You hear a lot about three and five-year plans in sport, but it’s not too often they come to fruition. Yet it’s mission accomplished by London Welsh RFC, whose phoenix-like rise from the ashes continues.
Back in 2017, they found themselves down at the very bottom of the league pyramid, having to start all over again after their professional team ceased to exist when they were kicked out of the Championship amid financial turmoil. You can read more about what happened here.
They were consigned to life in the ninth tier of English rugby, playing against the likes of Old Actonians, London French and the Bank of England in Herts & Middlesex Division One, having taken up the place previously occupied by their amateur Druids second team.
It was some fall from grace for a club that had produced a host of Wales and Lions greats, figured in the John Player Cup final and spent two seasons in the Premiership. Yet rather than dwelling on their dramatic decline and becoming despondent, they instead viewed it as a new beginning and put their five-year plan in place.
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The objective was to secure four promotions in that period and make it back to the national leagues. That’s precisely what they have achieved. In fact, they have gone up every year where that was a possibility, with promotion and relegation cancelled last term due to Covid. In five seasons, they have lost just seven league games.
They completed the project in style on Saturday when they won 44-5 away to Farnham to guarantee their passage out of London 1 South. As a result, they will be playing in National League 3 next season, the fifth tier of English rugby. Former Ospreys prop Cai Griffiths, who heads up the coaching team, has been there every step of the way on the re-birth.
“It’s been a long journey, but we’ve finally got there,” he said. "When I joined in 2017, working with Sonny Parker, it was hard for us to know whether it was achievable because we didn’t know what the playing group was going to look like.
“But a couple of weeks in, we knew it would be achievable with a lot of hard work, not just from the coaching aspect but all the other elements, bringing new players in, launching the London Welsh hub, which is a big recruitment piece for us. So there’s been a lot of work.”
Quick to pay tribute to others, he says: “I’m more proud for the players, the coaching group and the volunteers. We wouldn’t be here without the volunteers. I’m just a small piece of the jigsaw. It’s the players that turn up Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. It’s not just the firsts either. The Druids, our second team, have a league decider next Saturday and if they win they get promoted as well.”
Director of rugby Griffiths has a young group of players under his command, with an average age of around 24, while some 60 per cent of the squad are Welsh.
“A lot of people are aware of London Welsh, but it tends to be the older generation. For us, it’s about increasing the awareness among the younger generation, so if a player comes from Wales they know we are here to give them that rugby but also the support, because London is such a big place and you can get lost," he said.
“We have got a nice partnership with Swansea University and Cardiff Met. There are a lot of boys who have completed their college courses, come to London for employment and joined us. We have worked hard with those partnerships. We try and give as professional an approach to the game as we can in an amateur set-up, looking after the players around quality of training, match-day experience and also the social aspect of it.”
The club’s resurrection has been backed up by loyal support from fans, with crowds of between 600 to 1,000 at Old Deer Park. “Not bad for level six, is it? There are some clubs in National League 1 don’t get that,” said Griffiths.
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Their next home game is this coming Saturday, with Guildford the visitors for what is set to be something of a promotion party at the club.
“We enjoyed each other’s company on the weekend and it will be good to be at home on Saturday. Guildford is one of the teams we have lost to this season, so we are looking to put a marker on them,” said Griffiths.
It’s yet to be confirmed which section of National League 3 London Welsh will be in next season, with a review under way amid moves to increase from six to eight regional divisions at that level. But it’s likely they will be up against a number of the clubs currently in London & SE Premier - Brighton, Havant, Maidenhead, Wimbledon, Sutton & Epsom - with Bracknell and Camberley set to join them via promotion.
“It’s going to be a massive challenge. The majority of teams we will be coming up against are paying their players. We are fully amateur. We haven’t paid for the last four years and we are not looking to pay for the coming years either. For us, it has to be sustainable. So that’s the biggest challenge.”
But, as has been the case throughout this great old club’s rise from the ashes, it’s a challenge they will embrace.
