Tag: Nelson Cavaliers

Nelson Cavaliers raising their standard at The Wern

With a free Saturday last weekend there was the opportunity to visit my 100th football ground and/or complete the Welsh League again. The short trip to Ynyshir Albions would have meant hitting two birds with one stone, but their home game with Treowen Stars didn’t really appeal to me with lots of other football on. Besides, I reasoned prior to Coronovirus outbreak, there will be plenty of opportunities to finally visit the Ynyshir Oval before the end of the season when the midweek fixtures in the spring begin to kick-in.

There was the FAW Trophy semi-final on offer but having been to Cardiff Met’s ground several times already this season I didn’t fancy a re-visit this time around. There were South Wales FA Senior Cup ties still to be resolved, two in particular stood out: Cwm Rhondda v Porthcawl Town Athletic and Nelson Cavaliers v Island Marine.

Both ties had their appeal and as it turned out Cwm Rhondda (of the Rhondda & District League) pulled off a big shock by beating cup favourites Porthcawl. However, on the morning it was the chance of a slugfest between two sides playing at district level and going well in their respective leagues that swung me. I wasn’t disappointed.

The current Nelson Cavaliers trace their origins back to the 1980s. The original Nelson Cavaliers club were formed in the early 1970s but folded after a short lifespan. The history of football played in the village goes back to the early days of organised football in the south of Wales, a Nelson [Unionists] club playing in the South Wales League in several campaigns between 1896 and 1910. The Welsh League table in the 1919/20 season includes a Nelson club but they appear to have either folded or not participated at that level beyond that campaign. Nelson Welfare club joined the Welsh League in 1946 and played thirteen seasons before dropping out in 1959.

Back to the modern club, they took on the name Nelson Cavaliers in the 1990s as a tribute to the 1970s club (also around the time they moved to the current home at Wern Field on the eastern edge of the village) and were founding members of the former South Wales Senior League in 1994 where they played for 18 seasons. Since relegation in 2012 the club have been re-building with the ambition to return to regional football in the South Wales Alliance League.

One of the features of the Wern Field, this makeshift terracing. Great to see this sort of thing at grassroots grounds.

This was my second visit to the Wern Field but my first opportunity to have an extended chat with club secretary and legend Rod Powell, who has been involved at Nelson since 1983; first as a player, then as first-team manager before handing the responsibility to his son Aaron in 2017. It is always a privilege speaking to long-standing custodians of grassroots club football with plenty of anecdotes to share and an enthusiasm for the sport that is as genuine as you will find.

Anyone familiar with Nelson’s club website and social media channels will know they are one of the more modern-thinking clubs in district football, operating as professionally as possible with a very informative website packed with archive information and relevant, positive content through their Twitter page. Information is so important for building a club’s narrative and heritage, it is an opportunity missed when clubs make so little effort to inform any potential audience.

It isn’t surprising then that the club maintain a folder of old newspaper clippings featuring the club’s achievements down the years, including some valuable records of local football. My thanks to Rod for sharing it with me and it is genuinely worth a visit alone, as well as the fact Nelson produce a programme for every home fixture despite no league requirement to do so. I’d venture that is probably unique at this level of football and a credit to the club as even some Welsh League clubs barely make an effort.

Nelson are pushing again this season for the Taff Ely & Rhymney Valley League title (they were champions two years) and their opponents Island Marine are also going well in the Vale of Glamorgan Premier Division. Both sides have eliminated South Wales Alliance League teams in this competition this season so there was the potential for a good couple of hours of knockout football.

The game didn’t disappoint, ebbing and flowing as you might expect between two evenly matched sides. Nelson had the better of the first quarter of the match, Liam Dellanna had already been denied by a brilliant point-blank save before he won the penalty that allowed Dan Falconer to break the deadlock for Nelson. The goal sparked the Barry side into life though and they were the stronger outfit as the game headed towards half-time. Adam Bowsher’s poached finish to level the scores was no more than they deserved at the break.

