Tag: Bridgend & District League

Who is pushing for promotion in the district leagues? (South Wales FA)

Parks football, recreation football; whatever you want to call it, football in the lower echelons of the Welsh football pyramid is just as enjoyable as the upper tiers. There obviously isn’t the same quality in both the standard of play and facilities but it is still 11 v 11 with 3 points up for grabs. While the football at this level has largely a social function, there are some ambitious clubs trying to find their way into the more organised standard in the regional South Wales Alliance and Gwent Premier Leagues.

So here’s a round-up of all the current state of play in the district leagues across the South Wales FA, where the champions of each league are vying for promotion into the South Wales Alliance League. A similar Gwent County FA round-up will follow.

South Wales FA

Aberdare Valley
Abercynon and Cwmaman 2nds are locked on 26 points at the top of the Premier Division with a number of clubs having games in hand, including Penywaun. Last season’s champions Abercwmboi are languishing in mid-table and although they have games in hand, it would take an incredible run for them to retain their title. A three-point deduction hasn’t helped their title defence either.

Last season Abercwmboi did not apply for the South Wales FA champions play-offs but Abercynon and Penywaun did. You would expect the latter two to have the same ambition again this season.

Napiers Arms lead the way in Division One, although second-place Butchers Arms have the advantage of games in hand. The division has been reduced to nine teams after Gwawr FC withdrew from the league.

Bridgend & District
Bettws hold a seven-point lead over Wyndham BGC and both sides have four games left to play. So two wins for ex-Welsh League Bettws will guarantee the title after they missed out to an irrepressible Maesteg Park last season. They will almost certainly apply for the end of season play-offs.

An improved Llanharry side lead the way in division one, seven points clear of Pencoed Athletic with a game in hand, and look certain for a return to the top flight. Tondu Robins and Welfare Park (5th and 6th respectively) are best positioned to join Llanharry if a second promotion place is available.

Llanharan are top of division two, which is effectively a reserve team league. Unbeaten in 12 league matches, they are 4 points clear at the top with three games in hand. Their place in division one next season is inevitable.

Cardiff Combination
Champions Fairwater are top and unbeaten in the premier division, although they are being pushed hard by Avenue Hotspur. Fairwater missed out on promotion in the play-offs last season, while Avenue, I believe, also harbour ambitions to reach the South Wales Alliance League.

Homeguard are having another successful season after they romped to the division two title last season. They are unbeaten in division one, along with Thornhill, having scored an impressive 70 goals in 9 matches. Hard to find any reason why both sides won’t be in the premier next season.

Cardiff Jets have won all 11 of their division two matches so promotion should be a formality. The title remains theirs to lose because they have a 7 point lead over Cardiff Hibernian with a game in hand. Roath Park Rangers have games in hand and could push the re-formed Hibs side for any additional promotion spot.

Cardiff & District
There is an intriguing battle at the top of the premier division. Cardiff Bay hold a narrow advantage over Star FC with Pentwyn Dynamo and Tongwynlais just below with plenty of games in hand. Several sides may be seeking promotion to the next level and the battle for a place in the play-offs could go to the wire.

Cardiff Draconians 2nds are the division one leaders but in a league comprised mostly of reserve sides, it will be two of Space Jam Galaxy, Creigiau and Cardiff Villa to join the premier division next season. Space Jam have the points on the board at the moment, but there are plenty of games in hand for the other sides.

It is a three-horse race in division two between Splott Albion, Canton Libs 2nds and Llanedeyrn Wanderers. Cardiff Cosmos Athletic could make a push with a good run from their fixture backlog, but it would have to be an almost flawless run-in now.

In the lowest tier in the South Wales FA pyramid, Splott Cons are romping away in division two with a 100% record after 9 matches. Llanrumney Athletic are similarly placed with four games in hand on the leaders.

Merthyr & District
The Merthyr League is running with just one 7-team division this year after the loss of champions Navi Treharris this season and Hills Plymouth at the end of last season. Merthyr Town were also fielding a reserve team in this division at the start of the campaign but that side seems to have withdrawn also.

