By Rob Carbon
The Welsh Rugby Union is celebrating its 140th birthday this weekend (12 March, 2021) and the best possible gift the game could receive is a fourth win in a row for Alun Wyn Jones’ national team in Rome to stay on course for another Grand Slam.
The ‘Welsh Football Union’ was born out of a meeting that took place at the Castle Hotel, in Neath, on Saturday, 12 March, 1881.
There were 11 clubs in attendance – Swansea, Lampeter, Llandeilo, Cardiff, Newport, Llanelli, Merthyr, Llandovery, Brecon, Pontypool and Bangor – with home town team, Neath, generally now accepted as having been at the gathering as well.
The fact the South Wales Challenge Cup Final was being played in Neath that day was probably the reason for choosing the date and venue and there is little doubt the club officials from Neath would have been busy making arrangements for the game between Cardiff and Llanelli.
The WRU was formed on this day in 1881 at the Castle Hotel in Neath. Incredible things have happened in the 140 years that followed https://t.co/3Asa9PFqeF
( ) pic.twitter.com/bKOjbts9lh
— Welsh Rugby Union (@WelshRugbyUnion) March 12, 2021
More than 1500 fans turned up to watch a controversial game in which Cardiff were declared the winners.
But the real winners on the day were those people who wanted to see the game grow in Wales and were waiting for a truly representative body to take over the control of the sport in which so many Welsh men were becoming invested.
WELSH RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION
A meeting held at the Castle Hotel, Neath, on Saturday last, the following clubs being represented: Swansea, Lampeter, Llandilo, Cardiff, Newport, Llanelly, Merthyr, Llandovery, Brecon, Pontypool, and Bangor, to consider the question of establishing a Welsh Rugby Union.
The chair was taken by Mr Richardson, captain of the Swansea club, and after considerable discussion it was proposed by the Chairman, and seconded by Mr F. Meager, Swansea, that a Welsh Rugby Football Union be formed.
This resolution was carried unanimously. It was then proposed by Mr Mullock (Newport), and seconded by Mr Margrave (Llanelly), that Mr C. C. Chambers, president of the Swansea Football Club be elected president of the Welsh Rugby Football Union for the season 1881-82.
The next proposition by the Chairman, and seconded by Mr Mullock, was that Mr K C. Fry (Cardiff) and Mr C. P. Lewis (Llandovery) be elected vice-presidents of the Welsh Rugby Union for the season 1881-82. Carried unanimously.
The Castle Hotel in Neath …This is where the Welsh Rugby Union was formed pic.twitter.com/QK2ao7Xsin
— Steve Phillips Photo (@StevePhillips7) November 23, 2013
The election of a committee was Ieft until the next meeting, which will be held during this month. Mr Forester (Merthyr) proposed, and
Mr Knill (Swansea) seconded, that Mr Richard Mullock be elected hon.secretary of the Welsh Rugby Union. The hon.secretary was instructed to prepare for the meeting a draft copy of proposed by-laws to govern the Welsh Rugby Union.
The annual subscription was fixed at 1s, with an entrance fee of £1 1s. It was decided that in the International match With Ireland on the 9th of April at Dublin, the selection of players be left to the same committee that selected the players for the English match.
Since that first meeting the WRU has grown in numbers and stature and developed into one of Wales’ longest standing governing bodies of sport. There are 320 member clubs these days and the Welsh national team continues to rank in the Top 10 of the world game.
There have been great moments, great players, coaches, referees and some of the best fans in the business. And now there is a new strand to the game with a growing women’s element right at the heart of the operation.
Welsh rugby has come a long, long way from its founding at the Castle Hotel 140 years ago and has provided the game with some of its greatest players, the current skipper, Alun Wyn Jones, very much among them as the world’s most capped player.
If he brings the story right up to date, a huge debt is owed to one of the founding fathers of the WRU, its first secretary, Richard Mullock.
The first #WalvIre game in 1882 saw two Irish players storm off in disgust at the decisions of umpire Richard Mullock of the @WelshRugbyUnion (the match referee was from the @IrishRugby Union). Wales won by two goals and two tries to nil. #GuinnessSixNations [Thread continues] pic.twitter.com/RPvOdw1orP
— James Stafford (@jpstafford) February 6, 2021
Born in Newport on 3 May, 1851, his father, Henry Mullock, owned a printing company based on Commercial Street. Among other things it use to publish the local newspaper, the Newport Advertiser.
Mullock was a man who had his fingers in many sporting pies. As well as being a founder member of the Newport Athletic Club in 1874, and its first secretary, he was also present at the formation of the Amateur Athletics Association at the Randolph Hotel, Oxford in 1880.
In 1881, he took it upon himself to select a Welsh rugby team to play against England. His side was hammered and a month later the WRU was formed with the Newport man elected as its first secretary and treasurer.
He served as secretary until 1892 and he became Wales’ fourth international referee when he ‘umpired’ the 1885 championship clash between Ireland and England at Lansdowne Road.
In the summer months, he was frequently found umpiring cricket matches at Newport and was elected to the AAA general committee in 1881 as a representative of the ‘West of England’ clubs.
Wales played their first international match on 19 February 1881; organised by Newport’s Richard Mullock and captained by James Bevan, they played against England, losing by seven goals, one drop goal and six tries to nil (82–0 in modern scoring values). pic.twitter.com/BctzU9ZadI
— Ben Jones (@BenThomasJones) February 15, 2020
He was the first of 10 Secretaries of the Union who held the post for 121 years until a change in constitution created an Executive Board with a new figurehead, a Group Chief Executive.
In the early years of the WRU, Mullock met some of its expenses from his own pocket, yet by 1890 he was rumoured to be guilty of financial impropriety. The following year he was forced to relinquish the role of treasurer. He remained as secretary for one more year.
At the WRU’s annual general meeting on 10 September, 1892, he was awarded a testimonial of 100 guineas and the decision was taken to appoint a paid secretary. His retirement came with Welsh rugby poised to win its first Triple Crown.
He died in London in 1920, but the role he played in helping to create the national team, and then shaping the national governing body, will never be forgotten.
