Welsh League
| Welsh League | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Rugby league |
| Instituted | 1908 |
| Ceased | 1909 |
| Number of teams | 6 (1908) 3 (1909) |
| Country |
 Wales
|
| Most titles | Ebbw Vale RLFC (2 titles) |
The Welsh League was the first club rugby league competition in Wales. Its inaugural season was in 1908/09 when four additional teams were formed to join Ebbw Vale RLFC and Merthyr Tydfil RLFC, which allowed a league tournament to take place. The Welsh League ran for just two seasons, after three of the teams, Aberdare, Barry and Mid-Rhondda left the Northern Union and ceased playing rugby in the first season; followed by the collapse of Treherbert in 1910. Both seasons were won by Ebbw Vale.
South Wales in the late 19th and early 20th century was a staunch rugby union area, with little interest in association football, which was seen as a north Wales sport, or the emerging professional Northern Union game, which would eventually be known as rugby league. The problem facing the Welsh Rugby Union, the governing body of rugby union in Wales, was the problem keeping union an amateur sport during a period which saw fluctuating prosperity in an industrialised south Wales. The Northern Union paid players per match, offered large signing on fees, found jobs and even found houses for some of their bigger stars. Under rugby union rules, players were not even allowed to accept trivial monies such as travelling expenses, or be found guilt of professionalism and suspended, or more likely banned from the sport for life.
To prevent losing their star players, many rugby union clubs secretly paid their players a small amount of money for each match played. The first real challenge to the WRU came in 1907, when two events triggered an investigation into the dealings of several clubs, mainly Aberdare RFC, Merthyr Alexandra RFC and Treorchy RFC. It began when E.M. Rees, the ex-Secretary of Aberdare, blew the whistle on player payments. Rees made three claims in the local press, firstly that all players at his former club were receiving hidden wages, secondly that Aberdare had received a payment of £15 from rivals Treorchy to throw a crucial League match, and finally that Merthyr Alexandria had demanded a payment of £7 5s to bring his team to play Aberdare. The most notable player to be named in the scandal, was Dai "Tarw" Jones, an internationally capped player for Wales, and hero of the famous 1905 Welsh victory over the first touring New Zealand team. Aberdare were accused of paying their players 10 shillings a week, as well as free meals and travel expenses. Jones had switched from his old club Treherbert RFC in 1902 to join Aberdare, but in 1906, Aberdare were forced to cut their 'wages' from 10 shillings to five, to combat mounting debts. Jones had taken offence at this and switched back to Treherbert.
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