Uproar At Suggestions Of Cardiff Rugby Merger

Now that the title has grabbed your attention, I have to confess that this blog is not a retrospective commentary on the proposed 2003 merger with Pontypridd. Nor is it a futuristic dystopian fantasy about the Blue Dragons, an unloved and short-lived team formed after the WRU announce the eradication of the names Newport and Cardiff from the rugby landscape in a futile effort to get people who resent professional rugby to attend a match.

Instead, it’s a trip back in time to look at the formation of the Cardiff Football Club in 1876 that was inspired by the researches of one of the CF10 Board, Simon Baker. The putting together our database of heritage material encouraged Simon to delve into local newspaper archives to see what he could discover about the club’s formation via the merger of the most prominent local teams of the day, the Glamorgan Club and the Cardiff Wanderers. Though the basic facts of this unification have been well-recorded in the two histories of the club published to date (by C.S.Arthur in 1906 and Danny Davies in 1976), Simon’s discoveries have added a richer layer of understanding of the formation of the club.

Our story commences with two letters, both signed ‘A Football Player’ to the Western Mail on September 6th of that year; the anonymity sought by the correspondents is interesting in itself-the 19th century equivalent to hiding behind Twitter handles perhaps? Each was seeking information about the intentions of the committees of the respective clubs regarding the ‘desirability of having only one football club in Cardiff for the ensuing season’, something that was felt to be long overdue and a now pressing need given that the new season was imminent. The letters were met with a reply from ‘Forward’ on the 12th of September, who stated that ‘With respect to amalgamating the two clubs, it is doubtful whether such a proposition, if placed before the members, would meet with their general approval, and I fear would be impractical for many reasons’. A mere two days later ‘Half-Back’ took great umbrage at the assertion of ‘Forward’, stating that amalgamation of the two sides was the only way to create a team capable of competing with the stronger teams of Swansea and Newport. This view was echoed by ‘Another Forward’ on the same day, who concluded his letter by stating that ‘all trivial obstacles should be put aside in the endeavours to form one good club, which shall be an honour to the town, and a proof of the good fellowship existing therein’.

‘Quarter Back’, writing from Swansea on the 16th, then took issue with some of Half Back’s statements, proclaiming that ‘As a member of the Swansea Football Club, I maintain that we can hold our own against Cardiff or any other club in South Wales, and certainly do not merit being treated in such a depreciative manner’. ‘Goal Post’, writing from Penarth on the 19th, despaired of the fact that, despite many calls for action, nothing had actually been achieved. ‘Why does not some prominent member call a meeting at once?” he exclaimed in exasperation. His despair was presumably short-lived however because at a meeting at the Swiss Hall just a few days later, the formation of the Cardiff Football Club was agreed (though not without casualties, the secretary of the Glamorgan Club resigning seemingly in protest).

The rest is as they say history. The first combined practice was held three weeks later and the first of only four games that season played on December 2nd (resulting in a loss away to Newport!) The first kit was famously emblazoned with a skull and cross bones and the team briefly known as The Pirates before some concerned parents reportedly objected about the image that this conveyed. By the end of the season, the famous Cambridge blue and black kit was being worn after being modelled on the Gonville & Caius College colours worn by T.W.Rees, a Cambridge student who played for Cardiff. By 1893, the Evening Express was referring to Cardiff as the ‘Bold Blue and Blacks’ or the ‘three Bs’. By the mid 20th century, we had clearly become less bold, and were known simply as the ‘Blue and Blacks’.

So, a desperate lack of information, exasperated calls for action, caustic inter-area rivalry, dissenting members, suggestions that the number of teams need to shrink to improve success, and a loss to Newport-does any of this sound familiar?

The Glamorgan Club, Cardiff Wanderers, Cardiff Football Club, Cardiff Rugby Football Club, and Cardiff Blues are part of the continuous evolution of rugby in the city. According to Darwin, only the fittest survive. Cardiff rugby has survived for 140 years, but is probably in as weaker position today as it ever has been, both at the professional and semi-professional levels. There are many different and seemingly competing stakeholders at Cardiff Arms Park, and a shared set of goals and objectives often seem as elusive as in the days of Forward and Halfback. Though there are wider factors at play-many of us have only just stopped laughing at the suggestion from a ‘leading journalist’ that our squad (and ergo our funding) is better than Munster’s-it’s perhaps little wonder that we’ve experienced over a decade of under-achievement. The kind of success that die-hard fans deserve and new fans will embrace requires all stakeholders to pull in the same direction. If not, the Blue Dragons beckon.