It is our sad duty to report that Cardiff Dragons have announced that the club will be discontinued after the 2014/15 season. Korfball Wales commends the efforts of everyone who has been involved at the club over the years, and we hope that someday the Dragons will emerge again. We would like to take this opportunity to look back at the ten year history of Cardiff Dragons Korfball Club.
Cardiff Dragons was formed in 2005, as an off-shoot of Cardiff City, with Josh Cockburn as Chair and Remco Broekhuis as Coach. In their first two seasons they competed alongside clubs from Wales and the South West of England. In two seasons, their first team won the first division twice and their second team won the second division twice, such was the dominance of Cardiff Dragons.
Following on from these successful years, the Welsh Korfball League was established and Dragons joined the other Welsh clubs in battling for the title of Wales. In eight years they finished runners-up four times but never clinched the title. In the 2011/12 season they finished level on points at the top of the league but lost out on goal difference.
Cardiff Dragons has been home to many players that have gone on to represent the national team, to name but a few: Chris Gubby, Lee O’Sullivan, Sian Taylor, Helen Gubby, Angharad Morgan, James Wilcox, Tom Robinson, and Catherine Davies.
The club has also had a fair share of talented coaches over the years. Terry Matthews was one such person who invested tremendous amounts of time into the sport as a volunteer; he was a member of the Welsh Korfball Association executive committee, one of Wales’ top referees, and coached both Wales and the British Student Squad.
Arguably Cardiff Dragons’ greatest legend is Remco Broekhuis who represented the club for seven years. He gave his time as a coach and was also regularly a top scoring player for the club.
There have been countless volunteers over the years who gave their time on the committee, as coaches, as referees, and most importantly as players who can all be proud of what they contributed, and of what they achieved. It is with sadness that the club is leaving the korfball scene for now but we hope that the future is not without Dragons in Wales.
We hope that those people who currently call Cardiff Dragons home find a welcome place with other clubs and continue to enjoy the sport.
Link to announcement: Cardiff Dragons