After an early second half chance was squandered by Marine’s Joe Mellars, Ryan Donovan restored Nelson’s lead from Dellanna’s cross and for a long time this looked like it would be enough for the homesters but a scrambled equaliser from Sam Adamson set-up and end to end finale. Both sides had chances but Nelson took theirs. Cameron Szpadt edged them ahead with a close range strike from a corner before Liam Dellanna capped his impressive display with Nelson’s fourth goal in added time to seal their win and keep alive their hopes of a quadruple this season.

Match notes
7.3.2020
Nelson Cavaliers 4-2 Island Marine
(Dan Falconer 22′ pen, Ryan Donovan 50′, Cameron Szpadt 86′, Liam Dellanna 90+2′; Adam Bowsher 31′, Sam Adamson 73′)
South Wales FA Senior Cup round of 16
Wern Field, Nelson
Attendance: c. 45 | Entry: Free (programmes £2)

A farm, a pub and a football club…Cwrt Rawlin

Groundhopping is such an eccentric hobby you could probably write a lengthy piece on all it’s different variations. I’ve seen websites dedicated to groundhopping which include an enormous list of rules for what constitutes a valid match (I’ve even heard of groundhoppers that don’t count 0-0s!). I also know people who will watch any football match anywhere. There are some that count visits to a ground, whether there is a football match going on or not. Each to his own.

I have, I believe, a fairly laid back attitude. As long as it’s a full 11-a-side contest between two teams consisting of players eligible for senior football playing in or affiliated with a football association or league, that’s all I need.

In Wales you are restricting yourself to missing out on some superb places to watch football if you get into qualifications about stands, barriers, merchandise etc. Some of the most memorable places I have seen a game have been in public parks where a football pitch is marked out with two goals at either end.

Which brings me to my latest new ground – or so I’d hoped…

Owain Glyndwr Playing Field is a public recreational space in Caerphilly with a railed pitch. What makes it remarkable is that if you take certain positions around the pitch you can watch the beautiful game with Caerphilly’s enormous Norman castle as your backdrop because it is on the other side of the road. For someone who does like to photograph football matches the draw is the opportunity to capture some dramatic shots.

So when I had a free Saturday and saw that Cwrt Rawlin – the senior side based there – had a home match, I thought the long wait to ‘bag’ this ground was over. Except…

…the game had been moved to the 3G pitch at nearby school. As disappointed as I was when I found this out, it proved tremendous foresight by the club officials because the Owain Glyndwr pitch was waterlogged. Off I went anyway.

Cwrt Rawlin are possibly the oldest current club that is based in Caerphilly town. There are clubs in the Caerphilly area like Aber Valley and Trethomas Bluebirds that go back further but I think locals from both communities might challenge any definition of them as “Caerphilly”. The town’s highest ranked club, Caerphilly Athletic, began life as Dynamo Aber in the mid-2000s.

That Cwrt Rawlin’s origins only go back to 2001 says much about the history of football in Caerphilly. There have been plenty of clubs from the town (the 13th largest in Wales by population) to have come and gone and even though Caerphilly had a side in the Southern League for two seasons either side of the First World War, it’s not been a place renowned for producing successful football clubs. As far as I am aware, there has not been a Caerphilly town-based club in the Welsh League since 1938 (Caerphilly Town). Senghenydd Town and the original Aber Valley club represented “the area” between them in the post-Second War War era until 1968. Outside local or “parks” football, Caerphilly has been largely a football non-entity since then.

Like Pontypridd, where local senior football barely registers in the sporting culture, rugby union is king in the town; still, I’ve always felt Caerphilly is a town that really needs a football club on the map. I grew up playing on the fields at Virginia Park. It is where the rugby club is based but there is absolutely no logical reason why a football ground fit for a good standard of football isn’t possible too.

On arrival at the game I spoke to Cwrt Rawlin chairman and founder Anthony Williams and he took me through the club’s heritage. Set-up originally as an under 6 team for his son, Cwrt have built a club over 20 years that now provides football for more than 270 players from under 6s right through to senior level. The pathway from there includes a youth team playing in the Cardiff & District League and the senior side that currently plays in the Taff Ely & Rhymney Valley Football League (TERVL).

