Cardiff Rugby 150th Anniversary Grogg
T.S. Donaldson Selby
When we were approached by David Allen Chair of the Cardiff Rugby Heritage Group to make a special commemorative Grogg for their 150th anniversary we were delighted and when I saw the images of the subject they had chosen, I was inspired!
I love history and on seeing the historic first kit worn by Cardiff and their first ever captain T.S. Donaldson Selby I couldnât wait to get started.
The Groggshop has had a strong connection with Cardiff RFC dating back to the early days of our founding. When my father first started taking me to matches, he was drawn to the Arms Park where we could watch some of the greats of Welsh rugby playing in the famous Blue and Black. In the days before Dad bought our debentures, I was treated to Gareth Edwards and Gerald Davies ripping defences apart in front of huge home crowds⌠an experience which inspired me to join Dad in his studio as soon as I could. I feel particularly proud whenever I see some of my earliest figures of Cardiffâs rugbyâs greats still on display in Cardiffâs famous Rugby Museum.
We wish Cardiff all the best in their special Anniversary Season.
From David Allen Chair, Cardiff Rugby Heritage Group
Cardiff Football Club, founded in 1876, was the product of a merger between two local
sides, Glamorgan and Cardiff Wanderers. In those days, âfootballâ could refer both to teams
playing either the rugby or association code (and sometimes both). Famously, in its first
season, the club colours consisted of a black jersey with a prominent white skull and
crossbones on the chest. This emblem was not uncommon amongst clubs of the day, being
officially adopted by School House at Rugby School in the 1880s and by Christowe House at
Cheltenham College, which took its insignia from that of the Royal Lancers. It was also used
by the Barbarians, who wore it in their first season of 1890-1.
Despite this general popularity, the shirt reportedly held no sway with the parents of that
first Cardiff XV, who thought the emblem âuncannyâ. After just one year, it was therefore
replaced with the famous Cambridge blue and black, the inspiration for which was a rugby
jersey worn by Thomas William John Rees in the colours of Gonville & Caius College. Rees
both played for Cardiff and was a student at the college.
To our knowledge, no copy of that first shirt remains and only one photograph of a player in
that kit survives. Despite lots of research, it has not proved possible to identify with any
certainty who that player was.
When Cardiff Rugby approached the Groggshop with a view to producing a piece that
celebrated its founding season and 150th Anniversary, it was therefore determined to
fashion a Grogg in the appearance of Thomas Donaldson Selby, who was captain in that first
year of 1876-7.
Selby had previously been a leading light in the Glamorgan side, which was the senior
partner in the merger, and it was perhaps no surprise that the honour of being the first
captain of the new team should fall to him. Selby had been born in Jersey, was from a
wealthy family and had previously been a prominent member of the Cheltenham College
football team â and so may have been introduced the skull and crossbones emblem to
Cardiff as he would have been familiar with it from his school days. Despite suggestions that
the team was initially nicknamed âThe Piratesâ, there is no contemporary evidence to
support this claim.
