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Falcons
Full name	Falcons / Valke
Union	Falcons Rugby Union
Emblem(s)	Falcon
Founded	1947
Region	Eastern Gauteng
Ground(s)	Barnard Stadium, Kempton Park (Capacity: 7,000)
CEO	Ettienne de Lange
President	Jan Wiegand
Coach(es)	JP Immelman
Captain(s)	Dwayne Pienaar
League(s)	Currie Cup First Division
2022	Finals: DNQ ; 5th on log
	Team kit
	Team kit
Official website
	www.valke.co.za
	Current season

The Falcons – better known by their Afrikaans name the Valke and now known as the Hino Valke for sponsorship reasons – are a South African rugby union team in Gauteng province that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament.

Their home ground is Barnard Stadium in Kempton Park, to which they have returned in 2009.^[1]^[2] The Falcons have operated from Bosman Stadium in Brakpan and Pam Brink Stadium in Springs. They occasionally still host matches at Bosman Stadium. The Falcons draw players from Ekurhuleni and other municipalities to the east and south of Johannesburg.

History

The Falcons Rugby Union was founded in 1947 as the Eastern Transvaal Rugby Football Union. After the 1995 World Cup, rugby was declared a professional sport in South Africa, after which the Eastern Transvaal Rugby Football Union merged with the Vaal Triangle Rugby Union to form the Gauteng Falcons Rugby Union. It is one of only fourteen Provincial Unions in the country.

Honours

In 2006 the Falcons were the Vodacom Cup champions,^[3] the first cup won in the history of the union.

Currie cup runner-up: 1972
Currie Cup First Division runner-up: 2005, 2014, 2018, 2023
Vodacom cup champions: 2006
Mzansi Challenge champions: 2023^[4]

Falcons Professional Rugby

Falcons Rugby (Pty) Ltd is the arm responsible for the Falcons Brand and the operation of the Professional Rugby Team, which competes in two high-profile competitions in South African Rugby:

Amateur Union

The Community Rugby arm, known historically as the Amateur Union, maintains the structure and development of the amateur Rugby set-up for the region, and includes:

18 Clubs (approximately 2,000 players)
54 High Schools
101 Primary Schools
80 registered referees
and the structured development and transformation of Rugby in the region.

Current squad

The following players were included in the Falcons squad for the 2024 SA Cup First Division:^[5]

Falcons SA Cup squad
Props Njabulo Gumede Ethan Jeffery Thabo Ntunja Hugo Pienaar Bulelani Sali Bheki Shongwe Hookers Komape Moloto Raynardt Nel Darnell Osuagwu Pierre Rabie Locks Reuben du Plooy Eddie Evans Stairs Mhlongo Jordan van Dyk Boela Venter Andrew Volschenk	Loose forwards Cody Basson Khwezi Mafu Spiec Magawu Dwayne Pienaar (c) Zander van der Merwe Scrum-halves Chris Booysen Luciano Elias Johan Pretorius Fly-halves Keagan Fortune Ruben Liebenberg Iusanda Xakwana	Centres Jimmy Mpailane Franco Pienaar Lundi Ralarala Sherwin Slater Wingers Chadrack Tshimanga Godfrey Ramaboea Ruan Wasserman Valentino Wellman Fullbacks Joshua Vermeulen
(c) Denotes team captain.

References

^ "Falcons migrate again". Rugby365.com. 14 September 2008. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011.
^ "We can upset the Sharks". www.iol.co.za. 18 September 2008.
^ "Falcons soar over Wildebeest". iafrica.com. 21 May 2006. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
^ Adams, Mariette (17 June 2023). "Good Fortune guides Valke to Mzansi glory". The South African. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
^ "Valke squad". SA Rugby. Retrieved 30 March 2022.