The 1998–99 rebel season in rugby union occurred when two clubs affiliated to the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), Cardiff RFC and Swansea RFC, refused to play in the WRU-sanctioned Welsh Premier Division that season and instead opted to play friendly matches against clubs from the English Premiership.
Informal talks had taken place around an Anglo-Welsh league, containing Cardiff, Swansea, Neath and Llanelli, as early as 1993, with the public support of then-Wales coach Alan Davies.
However, both Swansea and Cardiff saw insufficient returns available from the Welsh league,[5] and refused to sign up to the loyalty agreements, instead suggesting the setup of a British league involving four clubs from Wales, the clubs that comprised the top division in England and two Scottish regional sides; Edinburgh and Glasgow.
[7] This proposal was supported by both the English Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the clubs that comprised the top two divisions in England, but was rejected by the WRU, owing to ongoing legal action between the RFU and English clubs over commercial rights, and the ongoing legal action taken by Cardiff.
[8] The WRU reiterated their requirement that Cardiff and Swansea sign up to the loyalty agreement in order to continue participating in the Premier Division and the European Cup.
[10] At a general committee meeting held on 24 August; the WRU formally acknowledged their withdrawal from the Premier Division and replaced them.
[12] The quality of opposition continued to remain high until the end of the year, however as the season progressed into 1999, the demands of the Premiership season combined with the loss of players to international callups during the 1999 Five Nations tournament led to reduced strength sides being fielded by some Premiership clubs, and blowout scores being recorded as a result, including Cardiff beating a development Richmond side by 96–28 in May.
Cardiff chief executive Gareth Davies believed that the reason for their inclusion was to appease the sponsor who might otherwise had withdrawn their backing.
Cardiff and Swansea's inclusion came at the expense of Ebbw Vale RFC, who would normally have been nominated based on their 1998–99 league position.
The 10 year loyalty agreements, which was scheduled to run through to August 2007 were torn up by the WRU in 2003 to allow introduction of regional rugby.