Site Record

The Mid-Rhondda Athletic Ground was officially opened on Easter Monday, 1903. Built by the Mid-Rhondda Athletic Company at a cost of £3,000, it was the home of Rhondda's first rugby league side, Mid-Rhondda Rugby League Football Club from 1908. The ground became the famous home of Mid-Rhondda FC in 1912 after the rugby league club made the switch to association football. Whilst still a rugby league venue, the ground hosted the first rugby league international between England and Wales on 7 April 1908. Improvements to the ground after the switch to football included a new stand, gymnasium and press box in 1920. Following the demise of Mid-Rhondda in the mid-1920s, the ground lay unused until the Rhondda Urban District Council municipalised it in 1933. They levelled off the banks of the cycle track with a view to using the ground as a more general play area. Plans were put forward for the provision of tennis courts but these were shelved in order to meet the financial restrictions of the 1930s.

D. Leeworthy, RCAHMW, 4 October 2010.