EBBW Vale Rugby Club has prospered over much of the past 123 years thanks to the town's growth around the local steelworks.

So it will not only be tragic but the saddest of ironies if the club is forced to close down in the same year as the steelworks.

Their nickname, The Steelmen, is based on this closeness between club and industry so it is perhaps not surprising in one respect that the troubles of one have been mirrored in the troubles of the other.

Ebbw Vale are one of the oldest clubs in Wales, founded in 1879 at the Bridgend Inn just outside the current ground, though rugby was first played in the area around 1870. It was not always a great success in the early years, and from 1907-1912, Ebbw Vale formed a Rugby League side which played in the then Northern Union.

Other Welsh clubs did likewise at that time and two Ebbw Vale players, W.E. (Chick) Jenkins and Oliver Burgham, played in the first ever RL international.

Amazingly it was between Wales and New Zealand in front of 17,000 at Aberdare and Wales won narrowly.

But it was not until after the Second World War and the prosperity boom that Ebbw Vale hit the heights.

They became unofficial Welsh champions for the first time in 1951-52 and went on to win it twice more in that decade.

Apart from a spell in Welsh League Division Two in the 1990s, Vale have always been among the top sides in Wales and a glance at their international honours reveal the late 1990s to be a golden period.

Their first player capped by Wales was Graham Powell in 1957 and others capped since bring the total to 17 in all.

The others are David Nash (1960-62), Graham Jones (1963), Denzil Williams (1963-71), Arthur Lewis (1970-73), Clive Burgess (1977-82), Paul Ringer (1978- 80, also played for Llanelli), Mark Jones (1987-98 , also with Neath), Ian Watkins (1988-89), Kingsley Jones (1996-98), Byron Hayward (1998), John Funnell (1998), David Llewellyn (1998-99), Nathan Budgett (2000-2002), Deiniol Jones (2000), Richard Smith (2000), Iestyn Thomas (2000-2002).

Nash, to South Africa in 1962; Williams, to Australia/New Zealand in 1966; and Lewis, to Australia/New Zealand in 1971, were all British Lions while Williams, with 36 caps, remains the club's leading international.

In addition to their League titles, Vale were Principality Cup finalists in 1998, when beaten 19-12 by Llanelli, and have been European Shield quarter--finalists twice. They lost at home 21-10 to London Irish in 1999-2000 season and then went down 46-11 to Gloucester last season.

There have also been disasters such as the enforced closure of their then stand after the Bradford City disaster in the 1980s and the clubhouse burning down. But the biggest disaster could unfold tonight unless the WRU find a solution.