2003-04 wrote itself into the record books as Llanharan's most successful season since its formation in 1891.

Coaches Dennis John and John Phelps produced an exceptionally talented side that, under Gareth Edwards' leadership, won a thrilling race with Maesteg to the division one championship.

It gave the club a place in the top echelon of Welsh club rugby, fulfilling an ambition that had sustained players and members since the introduction of national leagues.

It was a fitting culmination of a long and notable record in Welsh rugby, with the game having become formally established in the village in 1891-92 when it was little more than an agricultural hamlet. The earliest photograph on the club house wall is dated 1898. In 1919, Llanharan achieved the proud status of membership of the Welsh Rugby Union.

Unfortunately, injuries badly hit our small squad and, lacking the resources of the big town clubs, we failed to build on a promising start and were relegated to the Asda first division in 2005 after just one season at the top.

The subsequent campaign became of necessity one of rebuilding after more than a whole team left, mainly to join other premiership clubs.

Although results were modest in 2005/06 and 2006/07, many young and talented players emerged, often home produced.

Prior to the national leagues we had established a deserved reputation as great cup fighters. We ran the great clubs of the time such as Pontypool, Cardiff and Pontypridd close, losing once to Pontypridd on a penalty shoot out. But we also claimed the scalps of Glamorgan Wanderers, Tredegar, Penarth and Abertillery who were then part of the so called “first class” elite of Welsh rugby. Twice we reached the quarter finals, losing gallantly to Aberavon (1988) and Cardiff (1989), a remarkable achievement for a village club. It was a great era in our history, earning the title Whitbread and Rugby World Junior Club of the Year in 1989 after being runner up in 1988.

It merely reflected sustained success on the domestic front – East District title holders eight times from 1977 to 1989, Usher Cup winners in 1982 and 83, and Silver Ball finalists in 1977 and 1979.

The arrival of league rugby in Wales gave the ‘second-class’ clubs a chance of rising to the top. On the opening day of what was then the Heineken League, 23rd September 1990, Llanharan recorded the highest score of the day in defeating Aberavon Quins by 43 points to 18.

In this first season of league rugby Llanharan excelled, finishing second in their division. This led to the club being promoted, along with champions Dunvant, to Division Two and a place among the elite of the Welsh game. During that season another club player, Anthony Donovan, appeared for the Barbarians. The following year Llanharan RFC celebrated its centenary year, with games against Cardiff and Pontypridd a highlight on the field, and a grand dinner in City Hall the climax of off the field events.

Although the club finished third on try count in the league in 1992-93, hence just missing out on promotion to the top flight, following seasons proved disappointing culminating in Llanharan being relegated in the 1996-97 season. However, after another season of poor form 1998-99 ended with Llanharan once again being promoted back into Division One.


Underpinning the senior set up is a comprehensive playing and coaching structure. We pride ourselves on raising home made talent. Each weekend we field Youth and Second XVs while each Sunday dozens of youngsters play in teams from under 8 to under 14. Twelve players have been capped by the Welsh Youth, including Arwel Davies and Wayne Jervis of the current senior squad.

The Second XV enjoyed an invincible 100% season in 2004/05, John Rees’s men taking both the East District and the Mid Glam Enoch Lewis cups.

2005/06 was the time for the Youth to sparkle, the side led by Michael Huckridge winning the East District cup by defeating Pontyclun at Pentyrch, surprisingly the first major trophy in the 40 years plus history of the team.


Although we celebrated our centenary in 1991, it is believed that a side was playing before 1891. The oldest picture on show at the clubhouse is dated 1898. In 1919 the club was awarded WRU status.


The badge is symbolic of the village’s history and culture. The four quarters show:
1) A sheaf of corn – pre coal mining Llanharan was very much a pretty agricultural village with its picturesque stone cottages clustered around important buildings such as the church, corn mill and blacksmith, much of the economy related to the needs of the Llanharan House estate.
2) A Llanharan spaniel reputed to be a distinctive breed at a time when the estate also boasted its own pack of hunting hounds.
3) The parish church of St Julius and Aaron, an ancient foundation that boasts a Tudor chalice.
4) A pit head winding gear, reflecting the coal mining that dominated the village for almost a century.
The quarters are separated by a black cross commemorating the Llandow air disaster of March 12th 1950 when eight club members were in the plane returning from the Dublin international, seven of them losing their lives as it crashed on landing. Only Mel Thomas survived and he still
lives in the village in Chapel Road. A special memorial adorns the wall of the bar.

Early days saw the club use local hostelries such as the High Corner and Turberville as a base. In 1948 the first purpose built HQ/changing rooms, a wartime hut, were transported from Llandow airfield. A clubhouse was built in 1962 on the site of the old British Restaurant. The original building was another wartime hut, transported piece by piece from Stormy Down camp and progressively enlarged into three bars and a concert hall. We moved out of the old club in 2002 into new premises in the former British Legion club on the opposite side of the main road. The advantage here is that it is alongside our ground, The Dairy Field, so called because of the adjacent CWS Milk Depot which closed in the late 1960s after 50 years of milk processing and whose site is now being developed for housing.
The club purchased the ground in 1989, having played all its previous seasons on the Welfare Ground. In the years before hot water shower facilities were provided at the Welfare Ground in 1948, committee men would borrow a trolley from the local train station and collect churns full of piping hot water from the old CWS Creamery, wheeling them to the High Corner stables for the players to wash in tin baths.
We marked the advent a national league by playing our first game on our new field against Aberavon Quins to open season 1990-91, scoring eight tries in a big 43-18 win. A 440 seater grand stand, partly funded by a members’ debenture scheme and incorporating spacious changing rooms, was added to a covered terrace two years later and top quality floodlights soon followed.
The move to the ground prompted the media to nick name us “The Dairymen” with all the attendant puns that can be imagined. However, the traditional supporters prefer to use “The Black and Blues” which they
have imaginatively put to the music of the Marseillaise!
The choice of colours is said to relate to impoverished bygone years when a sympathetic Cardiff gave us a set of their kit – the black and Cambridge Blue has been worn ever since. In respectful appreciation Llanharan henceforth called themselves the “Black and Blues” as opposed to the “Blue and Blacks.”


Family links have always been prominent in the club’s sides – six Cogbill brothers once played in the first team and a whole front row of Vowles brothers appeared in one game. These family links have spanned the generations, and two brothers who began their careers here went on to represent Wales, actually playing side by side in the second row - Glyn Llewellyn (1990) and Gareth Llewellyn (1989), currently the most capped forward in our history. Richard Donovan (1983), Garfield Owen (1955) and Danny Pascoe (1923) also went on to international status..

The tradition of male voice singing in Llanharan was revived by club members when they formed the still flourishing “RFC Songsters” in 1966 and it is believed to be the only choir of its genre in Wales.

A lot then has been seen and achieved over the years and, in the words of the club song:

"Black and Blue are the colours,
Rugby is the game,
We're all together,
And winning is our aim,
So cheer us on through the wind and rain,
Llanharan, Llanharan is our name."