The History of London Welsh Rugby

There is a commemorative plaque at Rugby School in Warwickshire, where it’s said that William Webb Ellis in 1823 decided to pick up the ball during a game of football and ran with it. True or not, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after him.

In 1878 London Scottish became the first of the exiles to set a team up. And in 1885 a group of Welshmen based in London met in a Fleet Street pub and started up Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain, London Welsh Rugby Club.

Their first game was against London Scottish (score unknown) and without a permanent ground, they struggled financially, something that would ultimately be their demise over a century later. The club disbanded in 1894, and returned just a year later in 1895.

The club’s fortunes improved in 1905 with the captain of Wales, Willie Llewellyn, who just happened to be a student at the Pharmaceutical College in London. He had an idea that the Welsh Rugby Union would only cap Welsh players living in London if they played for London Welsh which would attract bigger crowds. The ploy worked, and in came some of the greatest Welsh players of that era in Teddy Morgan, Hop Maddocks, Rhys Gabe & Arthur Harding. Both support and subsequently the finances increased.

The club bounced around looking for the right home, moving from the Queen’s Club to the County Ground in Leyton, then West Ham United’s Memorial Ground, then Heathfield Ground, Wandsworth during World War I. In 1918 they finally had a permanent home at Hearne Hill which saw great players like scrumhalf Wick Powell, Vivian Jenkins, Claude Davey, and Arthur Rees. In 1957 the club moved to Old Deer Park, Richmond, which saw their greatest successes.