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Since the time when rugby won its popularity in the world of sports, Wales has been one of the leading countries in the game. The first governing body of Wales rugby, the South Wales Football Union got reformed in 1880 to hold an international match between England and Wales and also renamed as the Wales Football Union.
But it was as late as in 1934 that the Wales Football Union for the first time came to be known as the Wales Rugby Union. Among the clubs that participated in the rechristening of the union Swansea C & FC, Pontypool RFC, Newport RFC, Merthyr RFC, Llanelli RFC, Bangor RFC are to name a few. The Union earned the affiliation of the International Rugby Board in 1886 and that of the FIRA-Association of European Rugby as late as in 1999.
The Wales Rugby Union is the main governing body that runs all the rugby games of the nation and also the member clubs whose numbers adds up to 293. They are responsible for the selection of the Wales national rugby team and also organize the National Leagues and Cups. The Union, which is scheduled to have Prince William of Wales as its Vice Royal Patron from February 2007, is also the owner of the Millenium Stadium, their home stadium. They also play important roles in developing referees, coaches and players of all ages and standards for both men's and women's teams.
From 2003, the domestic representation in Wales rugby has been divided into four regions. Each of the regions includes a number of top club sides but they represent larger areas.
This division, modeled on the Irish provinces and the Super 12 formats in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, is a result of the decision of the WRU to reduce the number of the top level clubs from nine to four. The top clubs from the four regions are the Cardiff Blues, Llanelli Scarlets, Ospreys and Newport Gwent Dragons. These teams also appear in the European Rugby Cup and European Rugby Shield apart from appearing in the Wales Premier Division features a total of fourteen teams.
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