| Teamname: | Cardiff Lions Rugby Football Club Clwb Rygbi Llewod Caerdydd |
| Founded: | 2004 |
| Chairman: | Duncan Cameron |
| Club Captain: | Joel Hamer Head coach = Tomas Andrews |
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| Url: | www.cardifflionsrfc.com |
The Cardiff Lions RFC (Welsh: Clwb Rygbi Llewod Caerdydd) is a gay and inclusive rugby union football club based in Cardiff, Wales. The club was founded in 2004 and is the first of two gay and inclusive rugby clubs in Wales. The Lions were admitted as members of the International Gay Rugby Association and Board[1] in 2006.
The Lions have competed in the three Union Cup tournaments to date; 2005 in Montpellier and 2007 in Copenhagen and 2009 in London. The 2007 tournament was a great success: Ten Lions players and Lions fans were joined by 2 of the Newcastle Ravens and one player from the Bristol Bisons RFC. The club recorded victories over NOP Amsterdam Rugby Club (35–5), Malmö Devilants, twice, (30–5 and 35–0) and the Caledonian Thebans RFC (5–25), drawing with the Emerald Warriors 10–10 on the way. The club missed out in a tense final in Copenhagen to the Emerald Warriors RFC 10–5 after extra time.[2]
2009 saw another successful year for the Lions in the Union Cup – taking part in the 10s tournament, the Lions played some superb running rugby to become undefeated 10s champions. They recorded victories over Kings Cross Steelers 2nd (19–0), Los Valents (26–12), Newcastle Ravens (0–22) and Caledonian Thebans (0–26). This set up a final against the Steelers 2nds, in which the Cardiff Lions emerged 29–7 victors. A number of the squad also helped out with the Bristol Bisons RFC who won the 7's tournament. Cardiff Lions Captain Justin Gyphion also picked up the top try scorers award to crown a highly successful weekend.
The Cardiff Lions travelled to New York, NY in May 2006 for the 3rd Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament where they came 6th in the Plate competition.
In June 2008 the Cardiff Lions travelled to Dublin for the 4th biennial Bingham Cup hosted magnificently by the Emerald Warriors. The structure of the competition and seedings put the Lions in the lower tier and competing for either the second tier Plate, third tier Bowl or fourth tier Shield. A travelling squad of 23 players and 6 support staff made a vast improvement on the previous Bingham Cup results:
Friday 13 JuneGame 1, Cardiff Lions 41 Phoenix Storm 10Game 2, Cardiff Lions 36 Copenhagen Scrum 0
Saturday 14 JuneGame 3, Cardiff Lions 56 Manchester Village Spartans 2nds 0Plate/Bowl decider, Cardiff Lions 31 Atlanta Bucks 0
Sunday 15 JuneQuarter Final Plate, Cardiff Lions 21 Emerald Warriors 19Semi Final Plate, Cardiff Lions 5 Sydney Convicts 2nds 27
These results left the Cardiff Lions in 3rd place in the Plate competition after winning the 3rd/4th play-off boat race at the closing ceremony against San Francisco Fog RFC 2nds. A huge improvement on the previous Bingham Cup and with a lot more teams taking part (32 from around the world).
Next up for the club will be the Hadrian Cup in February. This is the annual 10's competition hosted by The Newcastle Ravens. The club also has ambitions to expand and improve the squad, developing links with local clubs.