![\"Burnt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_EGR_011225_PenarthRFCFire1.jpg\")
Parts of Penarth RFC on Lavernock Road were completely destroyed by the fire (Image: Penarth RFC)<\/p>\n145 years of history went up in smoke after the clubhouse of Penarth RFC burned down on MondayParts of Penarth RFC on Lavernock Road were completely destroyed by the fire (Image: Penarth RFC)<\/p>\n
Nigel Owens has offered his support to a Welsh rugby team whose clubhouse was ravaged by a fire, as a fundraiser was launched to help them get back on their feet. Penarth<\/a> RFC said it was in a “state of shock” following the fire which destroyed its clubhouse on Monday.<\/p>\n Fire investigators later confirmed that the fire, which started at around 5am, was caused by an electrical fault<\/a>. Firefighters managed to prevent the fire spreading to the club’s historic stand but the clubhouse, which is also home to Penarth Cricket and Penarth Hockey, has been left in ruins.<\/a><\/p>\n A fundraiser launched to support the club said the community is “heartbroken” about what happened.<\/p>\n “Penarth Athletic Club has always been so much more than the place where we play rugby, cricket and hockey \u2014 it\u2019s the heart of our community, a home for generations, and a shared space filled with stories, pride and belonging,” it reads.<\/p>\n “A devastating fire has taken our clubhouse and with it, years of irreplaceable memorabilia: shirts, trophies, honours boards, photographs and memories that told the story of who we are and what this club means to Penarth.” You can access the fundraiser here<\/a><\/p>\n In just over 24 hours since the blaze, more than \u00a36,500 has been raised. For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n Referee Nigel Owens has joined the dozens of figures in Welsh rugby who have sent messages of support to the team.<\/p>\n Posting on X, he said: “Very sad to read this. Best wishes to you all there and am sure you will get through this together. If you ever decide to have a match to raise funds for the rebuild please let me know and will be a pleasure to come and referee it.”<\/p>\n The club’s chairman Sean O’Sullivan said on Monday that the club has been overwhelmed with messages of support, even from teams they thought “didn’t like us”. “We’re obviously devastated but we will be back – bigger and better.<\/p>\n “What has been lovely is the entire rugby community coming together. The messages and outpouring from other teams has been incredible – our phones haven’t stopped going off.”<\/p>\n Treasured trophies and memorabilia were lost in the blaze, including a Springbok head which was presented to Penarth RFC by the Barbarians in the 1960s.<\/p>\n Former player and president of Penarth Athletic Club Mike Gooding told BBC<\/a> Radio Wales there was “absolutely nothing left of the club at all.” For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a> here<\/p>\n “There was nothing there. You walk in and it’s just dust. There’s no bar, there’s no chairs, there’s no roof.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"145 years of history went up in smoke after the clubhouse of Penarth RFC burned down on MondayParts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[2686,119245,65379,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-295159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-fires","9":"tag-local-sport","10":"tag-penarth","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_EGR_011225_PenarthRFCFireJPG.jpg\")
The fire started at around 5am on Monday, December 1(Image: Unknown)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_w.jpg\")
Penarth RFC said ‘so many memories’ had been lost in the fire(Image: John Myers)<\/p>\n