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The Cardiff High School
Old Boys Rugby Football Club owes its existence - in part, at least, to
a very early example of student power. Despite the fact that rugby has
always been the National Game of Wales, for many years Cardiff High
School (one of the country's leading schools) played soccer. As a result
of unrelenting pressure from the students, the school authorities
agreed to adopt rugby as the main winter sport in 1921. At the end
of the 1921/22 season, the first-ever Old Boys team took the field in a
fixture with the school first XV. Such was the success of the match that
it was decided to form an official Old Boys club, which then played a
full programme of fixtures for two seasons. However, the loss of its
playing fields led to this first club folding.
The switch to rugby at
Cardiff High proved to be very fortuitous for the game in Wales as, very
quickly, the school began to produce a crop of outstanding players.
Three Old Boys - John Roberts (1927-29), Bill Roberts (1929) and Harry
Bowcott (1929-33) went on to play for Wales whilst the school developed
into a highly productive nursery for the famous Cardiff Club. With the
school playing with such distinction during the 1920's, fresh attempts
were regularly made in this period to revive the Old Boys club. A new
ground was eventually found in 1928, and so in April of that year, the
club was officially reformed. It is unlikely that any rugby club has had
such a prestigious start to life, so the club's first ever fixture was
played on the Cardiff Arms Park against Cardiff RFC. The present Cardiff
High School Old Boys RFC traces its origins and since then - with the
exception of the war years - the club can proudly boast of a continuous
75 year record of rugby football. For
many years, membership was restricted to old boys of the school and
despite this, the club was always able to compete well with teams
throughout Wales. However, it was decided to open membership to
all-comers in 1966, since when Cardiff High School Old Boys have been a
completely open club
Many former players have
gone on to play for senior clubs such as Cardiff, Newport, Oxford and
Cambridge Universities. Several have played for Wales, including Cecil
Davies (1931), W E N Davies (1939), Sid Judd (1953-1955) and Merion
Roberts (1960-1963). The current First XV player/coach, John Wakeford
was capped in 1988, and outside-half Crispin Cormack was a member of the
Welsh touring party to Australia. A player and coach of distinction of
the club was the late Vernon Pugh, QC, who went on to become the first
independent chairman of the International Rugby Board.
In 1962, a long-standing
ambition was achieved when the Old Boys became one of the few clubs in
Wales to own its own ground outright. Situated in a delightful
environment on the edge of Cardiff, the Diamond ground (named after a
former headmaster of Cardiff High) has hosted many rugby events over the
years, including matches in the Women's World Cup. It is frequently used
for training purposes by visiting national teams and in 1993, the
Canadians played a practice match here against the club, prior to their
historic 26-23 victory over Wales at the Arms Park.
With the advent of the
first official leagues in Wales in the early 1990's, the club enjoyed a
period of outstanding success, finishing third in National Division 4
and reaching the last 8 of the Welsh Cup in two successive seasons.
Afterwards, the club entered into a period of decline, the lowest point
being a two and a half year stretch without a league victory. However,
the win came in the 2000-2001 season and the following year brought
promotion. There is now a new and buoyant mood of confidence about the
future. Such optimism is justified as for the first time, the club has
now put in place a sound structure for the development of younger
players, which should guarantee the future of the club for another 75
years.
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