Aber Wanderers, Pantyscallog Village Juniors and Quar Park Rangers are all on 16 points at the top, although last season’s unlucky runners-up QPR have played a game more. Bali Glass are already in the mix. It is unclear whether any club will seek promotion this season. QPR did last year and share a ground with SWAL club Merthyr Saints.

Port Talbot & District
Gwynfi United lead the single division league, unbeaten after 13 games and 5 points clear of closest rivals Glyncorrwg. Last season the Port Talbot League split into two conferences after every side had played each other once. That looks set to happen, if it hasn’t already, soon. Last season’s runners-up FC Porthcawl are currently on the border of the split.

Rhondda & District
Trehebert BGC are well in control of the Premier Division, holding a 10-point lead over Cwm Rhondda having played two games more. These sides had been neck and neck for much of the first part of the season but unbeaten Treherbert now have the edge, including a 5-3 over Cwm Rhondda in December.

Last season’s champions Penygraig United have had a difficult campaign and currently sit 6th in the 8-team division, so their hold on the trophy will end this season.

Their village rivals, Penygraig BGC, have shrugged off last season’s relegation and are well clear in division one, 13 points ahead of last season’s double cup winners Tonypandy Albion. Albion do have four games in hand so could close that gap and the second meeting between the sides could be crucial. Although both sides are almost certain to go up based on form and results this season. 3rd place Ferndale BGC have lost 4 matches, while Tonypandy have lost once.

Taff Ely & Rhymney Valley
The folding of champions Ynysybwl Athletic at the start of the season meant the most open TERV Premier title race as Nelson Cavaliers, Talbot Green, Rhydyfelin, Church Village and Cwrt Rawlin all looked capable of challenging. Unbeaten Nelson (champions in 2017/18) are the favourites but they have a league fixture backlog developing alongside continued participation in league and regional cups. Their recent league and cup wins over Cwrt Rawlin certainly consolidated their position as the team to beat but should they falter Talbot Green and Rhydyfelin look the sides most likely to profit. Nelson and Rhydyfelin have both expressed ambition to seek promotion to the SWAL in the past.

In Division One it looks like a straight shoot-out between Cefn Hengoed and Aber Valley 2nds for the title. Cefn Hengoed are unbeaten but a 3-point deduction means Aber Valley are in the hunt. Aber’s side cannot be promoted so that leaves the door to promotion open to other senior sides in the league should be they finish in the top two. It looks like it’s between Pontypridd and Fochriw Village to claim the second promotion place.

Vale of Glamorgan
The VOG league re-structured this season into two larger divisions and it’s a very competitive premier division this season. Notably, champions Barry Athletic are languishing in 6th place, although they do have games in hand. AFC Rhoose lead the way presently, although there are a number of sides on their tail such as Holton Road and Island Marine. This could be the most interesting of the district league title races and still plenty of football to play.

AFC Rhoose also top division one, their B side unbeaten in 12 matches and 7 points clear of Barry Vikings. Two will go up, which won’t include Rhoose B, and at the moment it Barry Vikings and Cadoxton Barry are the among best positioned for promotion at the end of the season.

PORTFOLIO: The re-birth of Maesteg Park

This article of mine was originally published at ygemfootball.com (now defunct) in November 2018.

*

One of the sad features of Welsh football has been the demise in the past decade of several clubs with long and illustrious histories in the domestic game. We’ve even seen clubs such as Barry Town, Llanelli AFC, Cwmbran Town and even some of the northern powerhouses humbled by various problems.

In some cases, struggling clubs are forced to drop down into lower leagues, and some further still into ‘recreational’ football, while others bottom out completely. Some never return, but others are reborn as phoenix clubs. In the past decade we have seen the aforementioned Barry and Llanelli clubs fold and reborn as new clubs, completing fairy tale turnarounds in consecutive seasons by re-taking their place among Welsh football’s elite in the Welsh Premier League.

The story for another famous club whose innings came to a sad end at the end of the last decade hasn’t been quite as spectacular.

