BOOMBOOMBOOM
“WE’RE THE BLACK AND WHITE ARMY!”
As I stepped out of my car the sound of this being belted out from the stand less than 100 yards away let me know I was definitely where I wanted to be. Forty minutes before kick-off and ‘The Black & White Army’, Ammanford AFC’s band of noisy ‘ultras’, were already going through their repertoire. Although the back of the stand obscured much of the view, the buzzing of activity in and around the ground was an early indication that this game might just live up to the hype.
For those that follow Welsh fooball, the Welsh Cup is a special and cherished competition. It is the most inclusive national competition in Wales, open to all teams that play football in the national pyramid. It provides the opportunity for small village clubs to propel themselves onto a national stage and, if they are lucky, earn a visit from the Sgorio cameras. Once it gets going with the entry of Cymru Premier clubs in round three we do see clashes between clubs from “recreational” leagues and the more professional, ambitious clubs that play in the higher divisions; players used to slick 3G pitches having to overcome a team of chancers of a local mudbath.
Although this fourth round tie between Cymru South side Ammanford and Cymru Premier, Europa League chasing, Caernarfon Town doesn’t have that minnows v mammoths story (it’s was a tier 2 v tier 1 clash), it did bring together two clubs that have undergone enormous growth in recent times and enjoy a level of community support most clubs in Wales are envious of and hope to replicate. Certainly for Ammanford, while maybe not a culmination, the match was an important marker in their transformation over 18 months from a fairly amateurish football club in a Welsh “backwater” that only groundhoppers and a small group of locals ever visited to a club pulling off the slick and professional looking hosting of a football match in front of 1200 spectators broadcast live on national television.
The last time I visited the Ammanford Recreation Ground was 18 months ago and it a cut a very different scene then. There was no seating, just an old bus stop type stand that would probably have been condemned if anybody would have been bothered to inspect it. No floodlights, no spectator facilities inside unless you count a portable hot water caddy for serving tea and coffee in plastic cups (although the nearby rugby club acts as the clubhouse). Even getting a teamsheet or a programme involved a mad dash to a printer by one of the club’s volunteers.
Fast forward to the present day, the Rec boasts a very smart 250 seater stand, including provision for disabled spectators; the addition of floodlights has allowed the club to host Friday night games which are apparently popular with the locals; although the 150 printed programmes is a woefully short run for such a big crowd, they were there and ready for sale as well as club crest pin badges. There is still no permanent food and drink facilities on-site but Ammanford had the foresight to bring someone in to sell hot food and the rugby club still seems to function as the place for pre-match lubrication of the vocal chords.
As the ground has developed and the club has embraced a much more professional approach (partly enforced by FAW ground regulations for playing in the Cymru Leagues), improving connections with local businesses, doing much better community engagement, setting up a charitable trust in memory of Jac Lewis, a popular local figure who tragically died in February 2019. The club now offers season tickets to supporters, has given away hundreds of free tickets to local schools, improved its social media profile and, of course, there has been the emergence of The Black & White Army.
Groups of loyal and noisy supporters are rare on the Welsh football scene, so much so that anybody trying to generate some atmosphere gets noticed. The supporters in the B & W Army have certainly invigorated the matchday experience at The Rec and they are usually there with a drum and their booming voices at most of Ammanford’s away games. They have helped raised the profile of the club on mediums like Twitter, inside Cymru Leagues grounds and among the town’s community as a game at The Rec is now increasingly seen as a place to be. Attendances have reflected this as the old joke about “one man and his dog and the dog looking the other way” watching Ammanford has been smashed by some impressive home crowds in the last 18 months, including nearly 800 for this season’s Amman Valley derby with Cwmamman United and now the ground record attendance for Caernarfon’s visit.
While the story off the field is fantastic and probably worthy of a much deeper study (as with Caernarfon Town), the matter at hand was the Welsh Cup tie and place in the quarter-finals for the winners. Ammanford had pulled off the result of the third round, thrashing Cymru Premier side, and another local rival, Carmarthen Town 4-0 with the help of a Lee Trundle goal that went viral.
That result, plus the strong possibility of a large crowd, probably induced Sgorio to select the game for broadcast. Although the decision to televise the game on Friday night drew criticism from some quarters, making the trip harder for Caernarfon Town’s players and supporters, ultimately the incredible local support (plus 100 hardy members of the Cofi army) put such doubts to rest.
If it was a big success as an event, on the pitch the game didn’t really deliver what the television executives, home fans and neutrals would have hoped for. The loss of Lee Trundle to injury before the game was a massive blow for Ammanford and had he played it may have been a different game; the former Swansea City frontman certainly would have provided a bit more physical presence and quality in the final third.
Despite that loss, Ammanford started the game well and there were one or two half chances in the first twenty minutes but once Sean Eardley’s Caernarfon had navigated the initial choppy waters and taken a first-half lead through Sion Bradley’s fine finish the cupset never looked on. A sensational goal from Darren Thomas (which I somehow missed despite behind stood behind that goal) doubled the Cofis lead before half-time.
Ammanford rallied early in the second half and introduced another Swansea old boy, Andy Robinson, to try and bring some quality and composure to their play but the gulf in class between the two sides was just too great. Noah Edwards added a third 11 minutes into the second-half to kill any hopes of a comeback before Darren Thomas scored his second late in the game to complete a comfortable and resounding win for the top flight outfit.
On the Ammanford Twitter feed they commented after the game that the team may have lost the game but the town had won. If there is some comfort to be drawn from a disappointing match result it is that Ammanford certainly delivered the event on the night and the community got behind the club.
There, I believe, is the story of what Welsh football is and should be about. It’s not about millionaire players, international owners, commercialism and corporatisation; it’s about the town, village or place you come from, local identity and the community. If more clubs can get their communities behind them in this way our leagues and our clubs will get better and that matchday buzz can be felt at grounds all over our nation.
Match Notes
25.1.2020
Ammanford 0-4 Caernarfon Town
(Sion Bradley 26’, Darren Thomas 39’ 84’, Noah Edwards 56’)
JD Welsh Cup 4th Round
Recreation Ground, Ammanford
Attendance: 1203 | Entry: £5
Jordan Forster 