Lloyd George found Monmouthshire an unresponsive area complaining in a letter to his wife during the campaign for home rule of 1895 “the sad folk of Tredegar seem permanently sunk in a morbid footballism”. He felt that the working classes were more interested in rugby than his crusade for home rule.
He used the phrase to criticise what he viewed as an unhealthy, excessive obsession with football—specifically rugby—in South Wales.Rugby football experienced a meteoric rise in the 1900’s. This period is recognised as the first “golden era” of Welsh rugby (1900-1911), marked by unprecedented international success, the development of a unique playing style, and the sport’s adoption by the working-class. The Welsh team won the Home Nations on six occasions, achieving three Grand Slams and beat the All Blacks in 1905. The match marked the first rendition of ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’ as the National Anthem.
Newport Rugby Football Club was among the strongest in the land with one of the most demanding fixture lists regularly attracting large attendances.
The popularity of the game fed it its way into a proliferation of local clubs and league structures. In Newport most districts, associations and villages had a rugby team. In 1912 Newport RFC had three teams, Pill Harriers two, there were teams at Newport Crusaders, Corinthians, St.Woolos, St. Michael’s, St Stephen’s, Caerau, Commercial Road Methodists, the Catholic Institute and the Docks as well as in the south Monmouthshire villages such as Goldcliff, Sudbrook, Redwick and Caldicot. Newport was surrounded by many junior teams in the valleys and to the east.
Our focus is on Redwick, a village to the south of Newport on the Levels with a population of little more than 250 in 1911. Remarkably this village sustained two rugby teams for a season, Redwick United and Redwick Rovers, sustained by players drawn from surrounding localities such as Mahor and Redwick.