London Welsh RFC

London Welsh Rugby Football Club was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from the RFU Championship in the 2012 and 2014 play-off final. The club returned to Old Deer Park in 2015 after three seasons at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford. The club went into liquidation in December 2016 and was given a temporary licence to complete two fixtures in the Championship. Chairman at the time Bleddyn Phillips claimed to have sold the club to a California-based investment group led by Welshman Trevor Owen Shaw, but no contract or funds ever materialised. On 24 January 2017 it was announced that London Welsh had been removed from the RFU Championship and their results expunged. The RFU stated that their place in the league was "untenable" and the club were dissolved. The remnants of the defunct club were amalgamated into their amateur set up. Affiliated teams During professionalism, London Welsh's first-XV squad were fully professional, and they were complemented with the London Welsh Amateurs, Druids and Occies. Following the changes at the club in the 2016/17 season the club operates the 1st XV and Druids 2nd XV that form the performance playing squad, the Occies 3rd XV and the Under 23s Griffins player pathway.