Sport in Swansea

There are a number of sporting venues in Swansea. St Helen’s is a cricket ground which is one of the homes of Glamorgan County Cricket Club. it was in this ground that Sir Garfield Sobers hit six sixes in one over: the first time this was achieved in a game of first-class cricket. One ball is reputed to have landed in the Cricketers’ pub just outside the ground. The stadium is metres from the coast of Swansea Bay. in 2003, Swansea RFC became a feeder club for the Neath-Swansea Ospreys regional rugby club.

Swansea RFC remains at St Helen’s, but the Ospreys moved to the then named New Stadium in Landore for the start of the 2005-2006 season. Swansea also boasts one of the largest Saturday local football leagues in the country, second only to the one in Birmingham at its peak. Swansea City A.F.C., the Swans, moved from the Vetch Field to Liberty Stadium at the same time, winning promotion to League One in their final year at their old home. The final Ospreys match at St Helen’s was played on the same day as the final Swans league game at the Vetch: April 30, 2005. The first game at the new stadium was on July 23: a football friendly between the Swans and Fulham.

The Swans’ football following are known as the Jack Army due to the regional nickname for people from Swansea. Strong local rivalries exist between Swansea and Cardiff in football and between Swansea and Llanelli in rugby. Swansea/Neath rugby games used also to be a hotly-contested match, such that there was some debate about whether a regional team incorporating both areas was possible. The Neath-Swansea Ospreys, in fact came fifth in the Celtic League in their first year of existence as a regional team, and won the league in their second year.