemon, the brothers Glyn and Dai Prosser and Harold and David Leyshon Thomas were capped by Wales
During the phoney war, Neath played almost a full Welsh fixture-list in 1939/40 and might have been champions as they had a fine record and defeated Swansea on no less than six occasions. As the war intensified, fixtures were suspended although the great Cardiff and Wales centre Bleddyn Williams put in an appearance for Neath against an RAF XV in 1941/42. The Gnoll hosted schoolboy games during the war years and Neath supplied players to wartime internationals including scrum-half Cliff Evans who had turned to rugby league pre-war.
When rugby resumed after the war, Tom James led Neath in a valiant 15-22 defeat against the New Zealand Kiwis and in 1946/47 they became the the first post-war Welsh champions under the leadership of hooker Cliff Williams. Neaths reputation as the place where all the best forwards come from was enhanced when Rees Stephens (son of Glyn) and the prince of lineout play Roy John became Neaths first British Lions in 1950. Another fine forward, prop Courtenay Meredith was accorded that honour when he toured South Africa in 1955.
Forward power was the key yet Neath won the Snelling Sevens in 1964 and 1970 and, led by Brian Thomas, recaptured the Welsh championship as well as the Anglo-Welsh Sunday Telegraph pennant in 1966/67. Neath became the first senior Welsh club to celebrate its centenary in 1971/72 - the Club was given the Freedom of the Boroughand played the Barbarians, the Irish Wolfhounds and a WRU Presidents XV. But the icing on the birthday cake came when scrum-half Martyn Davies became the first captain to lift the new WRU Cup when Neath beat Llanelli 15-9.
The rest of the 1970s were largely barren years although John Poole established an individual record, scoring 38 points in a 90-10 win over Penarth in 1976/77. New ground was broken in tours to Jamaica and Canada while wing Elgan Rees became the Clubs first double Lion in 1977 and 1980.
Neaths contribution to the Game is not restricted purely to playing. Six international referees associated with the Club - Albert Freethy, Harold Phillips, Ivor David, Clive Norling, Clayton Thomas and Nigel Williams - are from the Town, Derek Bevan played for the club, Meirion Joseph and Huw Watkins live in Neath. Neath has provided WRU secretaries in the incomparable Captain Walter Rees (1896-1948) and Eric Evans while former WRU secretary Dennis Gethin hails from nearby Seven Sisters and also played for Neath. It is appropriate to pay tribute here to the many stalwarts who have served Neath off the field and especially to two dedicated club secretaries in Arthur Griffiths and Allan Benjamin who between them guided the Clubs fortunes for more than half of its proud history.
In 1982, Brian Thomas returned in the revolutionary post of Team Manager, ably assisted by two former captains in Ron Waldron and Glen Ball as coaches, and launched the Club on an era of unprecedented success. After losing a WRU Cup Final to Cardiff by 19-24 in 1984, Neaths list of achievements gathered momentum :-
1986/87 - Welsh Champions, Merit Table and Sunday Telegraph winners
1987/88 - WRU Cup finalists 1987/88, losing 13-28 to Llanelli
1988/89 - Two world records - 1,917 points and 345 tries in 50 games, Mark Jones scored 25 tries (a new record for a forward)
- Welsh Champions
- WRU Cup winners, beating Llanelli 14-13
1989/90 - Welsh Champions, Merit Table winners
- WRU Cup winners, beating Bridgend 16-10
1990/91 - Inaugural Champions of the WRU National League
1992/93 - WRU Cup finalists, losing to Llanelli 18-21
1995/96 - WRU National League Champions
- WRU Cup finalists, losing to Pontypridd 22-29
During this period, Neath took on (and frightened the life out of) New Zealand (15-26), Australia (8-16) and South Africa (13-16) who all found The Gnoll the most demanding arena on their tours to Wales. Neath have also beaten Fiji (1995/96), USA (1996/97), Spain and Canada (1997/98), Georgia (1998/99), Uruguay (2001/02). The West German national side was beaten in 1969/70.
Over the years, more than 70 international players have been capped by Wales (the majority in the last 15 years) and five players (Paul Thorburn, Jonathan Davies, Kevin Phillips, Stuart Evans and Huw Richards) went to the first World Cup with Wales in 1987. Most capped player is Wales most-capped forward Gareth Llewellyn (83 to RWC 2003) while other illustrious players include Viv Evans, Grahame Hodgson, Paul Thorburn (record points for a season - 438 in 1984/85), Jonathan Davies, Glyn Shaw, Brian Williams, Kevin Phillips, Glyn Llewellyn, Dai Morris, Wilson Lauder (Scotland), Rowland Phillips and David Pickering.
Initially in the professional era Neath struggled to retain the services of players. Unlike many other clubs the Blacks did not have the advantage of a financial backer and naturally Neaths talents attracted others with a host of players flowing to other club. Players like Scott Gibbs, Leigh Davies, Arwel Thomas, Steve Williams, Chris Wyatt, Darren Morris, Ben Evans and John Davies learned their trade at The Gnoll but now tend to be associated with others.
Financial problems in 1997/98 saw Neath seek assistance from the WRU but the club is now owned and run locally under chairman Geraint Hawkes. In 2000/01, Neath reached the final of the Principality Cup for the eighth time only to lose to Newport 8-13 and in 2001/02 Lee Jarvis broke Paul Thorburns long-standing record for points in a season when he accumulated 446 in just 25 games as the Blacks ended the season in third spot after losing their final game at Swansea victory would have seen them crowned champions again ! Consolation was achieved by the Under-21s who unearthed several All Blacks-in-waiting, finished second in the Welsh Premier League and emulated the seniors by becoming inaugural winners of the Welsh Cup in a pulsating final against Cardiff.
Neath signed off the professional club era in 2002/03 by becoming the only club side ever to reach a Celtic final when they lost to Munster:State> and they finished runners-up to Bridgend. Five Neath players Shane Williams, Duncan Jones, Paul James, Adam Jones and Gareth Llewellyn were in the 2004 Wales World Cup squad.
2003/04 saw the introduction of regional rugby to Wales with the Ospreys representing West Glamorgan. But Neath, as a club (amateur or semi-professional) is alive and kicking with a team to be proud of competing at the top of the Welsh Premier League and in the Welsh Cup. At its core, the team has coach Rowland Phillips, captain Paul Jones, Patrick Horgan, Mark Jones, Brett Sinkinson as well as a host of talented youngsters who are maintaining the Clubs proudest traditions.
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