David Dow. Published by St David’s Press, Cardiff. PB. 2023. xv + 560pp. 170 x 245mm. Illustrated with b&w halftone photos and old adverts. ISBN 9781904609087. Handling marks to front and rear covers. Front top and lower corners bumped and bent, otherwise the contents are good-very good and clean.  A reading copy.

 Ex Cox brothers’ library.

A founder member of the Welsh Rugby Union, Swansea RFC is one of Wales’ oldest and most illustrious rugby clubs. It was the first to beat the ‘big three’ touring teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, and enjoyed multiple Welsh Cup and Merit Table successes, over its first 150 years. Formed in 1872 as an association football team before converting to rugby football in 1874, White Gold tells the fascinating story of the club's first 15 years, when a group of Swansea cricketers established a football club for winter recreation, found a home at St. Helen’s and how they created an open, running playing style that quickly became known and revered around the rugby world. Lavishly illustrated with many previously unpublished photographs, White Gold has been meticulously researched by club historian David Dow and is the most comprehensive study of the early days of rugby in Swansea ever published. White Gold also vividly describes rugby politics both inside and outside of Wales, the social attitudes of the day and how they influenced Welsh rugby and society. David Dow’s comprehensive and definitive study also contains extensive appendices covering all the players, the club’s first internationals, complete fixture lists, club captains and point-scorers of the period.

David Dow is the Archivist at Swansea RFC. A former Official Photographer to Ospreys rugby, he spearheaded the creation of a digital archive at Swansea RFC, in partnership with Swansea University, to protect & promote the unique cricket and rugby collection at St Helen's.