Fairwater RFC Youth

Hello and welcome to the official SNAP Sponsorship profile of Fairwater RFC Youth.

We're delighted to announce that we’ve now partnered with SNAP Sponsorship and we’re looking for sponsors who are excited about affiliating themselves with a Cardiff-based rugby club with a thriving youth section and strong community relationships. 

We strive to craft a partnership with our sponsors that meets their specific objectives, whether that be community gifting, social responsibility (CSR), direct sales or brand building.

We’ll work with you to develop a partnership which meets both your objectives and adds value to our members — supporting our club’s ongoing work in the community to remove barriers and make sport enjoyable, accessible and sustainable for all.

Whatever your motivation, find out more below. Thank you for visiting our profile.

Why Sponsor Us?

Increased brand awareness and networking with our community

Would you like to raise the profile of your organisation and increase awareness of your brand in the local area? Fairwater RFC Youth has worked hard to build strong relationships with the local community including schools, local businesses and all of our members, supporters, volunteers and employees of the club. We’re happy to promote your products or services to our community through a number of mediums including hosting networking events, advertising at games, press articles or via our social media platforms.

We have an array of sponsorship opportunities which can be tailored to meet your objectives. Through sponsorship, our club will promote your company in a wide variety of ways, increasing your brand awareness and therefore enriching the profile of your business in our community.  

Improve outcomes for young people and help them have a brighter future

Sponsoring a local club like ours provides you with the opportunity to directly improve outcomes for young people, build their confidence and support them on their path to a brighter future.

We work with schools and local groups to encourage children from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in sport. Not only is this in the hope of ‘getting them off the streets’ but because there’s also plenty of evidence that participation in team sports improves self-esteem, mental discipline and social skills.

In addition to wellbeing and the physical benefits of team sports, there are also valuable qualities and life lessons young people can learn including manners, respect and boundaries on and off the rugby pitch; practising persistence, meeting new friends and boosting confidence.

We’d love for you to get involved and see the positive impact rugby can have on young players.

Remove economic barriers and help us to provide more support, guidance and coaching

We believe that true strength comes from helping those around you achieve excellence. Being able to work with the Fairwater RFC Youth team helps us to put this value into action through our support, guidance, and coaching.

Our aim is to make Fairwater RFC totally inclusive and accessible for all and by removing economic barriers, we can provide even more support, guidance and coaching to these young people and also create more opportunities for youths from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Sponsorship of a sport delivers a much higher return on investment than traditional advertising. This is because sponsorship allows your business to become directly involved in activities that are highly valued by local consumers and build positive associations with the community.

Contact us now to find out more and explore what the Fairwater RFC Youth can offer you!

The Club Today

Fairwater RFC was founded in 1966-67 and first formed four senior teams and a youth side. Soon after opening, the rugby club was established as a family club and it became the focal point for the local area.

Fairwater RFC have an excellent record of sporting success. Indeed, they were the first club to win a trophy at the Principality Stadium. Fairwater RFC are one of the major sporting clubs in Cardiff West and as such have worked with the local community to offer both rugby and social and charitable solutions to some of society’s local problems.

The growth of Fairwater RFC is something the club is proud of and within their minis and junior sections alone; the club has more than 180 local children — from a puddles team aged 4-6 years and full-age-groups from U7s through to U16s. We’re also proud to have some of the juniors who are playing for Cardiff Schools Rugby.

Fairwater RFC work with various local groups and schools to encourage young people to participate in both sporting and social events — to distract them from some of the other challenges they face within the community.

We've raised funds for various charities over the years including raising several thousand pounds for a specially adapted wheelchair for a former player. Fairwater RFC raised regular funds for ‘Guide Dogs for the Blind’ during their previous tenure in the Bulldog Public House. We also proudly promote our highly successful ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ campaign where we worked with the community to create ‘recycle drop slots’— where unwanted clothes can be donated.

More recently, since having Ashcroft Park as our club base, we’ve also received support in our various fundraising activities from local businesses. This has been a humbling experience and one we’re most grateful for. It’s always fantastic to see the community coming together and speaks volumes for the bonds and relationships that we as a club have built in the local area.

History of Our Club

From the west of Cardiff, Fairwater RFC were first formed in 1966-67.

They were founded by Dave Minto, Tim Driscoll, Reg Regan (who was the first chairman) and ex-Newtown boy John Morgan, who had captained the St David’s side in the past and had moved to Fairwater.

The headquarters was set up in the Bulldog Public House and the rugby club soon became the focal point of area.

Phil Regan became fixture secretary and soon they had established four senior teams and a youth side and became a family club with players coming through — following in their father’s footsteps.

On the playing fields, Fairwater won the Mallett Cup in 1973-74, taking the scalp of Llandaff 3-0.

The following season they lost to the powerful CIACS side 19-0 and sadly, with players moving from the area, the side disbanded in 1984.

Then like a phoenix from the ashes in 1988, Phil Regan, who had been working abroad for several years, moved back to Fairwater and he queried where the team was playing.

To his dismay he was told his beloved Fairwater had disbanded. He looked around the Bulldog, removed a poster from the wall and wrote on the back: “Anybody interested in playing rugby for Fairwater, please contact me.”

With the help of the likes of Manny Brito, Steve Jones, Mike Smith, Ray Leigh, Brendan McAloon and Howard Fox, the club was re-formed. Peter Phillips the ex-CIACS. player, took over as coach and the response from the players was immense. They also unofficially brought in Chris O‘Brien, the Fairwater and ex-rugby league player, to help out and the former Cardiff, Newbridge and Wales B full-back McAloon joined the side.

They were followed by Wayne Peckam, the former Wales Youth captain, who took over as player-coach and the club went from strength to strength, becoming a force to reckon with in both cup and league competitions.

When Peckham retired from playing, McAloon took on his legacy and carried on as the club sought more trophies, while several players went on to gain Welsh Districts caps.

Three years ago, McAloon stood down to look after the junior and youth sections and former player Ricky Theaker took over as coach, with Ryan Crimmins his assistant, to carry on the proud tradition of the club.

In 1991, the club, led by Peckham, took the Welsh Brewers Cup, beating the CIACS 13-3 and not conceding a try through the whole of the competition.

In 1992 they lost the final to St Alban’s 21-20; in 1995 they lost another final to Banwen 16-11, but in 2000 Theaker’s team triumphed over Nant Conwy 16-6.

WRU status was gained in 2000.

In 2002 they won Seven East; in 2003 were runners-up in Six East; in 2005 they won Four East and they have been in Three South-East ever since.

In 1993-94 Fairwater hosted Newport in a Swalec Cup fixture at Ashcroft Park and though they lost 24-14, Chris Foley was man of the match and scored a try after just 14 seconds.

Fairwater run a successful mini/junior section with at least 10 current first-teamers having come through those ranks.

This makes the average age of the first team is around 22 and with a couple of experienced players they could become a real force.

Welsh District caps went to Theaker, Peter Hall, Phil Reed, Gary Cleaver, Richard Biston, Chris Foley and Peter Brito.

Aspirations

With membership and crowd attendances rising, we have ambitious plans to continue to develop the infrastructure at the club.

Naturally, we want to support our sponsors and build them in to our club on a strategic level — allowing all of our partners to benefit from our ever-improving facilities, expanding audience and our community involvement.