Bridgend Ravens

The first AGM confirmed the first full season's results for 1879–80: the club played 11 matches with six wins, three defeats and two draws.

Prior to the First World War, the club were mainly based at the Quarella ground, but were forced to move out when it was taken over for building purposes.

They moved to Uxilla Fields, where Jubilee Crescent now stands, it had been the home of the old Bridgend Town AFC which had gone out of business by that time.

Initially, teams had to use Island Farm prisoner of war camp for changing facilities until a pavilion was erected by the club right next to the ground, which is still being used by Bridgend Sports RFC to this day.

The club knew they were going back to the Brewery Field in 1957, following the issue of the lease, finding the ground in a poor state of repair.

Most of the outside fencing was laid to the ground, essential services including water, heating, lighting and drainage were wrecked and needed to be completely re-installed.

Season 2010–11 saw the club lift the Division One West crown with 4 games to spare after beating title rivals Bonymaen RFC 25–19.

Until 1995 rugby union was a strictly amateur sport, when the switch to professional status occurred Wales struggled to come to grips with it.

Masses of foreign players and generally poor results by Welsh clubs in European competition inevitably affected the national sides fortunes.

During the early years of professional rugby, Bridgend struggled on and off the pitch and at one point in 1998 the club was on the verge of closure.

The turn of the century saw an upturn in fortunes for the Bridgend club, they qualified for Heineken Cup and in 2003 won the Welsh Premiership title.

It was around that time that the WRU could no longer sustain funding a 9-team premier league, under the then new chief executive David Moffett, he proposed cutting in the number of top-flight teams down to 4, with clubs joining forces to create new identities.

Following an incredible 14–9 away victory at London Wasps in the Heineken Cup a crowd of 10,000 crammed into the Brewery Field for the return clash 5 days later (which the team lost 17–12) with the gate giving hope and optimism for the future of the region.

For Bridgend RFC, their defence of the title during 2003–04 was never realised, they recruited players from their old academy and from local clubs and remained competitive throughout.

In order to concentrate on the Celtic Warriors, Samuel decided to withdraw his financial backing of Bridgend RFC.

After the Celtic Warriors folded, Bridgend Ravens had two superb seasons on the pitch, finishing 3rd in 2004–05 and 2nd in 2005–06 in the Welsh Premier Division.

Despite this, a series of disastrous results during season 2008–09 saw the club finish bottom of the Welsh Premier Division and were relegated out of the top flight for the first time in their history.

The club won a play-off final against Glamorgan Wanderers RFC with the scoreline of 38–19, meaning that they returned to the Welsh Premier Division for 2011–12 season after a two-year absence from the top flight.

New signings include Alex Jones (Newport), Ashleigh James (Neath), Scott Hicks (Tonmawr) among others.

A long winless run in the Premiership saw Bridgend go until March without tasting victory before they won at home with a last minute try against basement side Neath.

With the club placed in the second tier of the Premiership results were to improve, wins against Llanelli, Swansea, Cardiff and Bargoed put the Ravens in with a chance of finishing in a play-off spot, however, they were to miss out on the final game of the season, going down 21–10 to Neath.

Local talents Jacob Lloyd and Chris John are further additions reinforcing Bridgend's commitment to development.

Bridgend also introduced a successful early bird membership scheme, securing almost 500 committed supporters for the new season.

The logo of Bridgend RFC until 2004.