South Wales Police Rugby Football Club is a Welsh

Rugby union in Wales

Rugby union is the national sport of Wales and is considered a large part of national culture. Rugby is thought to have reached Wales in the 1850s, with the national body, the Welsh Rugby Union being formed in 1881...

 rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 team based in Bridgend

Bridgend

Bridgend is a town in the Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of the capital, Cardiff. The river crossed by the original bridge, which gave the town its name, is the River Ogmore but the River Ewenny also passes to the south of the town...

, South Wales

South Wales

South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union

Welsh Rugby Union

The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Wales, recognised by the International Rugby Board.The union's patron is Queen Elizabeth II, and her grandson Prince William of Wales became the Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union as of February 2007.-History:The roots of the...

 and is a feeder club for the Ospreys.

History

South Wales Police RFC was established in June 1969 when the rugby teams of four different police forces amalgamated. These police teams represented Cardiff City, Glamorgan

Glamorgan Police RFC

Glamorgan Police RFC was a Welsh rugby union team that that served the Glamorgan Police force before the emalgamation of the four district police forces of South Wales in 1969...

, Merthyr Borough and Swansea Borough. The team's first match was during the 1969/70 season against Pontypridd RFC

Pontypridd RFC

Pontypridd Rugby Football Club, known as Ponty, are a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, currently playing in the British and Irish Cup, Principality Premiership, and are the current SWALEC Cup champions....

, a game the police won. In June 1971 the club gained membership to the Welsh Rugby Union forcing the players to choose between their 'civilian' clubs or to switch to the South Wales Police.

The club has since provided many players to the Welsh national team

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

, including Bleddyn Bowen who captained Wales. The club's Senior XV are also one of the more active touring teams and have played in Africa, Europe, America and Asia.

Tours

• 2007/08 season - Bermuda

  Bermuda

Bermuda national rugby union team

The Bermuda national rugby union team represents Bermuda in the sport of rugby union. Bermuda have thus far not played in a Rugby World Cup, but have participated in qualifying tournaments.-History:...

 10 -   South Wales Police RFC 31

Notable former players

Bleddyn Bowen

Bleddyn Bowen

Bleddyn Bowen is a former international Wales rugby union player.Bleddyn Bowen played club rugby for South Wales Police and Swansea RFC. His first international game was in 1983, along with five other first caps, against Romania; a game that Wales lost heavily, 24-6.Bowen retained his place and...

 (23 caps), captained Wales whilst playing for South Wales Police RFC Richie Collins (38 caps) Richie Donavan (1 cap) Alex Finlayson (3 caps) Ian Gallagher (1 cap) Ian Hall (8 caps) Hugh Williams Jones (17 caps) Mike Knill (1 cap) Martyn Morris (12 caps) Stuart Parfitt (3 caps) Rowland Phillips

Rowland Phillips

Rowland David Phillips is a former rugby union back row forward for Wales where he won 10 caps between 1987-90. He also played rugby union for Neath RFC before moving to rugby league, playing for Warrington, and Workington Town.He also played for Wales and Great Britain rugby league teams...

(10 caps) Steve Sutton (9 caps) John Wakeford (2 caps)