Maesteg Park Athletic resigned from the Welsh Football League and dissolved at the end of the 2009/10 season. The club, founded in 1945, were a mainstay in the upper echelons of Welsh football since the early 1960s: founding members of the League of Wales, Welsh League runners-up in 2001, twice Welsh Cup semi-finalists. The Park had been a prospering Welsh League Division One side as late as 2007, but having survived one extinction threat in 2008, finally succumbed in 2010.

The reasons were manifold. The club had been held together for years by former FAW President David Griffiths and his family and when they could no longer commit to running the club, no new committee was forthcoming. The cost of running the Welsh League club proved onerous, as well as issues to do with a lack of infrastructure.

Although the original club went under, playing their final game in May 2010 against Porthcawl Town, the shoots of a new club – Maesteg Park FC – emerged that summer out of the former club’s junior section. Maesteg Park was fronted by current chairman and first team manager Andrew Jones, who told us how it came about.

“[Maesteg Park Athletic] mini and junior chairman Lee Flay asked me to help him set up a new senior team as they were flourishing and he wanted the young players to have the opportunity of playing senior football for their local club.”

“I had previously been chairman, secretary and first team manager of Gwynfi United and had played alongside Lee so after a bit of persuasion I decided to help out.”

“We met with David Griffiths, who was the long term secretary of the old club…[and he] helped us out with kit and training equipment and was pleased to see us trying to resurrect the club.”

Maesteg Park started out in the Bridgend & District League, where they remain and have gradually developed over the past eight years. Last season the club finished second in the Premier Division, behind Llangeinor (another former Welsh League club) but did manage to lift the Celtic Tyres Cup and Nathaniel Cars Open Cup.

The club have started this season well and are again in a title battle with another ex-Welsh League club in Bettws. Maesteg Park and Bettws are presently separated by one point and are well clear of the chasing pack. Their first meeting this season in the league ended in a 3-3 draw, suggesting it will be a very close run contest for the title.

The club’s ambitions are “to go as far as we can”, according to Andrew Jones.

“We have again applied for promotion to the South Wales Alliance League,” Jones continued, “and we know that the facilities we have are good enough but it’s just the difficult job of winning the league and potential play-off games which stand in our way… the title is in our hands although we recognise there is a long way to go.”

The success of Maesteg Park has been built on the junior section where it all began eight years. Jones says the development sections have been “hugely beneficial” to the club, providing nearly 30% of the players that have gone to represent the club at senior level.

The work done in these groups has been reflected in success at both reserve and youth levels. The reserve team were league and cup double winners in 2014, while the under 18 side had had success South Wales Youth League, winning the West Division in 2016/17.

Jones credited youth coaches Andrew Watts and Gavin Mizen and pointed out one of Maesteg Park’s youth system success stories, Keane Watts.

“[Keane was] the captain of the 2016/2017 [youth] team. [Keane has] gone on to win his Welsh Schoolboys cap [as well as] a Boys Club of Wales cap. He made the step up to senior football with ease and after two seasons he has been signed by Port Talbot Town in the Welsh League.”

As well as building on what was already in place from the former Maesteg club, Jones says Maesteg Park have continued to nourish their grassroots with junior teams running between under 8s and under 11, as well as under 14s and 15s.

Like many clubs, Maesteg Park is run by a small group of dedicated and hard-working volunteers but whereas the former club seemed unable to call upon local support once David Griffiths and his family stepped aside, Jones says there are better ties now with the community.

“We have had tremendous support from the local community who have helped us with sponsorship and also with remedial works in and around the ground and clubhouse.”

“We have renovated the kitchen with the help of CJ Construction and also created a sports room for the players and supporters on match days. We have made huge improvements on the pitch and surrounding areas including hand spreading 25 tons of topsoil, clearing the drains and culvert which was affecting the drainage, painting the barriers, dug outs, stand and entrance gates.”

Whether Maesteg Park FC ever reaches the same levels as the club it has succeeded is impossible to predict. Even if it doesn’t, the determination of those involved to keep the town’s football heritage alive is in-itself a tribute and a success.