Cardiff Athletic Club

Wales-based multi sport organisation

This article is about Cardiff Athletic Club. For the athletics club based at Cardiff International Sports Stadium, see Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club.

Cardiff Athletic Club

Cardiff Athletic Club, adjacent to the Millennium Stadium

Formation| 1922
Merger of| Cardiff Rugby Football Club and Cardiff Cricket Club
Headquarters| Cardiff Arms Park, Westgate Street, Cardiff, Wales

Chairman

| Keith Morgan
Website| www.cardiffathleticclub.co.uk

51°28′46″N 3°10′56″W﻿ / ﻿51.4795°N 3.1821°W﻿ / 51.4795; -3.1821

Sections of
Cardiff Athletic Club

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Cardiff Athletic
Club| Cardiff Rugby
Football Club| Cardiff Cricket
Club
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Lisvane (CAC)
Tennis Club| Cardiff Athletic
Bowls Club| Cardiff & Met
Hockey Club

Cardiff Athletic Club (CAC) is a multi-sport club based in Cardiff, Wales. It is the owner of the Cardiff Arms Park site,[1][2][3][4] however, it is also a major shareholder of Cardiff Rugby Football Club Ltd and therefore has a large influence over the rugby club's two sides.[4][5]

Cardiff Athletic Club was established in 1922, and has been the main body responsible for much of the premier amateur sporting activities in Cardiff. The Athletic Club has cricket, rugby union, field hockey, tennis and bowls sections.

## History

[edit]

3rd Marquess of Bute. The Bute family had previously owned Cardiff Arms Park

In 1922 Cardiff Football Club, later renamed Cardiff Rugby Football Club, and Cardiff Cricket Club amalgamated to form the Cardiff Athletic Club. Before that in 1878, the two Clubs had been granted the use of Cardiff Arms Park at a peppercorn rate, by the 3rd Marquess of Bute, who owned the site at the time.[6] The two clubs wanted to preserve their grounds, and so the cricket and rugby clubs joined forces, and created Cardiff Athletic Club. The Athletic Club purchased the site from the 4th Marquess of Bute, apart from a strip of land adjoining Westgate Street, for £30,000 on the understanding that the site should be preserved for recreational purposes only.[6] By 1935, the 4th Marquis of Bute built a new block of flats on his land adjoining Westgate Street.[6]

There had been previous attempts to merge the clubs, in November 1892 and between 1902 and 1904, when the two clubs worked closely to fund a new pavilion to serve the needs of both clubs,[6] but it was not until 1922 that the merger finally took place. Later the Cardiff Arms Park Company Limited was formed by Cardiff Athletic Club, Arms Park (Cardiff) Greyhound Racing Company Limited and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).[6][7] By 1933 the Cardiff Athletic Club acquired a 99-year lease from the Cardiff Arms Park Company Limited on a rental of £200 per annum.[6]

Since the 1930s, Cardiff Arms Park has changed considerably, with new facilities and amenities, but it was the building of the National Stadium which would see the greatest change for the Cardiff Athletic Club. After an agreement between Cardiff Athletic Club and the WRU, the freehold of the rugby ground was transferred solely to the WRU in July 1968.[7] Work could then begin on the new National Stadium. Glamorgan County Cricket Club and the cricket and hockey sections of the Athletic Club moved to Sophia Gardens in 1967, and by 1995 the cricket section moved again to the Diamond Ground in Whitchurch, Cardiff.,[6] although the hockey section still play at the Sophia Gardens complex. This allowed the cricket ground to be demolished and a new rugby union stadium built on the same site for Cardiff RFC, who would move out of the old rugby ground, allowing the National Stadium to be built, for the sole use of the Wales national rugby union team.[7] By 1999, the National Stadium had been replaced by the Millennium Stadium.[8]

## Present day

[edit]

Cardiff Athletic Club has five sports sections; the rugby section (administered by Cardiff Blues Ltd, with Cardiff Athletic Club as its major shareholder), the cricket section (Cardiff Cricket Club), the (field) hockey section (Cardiff & Met Hockey Club including the Cardiff Athletic Ladies Hockey Club), the bowls section (Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club) and the tennis section (Lisvane (CAC) Tennis Club). Each section is represented on the Management Committee of the Club.[5] The Athletic Club is one of the few multi-sport clubs in the United Kingdom. A former president of Cardiff Athletic Club was the ex-Welsh International rugby player Bleddyn Williams.[5]

It was announced on 19 September 2007, that the Cardiff Blues team were to move from Cardiff Arms Park for the 2009–2010 season, to a new stadium at Leckwith to become tenants of Cardiff City FC. The Cardiff Athletic Club management committee at the time had voted to support this. A decision by Cardiff Athletic Club on the future of Cardiff Arms Park could be made later.[9]

## Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir

[edit]

The Arms Park has its own choir, called the Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir. It was formed in 1966 as the Cardiff Athletic Club Male Voice Choir, and today performs internationally with a schedule of concerts and tours. In 2000, the choir changed their name to become the Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir (Welsh: Côr Meibion Parc Yr Arfau Caerdydd).[10]

## Images

[edit]

* Cardiff Arms Park

* The Rugby Section
Cardiff Rugby

* The Bowls Section
(Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club)

* The Tennis Section
(Lisvane (CAC) Tennis Club)

* Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir

## See also

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Sport in Cardiff

## Notes

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1. ^ "CRFC History". cardiffrfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
2. ^ "Welsh Rugby Shirts". rugby15.co.uk. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
3. ^ "40. Cardiff has the world's largest retractable-roof arena". Britannia.com, LLC. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
4. ^ a b "Rugby Union: Yachvili's decisive miss adds to sense of reprieve for". CNET Networks, Inc. Archived from the original on 23 September 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
5. ^ a b c "Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club – The Club". Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
6. ^ a b c d e f g "Cardiff Arms Park – a short History by Andrew Hignell – Cardiff Athletic Club". Glamorgan County Cricket Club & CricketArchive. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
7. ^ a b c Harris CBE LLD (Hons), Kenneth M (1984). "The Story of the Development of the National Rugby Ground April 7 1984". Welsh Rugby Union. `{{cite journal}}`: Cite journal requires `|journal=` (help)
8. ^ "Millennium Stadium 'built in wrong place'". Media Wales Ltd. icWales. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
9. ^ "Stadium switch turns spotlight on Arms Park". icWales (Media Wales). Retrieved 14 May 2008.
10. ^ "Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir". cardiffarmsparkmalechoir.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2008.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website of Cardiff Athletic Club
* Official website of Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir
* Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club
* Cardiff Cricket Club
* Cardiff and Met Hockey Club
* Cardiff RFC (Cardiff Rugby Football Club Ltd)
* Lisvane (CAC) Tennis Club

* v
* t
* e

Sport in Cardiff

Active sporting venues|

* Millennium Stadium
* Cardiff Arms Park
* Sophia Gardens
* Cardiff International Sports Stadium
* Cardiff International Arena
* Cardiff City Stadium
* National Indoor Athletics Centre
* Cardiff International Pool
* Ice Arena Wales
* Maindy Stadium
* Sport Wales National Centre
* Cardiff Athletic Club
* Cardiff International White Water
* Leisure centres in Cardiff

Defunct sporting venues|

* Ely Racecourse
* White City Stadium
* Cardiff Athletics Stadium
* Cardiff Arena
* National Stadium
* Ninian Park
* Wales Empire Pool
* Wales National Ice Rink

Sport teams|

* Caerau (football)
* Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club
* Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club
* Cardiff Celts (basketball)
* Cardiff City Blue Dragons (rugby league)
* Cardiff City F.C. (football)
* Cardiff City F.C. (women's football)
* Cardiff City Ladies F.C. (women's football)
* Cardiff Cricket Club
* Cardiff Corinthians (Welsh football league)
* Cardiff Demons (rugby league)
* Cardiff Devils (ice hockey)
* Cardiff Dragons (netball)
* Cardiff Dragons (speedway)
* Cardiff Grange Harlequins (football)
* Cardiff & Met Hockey Club (field hockey)
* Cardiff Metropolitan University F.C. (football)
* Cardiff Metropolitan University (rugby union)
* Cardiff Met WFC (women's football)
* Cardiff Redhawks (ice hockey)
* Cardiff Rugby
* Cardiff Rugby Club (rugby union)
* Cardiff Roller Collective (roller sports)
* Ely Rangers (football)
* Glamorgan County Cricket Club
* Glamorgan Wanderers (rugby union)
* Lisvane (CAC) Tennis Club
* STM Sports (football)
* Tiger Bay Brawlers (roller derby)

Sport events|

* Six Nations (rugby union)
* European Rugby Champions Cup (rugby union)
* Anglo-Welsh Cup (rugby union)
* The Ashes (cricket)
* Cardiff Half Marathon (running)
* Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain (motor racing)
* Wales Rally GB (motor racing)
* Extreme Sailing Series
* 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
* 1991 Rugby World Cup
* 1999 Rugby World Cup
* 2007 Rugby World Cup
* 2015 Rugby World Cup
* 2008 IRB Junior World Championship (rugby union)
* FA Cup finals, 2001–2006 (football)
* EFL Cup finals, 2001–2007 (football)
* FA Cup Semi-finals, 2005 (football)
* 2012 London Olympics
* 2014 UEFA Super Cup
* 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships
* 2017 UEFA Women's Champions League final
* 2017 UEFA Champions League final

* v
* t
* e

Timeline of the Cardiff Arms Park and Millennium Stadium sites

|  | 1870s | 1880s | 1890 | 1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s

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North ground | Cardiff Arms Park – cricket ground
Cardiff Cricket Club (1867–1967) and
Glamorgan County Cricket Club (1886–1967) | Cardiff Arms Park – rugby ground
Cardiff RFC (1967 to date) and
Cardiff Rugby (2003–2009 and 2012 to date)
South ground |  | Cardiff Arms Park – rugby ground
Cardiff RFC (1876–1967)
Wales national rugby union team (1884–1967) and
Cardiff Greyhounds (1927–1967) | National Stadium
Wales national rugby union team (1967–1999)
Wales national football team (1989–1999) and
Cardiff Greyhounds (1967–1977) | Millennium Stadium
Wales national rugby union team (1999 to date) and
Wales national football team (1999 to 2009)
Tennis courts | Cardiff Arms Park – racket and tennis courts
Cardiff Tennis Club (1867 to 1967) |
Bowling green |  | Cardiff Arms Park – bowling green
Cardiff Athletic Bowls Club (1923 to date)
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