The senior side was set-up around 2010 in conjunction with the local pub, the Cwrt Rawlin, to provide a route from youth to senior football for the emerging players at the club. The club’s name doesn’t come from the pub though, but the name of the farm that was owned by Anthony’s wife’s family and once comprised the area that is now the Castle View estate. Anthony was rightly proud of that legacy, with a strong contingent of the current senior squad having come right through the club’s junior system.

Now the senior side is established, there are ambitions to try and reach the next level in the South Wales Alliance League. With a chance at winning the league this season the process for applying for the end of season South Wales FA champions play-offs is underway. Cwrt’s committee know there are limitations on what can be done at Owain Glyndwr and they continue to explore the possibility of establishing a permament ground in the town they can develop to include spectator facilities and a clubhouse. The previously mentioned Virginia Park and the playing fields near the Twyn School have been considered but the local authority remains reluctant to support to any such plans.

On the field the club’s bid to progress included recruiting Dave Kempton as first team manager after he led Caerphilly Athletic’s 2nds to the TERVL division one title last season. Kempton – who has played and coached in professional set-ups in England – said he was initially reluctant to speak to Cwrt Rawlin due to rivalry from Sunday league football but having done so he complimented the club as the “best run in Caerphilly” and felt he had the best group of players he’s ever had while he’s been involved in football in Wales.

This match would provide a stern test of the side’s credentials. It’s been a decent season so far for Cwrt Rawlin, currently top of the TERVL premier division, in the last 16 of the South Wales FA Senior Cup, with a Greyhound Cup semi-final to come. This was the first bid for the club to challenge for silverware this season but for a place in the final of the Bernard Martin Cup (the TERVL’s second league cup) they would have to overcome Nelson Cavaliers.

A former South Wales Senior League club, Nelson Cavaliers have been the closest challengers to the Ynysybwl Athletic side that has dominated the TERVL in recent years. Aaron Powell’s side won the league title in 2018 only to lose in the promotion play-offs but they harbour themselves ambitions to reach the next step in the pyramid.

In very winding conditions the home side started the semi-final better, playing against the wind Nelson often struggled to clear their lines adequately. It was merited though when Cwrt Rawlin took the lead, captain David Tiltman firing home from more than 20 yards with powerful, swerving shot. The homesters almost doubled their lead during a scramble on the Nelson goal-line but somehow the ball stayed out and the visitors survived.

Oddly, an injury to Liam Dellanna – who had looked Nelson’s most dangerous player in the first half – just before half-time sparked the away team into life. Matthew Greenway smashed the crossbar from distance and Ceri Clingo was denied by an excellent save in the final moments of the first-half so Cwrt Rawlin’s lead was preserved.

But not for long. Less than five minutes into the second-half, Matthew Maksimovic was penalised for a challenge on Clingo in the box and Dan Falconer calmly converted the penalty to restore parity. Ceri Clingo fired past Joe Raspin – beating the keeper at his near post – to complete the turnaround within ten minutes.

How would Cwrt Rawlin respond? Immediately.

Within a minute of the restart the game was level thanks to an excellent finish by Tom Starr after Tiltman’s cushioned lay-off. That left an intriguing half hour for both side’s to grab the prize and Ryan Donovan’s strike edged Nelson ahead with 25 minutes to go. Cwrt Rawlin pushed hard and despite lots of pressure and possession that final moment of cutting edge was lacking to take the game into extra time.

The sides meet again on Saturday in a key league fixture.

Match Notes
1.2.2020
Cwrt Rawlin 2-3 Nelson Cavaliers
(David Tiltman 18′, Tom Starr 59′; Dan Falconer 49′ [p], Ceri Clingo 57′, Ryan Donovan 66′)
Bernard Martin Cup Semi-Final
Y Gwindy School 3G, Caerphilly (Welsh Ground #85)
Attendance: 30 (approx) |Entry: Free