I ‘completed’ the Welsh League last season at Kimberley Park in the shadow of the M4 on a balmy evening last May. Watching Albion Rovers beat Ynysygerwn 1-0 to retain their Welsh Football League status for another campaign meant I had watched a game at every Welsh League ground up to the end of the 2018/19 season.
An 18-month crusade along the full length of the M4 in Wales, along countless valleys A and B roads, hundreds of cups of coffee, too many windswept drenchings to remember but plenty of good memories and a lot of good – and bad – football consumed at nearly 50 grounds.
However, with annual promotions and relegations that ‘completed it’ status didn’t last long and the return of Abertillery Bluebirds and arrival of Ynyshir Albions from the Gwent County League and South Wales Alliance League respectively meant there were two grounds still to visit to regain that badge.
Of course, fixture scheduling this season has Abertillery and Ynyshir at home on the same weekend but also these games always falling on the same weekend as many commitments with Pontypridd FC. Ordinarily that wouldn’t be a big concern in Welsh football because there are always postponements and you can visit lots of grounds for midweek games in the spring. Abertillery Bluebirds play on 3G though, so I was running out of games as far as they were concerned.
Fortunately, the weather intervened in my favour as RCT council called off all football on grass pitches in the County Borough, postponing Pontypridd’s visit to Hopkinstown, I was free to head east over the valleys to the Ebbw Fach.
Unsurprisingly, Abertillery is a town steeped in south Wales’ industrial past with half a dozen deep coal mines around it’s vicinity as well as various other works. At it’s height the town’s population numbered some 40,000, although it is around half that nowadays. This part of the valleys is renowned for it’s narrow gorge-like landscape, with the towns and communities piled up the steep hillsides.
Abertillery Bluebirds are one of two clubs in the town (Abertillery Excelsiors being the other), formed in 1989 the club has mostly played at Gwent County level apart from a five-year stint in the Welsh League between 2009 and 2014. They returned to this level for this campaign having won the Gwent County League title last season. Their home ground is currently at Abertillery Sports Centre where they use the 3G football facility. The club’s spiritual home is at the Cwmnantygroes Six Bells, where the Bluebirds are returning next season as part of their bid to meet the incoming FAW tier ground criteria (which the Sports Centre ground won’t adhere to).
Should Abertillery Bluebirds be successful in their application to play in the new FAW tier 3 leagues, Cwmnantygroes will be a welcome ground on the circuit for groundhoppers because it is as picturesque a setting as you will probably find in this part of Wales.
The Bluebirds are making a good fist of their return to the Welsh League in it’s final season. Lee Thomas’ side sit in the upper reaches of Division Two with the possibility of finishing near the top of the division. However, it is very tight in the top 7 and with such a discrepancy in games played among the sides, it is difficult to predict exactly who are the front-runners. Visitors Treowen Stars are scrapping away in the lower reaches of the table.
League position is even more important for clubs at this level this season. The new FAW tier 3 leagues will condense the existing eight divisions at tiers 3 and 4 across Wales into four regionalised tier 3 divisions – SE/SW/NE/NW. There will be 64 places available in the new tier 3, but 93 clubs have applied. My understanding is criteria + sporting merit will determine which sides are included, with priority given to clubs already playing at tier 3. Fifty-four current tier 3 clubs have applied and if all are successful in achieving the criteria that will mean just 10 places for applications from tiers 4 & 5 (39 have applied). There are going to be a lot of disappointed clubs at the end of this season; some that may forced back into “recreational” leagues despite achieving a relatively high position in their respective league.
We all await the outcome of the Tier 3 Certification applications in April with some enthusiasm.
In this game Abertillery did their bid to stay in the mix with the frontrunners no harm. Luke Lewis completed his hat-trick inside the opening 20 minutes, including a fine header for his third, and Treowen never really looked like they would mount a comeback.
There was a lot of effort on both sides but the game felt largely like a procession to the final whistle until a flurry of activity in the final quarter after Tommy James had been sent off for Treowen. Daniel Suter scored an excellent goal for the visitors that had a few home eyebrows raised but Bluebirds substitute Thomas Beynon put paid to any thought of a grand finale within a minute when he restored the three-goal cushion from close range.
Charlie Davies then scored a potentially offside goal to make it five before Chris Jones at least earned the consolation of the scoring the goal of the game: a beautifully curled free kick from outside the box.
Match notes
22.02.2020
Abertillery Bluebirds 5-2 Treowen Stars
(Luke Lewis 10′ 15′ 20′, Thomas Beynon 69′, Charlie Davies 72′; Daniel Suter 68′, Chris Jones 86′)
Welsh Football League Division Two
Abertillery Sports Centre, Abertillery
Attendance: c. 70 | Entry: £3 (free programme on admission)
Jordan Forster 