London Welsh
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| Full name | London Welsh Rugby Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Exiles, Dragons |
| Founded | 1885 |
| Location | Richmond-upon-Thames, England |
| Ground(s) | Old Deer Park (Capacity: 5,850 (1,000 seats)) |
| Chairman | Gareth Hawkins |
| League(s) | none |
| 2016–17 | RFU Championship, expelled in January 2017 |
| Official website | |
| www |
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London Welsh Rugby Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain) was a professional rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from the RFU Championship in the 2012 and 2014 play-off final. The club returned to Old Deer Park in 2015 after three seasons at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford.
The club went into liquidation in December 2016, being given a temporary licence to complete two fixtures in the Championship. On 24 January 2017 it was announced that London Welsh had been removed from the RFU Championship and their results expunged. The RFU stated that their place in the league was "untenable." As a result the club ceased to exist as a professional team. The status of London Welsh Amateur RFC was not affected by the expulsion and they retain voting rights within the RFU.
Despite professionalism, London Welsh has tried to retain the atmosphere of an amateur club. The first-XV squad are fully professional, and they are complemented with the London Welsh Amateurs, Wizards and Occies are still strong parts of the club. They also have a successful social section, which goes a long way towards maintaining the 'amateur ethos' of enjoying a game and a pint on a Saturday.
London Welsh has one of the longest-standing women's sides – LWWRFC – which celebrated thirty years of women's rugby at the club in the 2015–16 season. While still being amateur, the women train hard and have enjoyed recent success with the club, both in XVs in the winter and 7s during the summer. There are London Welsh Women representatives at England Regional Level and on the Wales National Touch team. There is also a popular mini & junior section.
London Welsh, established by and for London's Welsh community, has played senior-level rugby in England since its formation in 1885. Its name in Welsh, is Clwb Rygbi Cymry Llundain.
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