Ystrad Rhondda

Rugby arrived in the Rhondda before most of the valley's collieries had finished sinking their second shaft, and Ystrad's club took shape in 1884 as one of the earliest sides in a district that would soon produce more forwards than any comparable stretch of Wales. The proof came quickly: Willie Llewellyn, who started out at Ystrad, went on to captain Wales in 1905 in the match that beat the touring All Blacks, a result still cited whenever Welsh rugby's golden years come up.

The club has spent most of its existence outside the top flight, and its honours board reads accordingly — divisional titles rather than national ones. The WRU Division Two East championship came three times, in 2004–05, 2007–08 and 2011–12, and promotion to Division One East Central followed with the title there in 2017–18. The Mid District Cup has gone to Ystrad three times too, most recently in 2022–23, the same season the club also finished runner-up in the WRU Championship Cup — its highest reach in a cup competition.

Mike Griffiths took a similar path to Llewellyn's, coming through the club before winning 38 caps for Wales and touring with the British & Irish Lions in 1989, then returning to Ystrad to coach. That habit of sending players out and getting them back, sooner or later, as coaches or player-coaches, runs through the club's history more than any single trophy does.

Pontypridd have been the fixture that matters since the sides first met on 24 September 1885 — Pontypridd won that one, and the rivalry has stayed lopsided in the decades since, with Ystrad rarely troubling the WRU's higher divisions for long enough to press the point. A national title, at any level above the regional cups, is still the one line missing from the record.