The
club was formed on the 5th of July 1977 following a public meeting held
at the Emlyn Hall, Newcastle Emlyn which agreed that it should be named
in Welsh ‘Clwb Rygbi Castell Newydd Emlyn’ and that the red and white
hooped jerseys worn by the football club should be adopted.
Mike Heycock of Felingeri Flour Mill, Cwmcou donated a set of jerseys and became the club’s first President.
The
first games were played at Gelligatti fields next to the town cemetery.
Four pine trees were felled in Cwm Morgan and transported by coal lorry
to the town where they were stripped and painted in the club's colours
for use as goal posts. The Headmaster of Emlyn School helped by
allowing the use of the changing facilities and the occasional use of
the school’s pitches for second team games.
The club’s H.Q. was
established at the ‘Red Cow’ in Adpar and the old disused stables, ‘Y
Stabal’, became the committee room, tea room, and changing room.
Clive
Griffiths of Llanelli RFC was the team’s first coach who went on to
become the Wales defence coach under Graham Henry and subsequently Mike
Ruddock.
On Saturday 4th September 1977 Clwb Rygbi Castell
Newydd Emlyn played its first game of rugby union football. The first
team played at Laugharne against their 2nd XV and the Emlyn 2nd XV
played a Cardigan 3rd team at the Secondary School field in Cardigan.
Although
affiliated to the Llanelli and District Junior Rugby Union the club did
not play in the league in its first year of existence but during the
season, 1977/78, the 1st XV had played 37 games achieving ten wins and
two draws with the first victory on the 1st October against Fishguard,
7-0. The Second XV played fourteen matches with one victory.
At
the beginning of the 1978/79 season the club moved to a field on
Cwrcoed Meadows, which was large enough for two pitches and training
lights were also installed. The First XV played in the newly formed
Section E of Llanelli and District and were promoted as runners-up
behind Carmarthen Athletic Druids, in addition they reached the
semi-finals of the Llanelli and District Cup. The Geraint Howells
Knockout Cup for local teams was won by Emlyn in the 1987/88 season.
The
1980s saw a period of consolidation. The First XV were promoted to
Section C of Llanelli and District, in 1979/80 and remained there for
the next few seasons. By the 1987/88 season the club was playing in
Section A of Llanelli and District and finished as Runners-up in the
Championship.
At the end of the season 1988/89 the club was admitted as probationary members of the Welsh Rugby Union.
Club Crest
The
dragon on the club badge represents ‘Gwiber Emlyn’ The Emlyn Wyvern
which originally was a banner with a large red dragon emblazoned on it,
the banner of Owain Glyndŵr.
The legend of Gwiber Castell Newydd
Emlyn (the Wyvern of Newcastle Emlyn) is a local tradition. It tells
how on one of the fair days when the town was full of people a fierce
winged viper called a wyvern breathing fire and smoke, alighted on the
castle walls and having cast threatening glances around settled down to
sleep.
Its appearance on the castle at first brought terror to
all but after the fear had died down a few brave townsfolk sought to
destroy the fearsome monster. A soldier devised the plan of wading the
river Teifi to a point of vantage on the castle side and letting a red
cloak float in the river and shooting the gwiber in a vulnerable under
part of the body. The creature, so violently startled from its slumber,
caught sight of the cloak and fell upon it with horrible shrieks and
tore it to shreds.
The assailant meanwhile, escaped to a place
of safety. The wyvern in its death throes turned onto its back and
floated down the river. From its wound gushed forth a most loathsome
venom which polluted the water and killed all the fish. The legend
tells of the great joy of the townsfolk when they saw the monster dead.
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