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Cardiff City Blue Dragons

Defunct rugby league teams in WalesEngvarB from June 2017Rugby clubs established in 1981Sport in CardiffWelsh rugby league teams

The Cardiff City Blue Dragons were a rugby league team formed in 1981. Their home ground was Ninian Park which was also used by Cardiff City FC. The club spent three seasons in Cardiff before relocating to Bridgend in 1984 as the Bridgend Blue Dragons, who were finally wound up in 1986. The team colours were royal blue shirts with a yellow and white vee. The shorts and socks were also blue. In 2014, the two main Rugby League clubs in the city, Cardiff Demons and Cardiff Spartans merged. As a result, the 'Cardiff City RLFC' name was revived and a new club formed, with a modernised badge and kit paying homage to the original side. The 1st and 2nd open age sides will be playing senior home matches at Cardiff Arms Park during the 2015 Welsh Conference season. The club was renamed 'Cardiff Blue Dragons' in 2016. For 2017 Cardiff Rugby League [Cardiff Blue Dragons] sides play at The Memorial Ground, Ely following a partnership with Glamorgan Wanderers RFC. The club includes Wales' first Women's Rugby League side, Masters side, and is also the largest club in Wales by number of registered players.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Cardiff City Blue Dragons (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Cardiff City Blue Dragons
Bartley Wilson Way, Cardiff Canton

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N 51.474983 ° E -3.200509 °
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Bartley Wilson Way 19
CF11 8EL Cardiff, Canton
Wales, United Kingdom
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Ninian Park
Ninian Park

Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixtures with over 60,000 spectators in attendance. At the time of its closure in 2009, it had a capacity of 21,508. Cardiff City had originally been playing home fixtures at Sophia Gardens but the lack of facilities at the ground had prevented them from joining the Southern Football League. To combat this, club founder Bartley Wilson secured a plot of land from Cardiff Corporation that had previously been used as a rubbish tip and construction of a new ground began in 1909. The stadium was completed a year later and named Ninian Park after Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, who had acted as a financial guarantor for the build. A friendly match against Football League First Division champions Aston Villa was organised to open the ground. It was originally constructed with a single wooden stand and three large banks made of ash, but gradual improvements saw stands constructed on all sides of the pitch. The four stands were named the Canton Stand, the Grange End, the Popular Bank and the Grandstand. The ground was also used as the home stadium for the Wales national football team from 1911 until the late 1980s, hosting 84 international fixtures during its existence. Safety concerns led to the ground's capacity being drastically reduced and Cardiff Arms Park replacing the stadium as the preferred home venue for the national side. The Welsh national side holds the record attendance for a match at Ninian Park; 62,634 fans watched a fixture against England on 17 October 1959. Cardiff City's club record attendance of 57,893 came at the stadium during a Football League fixture against Arsenal on 22 April 1953. The ground hosted its last match on 25 April 2009 against Ipswich Town and was demolished soon after, being replaced by the adjacent newly constructed Cardiff City Stadium. The site was converted into a residential housing estate which was completed in 2010.

Cardiff City F.C. Under-23s and Academy

The Cardiff City F.C. Academy is the youth football academy at Welsh side Cardiff City. The category two academy has a range of players from ages 7 to 18. The Cardiff City Under-23 side is the highest age group of football other than the senior first team at the club, although the side is allowed to field up to three overage players and a goalkeeper. The age range was initially set at under-21 until 2016 when the limit was increased to players under 23 years of age. The side competes in the Professional Development League 2. The youth system at the club was given academy status in 2004 following the investment of chairman Sam Hammam. The academy had several managers in its formative years, including John Kerr who died suddenly while employed in the position. Several players who progressed through the academy in the first five years went on to play for the senior side and represent Wales at international level, such as Joe Ledley, Darcy Blake, Chris Gunter and Aaron Ramsey. Former Cardiff player Neal Ardley spent five years in charge of the academy before departing in 2012, witnessing the construction of the House of Sport training complex. Dick Bate spent two years as the academy manager between 2012 and 2014 before being replaced by James McCarthy. The academy attracted national attention in 2019 when player development manager Craig Bellamy and other staff members were accused of bullying players. Bellamy stepped down from the role and a later enquiry stated that the environment at the academy had been "unacceptable". In 2020, the club announced plans to upgrade the academy to category one status, the highest possible rating available, and appointed Steve Morison as manager of the under-23 side.