 | |
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Cardiff Demons Rugby League Football Club |
| Colours |
|
| Founded | 1997; 28 years ago (1997) (Men's) 2021; 4 years ago (2021) (Women's) |
| Website | Cardiff Demons (Ladies) Archived Mens website |
| Current details | |
| Ground | |
| Competition | RFL Women's Championship |
TheCardiff Demons RLFC name has been used multiple times over the years. Firstly for a now-defunct men'srugby league side, and subsequently for a women's rugby league side who began in 2021.
The men's side played out of St. Peters RFC in the east ofCardiff, Wales and played in theWelsh Premier of theRugby League Conference.
The women's team competed in theRFL Women's Super League South from its inaugural season in June 2021. In 2024 this was replaced by theSouthern Championship.
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Cardiff Demons were formed in 1997.[1][2] In 2001, they joined the Central South Division of theRugby League Conference. Playing atSt. Peters RFC, a two miles north of the city centre, the Demons succeeded in finishing in third place.
For the 2002 season the Demons moved toOld Penarthians RFC inPenarth. Again competing in the Central South Division, Cardiff secured the runners up spot.
In 2003, the Demons finished top of the South West Conference, but failed to progress in the play-offs.[3]
In 2004, the Demons moved toTaff's Well, joined theWelsh Conference and won two trophies. First was the Welsh Shield after beatingNewport Titans, then beatingThorne Moor Marauders in National Shield.[3]
The Demons moved back to St Peters RFC after one home match of 2006 and went on to win the East Division and reach the Welsh Conference Grand Final, only to lose 22–10 toBridgend Blue Bulls.[3] In 2009 they relocated to St Albans RFC in Tremorfa.
At the end of 2014, the two main Rugby League clubs in the city, Demons and the Cardiff Spartans decided to merge. The result was Cardiff City RL,[4] which in 2017 was rebranded as Cardiff Blue Dragons RLFC (a resurrection of the name of the last professional RL side in Cardiff and kit colours).[2]
After a number of years of dormancy, the Cardiff Demons name was resurrected in 2021 for a new women's rugby league team, set to compete in the inaugural season of theRFL Women's Super League South competition, starting in June 2021.[5][6] The club won the inaugural season beating theArmy team 30-26[7] and retained the title the following season with a Grand Final win overLondon Broncos.[8]
In 2023, Cardiff made their first appearance in theChallenge Cup and reached the quarter-finals due to wins overFeatherstone Rovers andSalford Red Devils in the group stage.[9] They also took part in theRFL Women's Nines where they earned a wildcard place in the finals.[10] In the league the Demons went undefeated in the regular season, but lost 22–10 to London Broncos in the Grand Final.[11]
In 2024, Cardiff reached the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup and the semi-finals of the Women's Nines, before losing toWigan Warriors in both competitions.[12][13] The Super League South became the Southern Championship, a second-tier competition, in which Cardiff finished top of the table, but lost 28–8 to London Broncos in the final.[14] In December 2024, theRugby Football League announced a further restructuring of the league system which would see the club transferred to an expanded Northern Championship in the 2025 season.[15]
| Season | League | Play-offs | Challenge Cup | Ref | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | ||||
| 2021 | Super League South: Western Conference | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 314 | 6 | 8 | 1st | Won in Grand Final | — | [16][7] |
| 2022 | Super League South | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 298 | 32 | 8 | 2nd | Won in Grand Final | — | [17][8] |
| 2023 | Super League South | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 168 | 22 | 10 | 1st | Lost in Grand Final | QF | [18][19] |
| 2024 | Southern Championship | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 246 | 66 | 10 | 1st | Lost in Southern Final | QF | [12][14] |
| 2025 | Northern Championship | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 290 | 122 | 15 | 3rd | Lost in semi-final | QF | [20] |
