The Park
Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent, Wales
The Park, Abertillery, Wales — opened 1898, 3 rugby league games hosted, home of Wales national rugby league team (1949-1951 only) / Abertillery Blaenau Gwent RFC (rugby union, ongoing).
Ground facts
| Opened | 1898 (Established as common land acquired by the local council from the Hanbury Estate on 31 January 1898; developed over the early 20th century with a cycle track (1904), grandstand (by 1908), bowling green (1911) and tennis courts (1922). Now known as Abertillery Park, home of Abertillery Blaenau Gwent RFC; a widely cited capacity of 15,250 appears to be a historic/nominal terracing figure rather than a current usable capacity and should be treated cautiously.) |
| Home club | Wales national rugby league team (1949-1951 only) / Abertillery Blaenau Gwent RFC (rugby union, ongoing) |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 3 |
| Top recorded crowd | 8,000 (8,000 for Wales's 4-22 home defeat to England on 14 October 1950 -- independently confirmed via Wikipedia's Wales national rugby league team results.) |
| Capacity | 15,250 (historic terracing figure; treat with caution) |
| Years used | 1949–1951 |
| Location | Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent |
Name history
- The Park / Abertillery Recreation Ground — 1898-present (now commonly Abertillery Park)
Rugby league history
Despite an extremely generic name shared by countless grounds worldwide, all three matches recorded at Abertillery's "The Park" check out as genuinely consistent with this specific Welsh valleys ground -- independently cross-checked against Wikipedia's Wales national rugby league team results, which names "The Park, Abertillery" explicitly for all three fixtures. The ground hosted Wales's home European Championship internationals across a short-lived post-war revival: a 5-6 loss to Other Nationalities (1949, 2,000), a 4-22 loss to England (1950, 8,000) and an 11-22 loss to Other Nationalities again (1951, 3,386). This sits within a brief, RFL-backed Welsh league that ran 1949-1955 with founder clubs including Neath, Cardiff, Llanelli and Blaina -- Blaina sits immediately adjacent to Abertillery in the same valley, likely explaining the choice of venue. The league folded by 1955 amid the Welsh Rugby Union's dominant, strictly amateur culture, and no rugby league presence has endured at the ground since; none of the local rugby-union-focused histories of Abertillery Park even mention this chapter of its past.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
← Rugby League · Champions list · All-time records · Grand Final results · World Cup · All competitions · Teams · Players