London Welsh Amateur Rugby Football Club, previously known as London Welsh Druids[1] and as of 2017 London Welsh,[2] is an English amateur rugby union club based at Old Deer Park in Richmond, London. They were the amateur team of London Welsh until the professional team's liquidation in 2017.[3] The amateur team continued independently as they were considered a separate club by the Rugby Football Union.[4]
London Welsh Amateur were founded in the 1990s after London Welsh reached the top of National League 1 and decided to split the club to separate the professional wing from the community club.[5] In 2004, London Welsh Amateur were incorporated as a limited company.[6] In 2017, London Welsh were expelled from the RFU Championship and later liquidated due to debt.[3] When London Welsh were given extra time for a phoenix company to take over the club and fulfill RFU regulations, one of the conditions was that they had to show a clear separation between London Welsh and London Welsh Amateur but were unable to meet the requirements.[3] Despite this decision, it did not affect London Welsh Amateur as they were held as having a separate membership of the RFU and separate voting rights.[7]
As a result, London Welsh Amateur became the primary representatives of the London Welsh club. They also stated that they would remain amateur despite inheriting the liquidated professional club's infrastructure.[2] For their first season since London Welsh's liquidation, London Welsh Amateur appointed former Welsh international Sonny Parker as director of rugby.[8] Following the professional side's liquidation, London Welsh Amateur adopted the London Welsh name.[2]
After the 2019–20 season was abandoned due to the coronavirus outbreak, London Welsh finished as Champions of London 2 North West and were promoted to London 1 South for 2020–21 season, which was not played due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Following the 31-17 victory away at Wimbledon, London Welsh confirm their 5th promotion in 7 seasons, completing 'Project Reset' and will return to the National Leagues for the first time in 2025-26 following the original club's liquidation in 2017.
Updated to match(es) played on 21 September 2025. Source: National League Rugby [10] Rules for classification: If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
Number of matches won
Number of matches drawn
Difference between points for and against
Total number of points for
Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
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