Tag: Welsh Football League

It’s FAWlty Towers again as FAW blunders 2019/20 season curtailment.

After weeks of waiting, Welsh football clubs finally learnt the fate of the 2019/20 season today when the FAW Council ‘met’ to ratify the decision taken by the FAW Game Board on Monday. That decision was to curtail the league season and award final league positions based on points per game average (PPG). It meant Connah’s Quay Nomads were crowned champions of Wales for the first time, ending The New Saints’ eight year stranglehold on the title, and notionally earn Wales’ solitary UEFA Champions League spot. The three Europa League spots were awarded on final PPG Cymru Premier standings to The New Saints, Bala Town and Barry Town United (the latter in lieu of the FAW being unable to complete the Welsh Cup ahead of UEFA’s deadline – although, confusingly, two dates are given in the public statement).

Congratulations to Connah’s Quay Nomads, the other league winners confirmed by the FAW and the Cymru Premier clubs nominated for European football.

So far not so surprising; although we may have not heard the last word yet from TNS owner Mike Harris on the destination of the Cymru Premier trophy. However – and unfortunately – the bigger story centred on how the FAW’s decision came into the public domain.

Given the FAW tendency for issuing statements on important matters regarding the domestic pyramid at 5pm, it was a bit surprising when BBC Wales Sport broke the news around 3pm that the campaign had been curtailed and league champions were decided using PPG. It was surprising because there had been no public statement by the FAW and no issue of a press statement (which usually comes embargoed an hour or so before official release). It soon became apparent that even the clubs were unaware, with reports on social media that Connah’s Quay Nomads manager Andy Morrison found out his team were champions via the BBC Wales Sport report.

Cue the bedlam. Here was another FAWlty Towers moment from the national association.

As reporters on Welsh football scrambled it became obvious there had been a leak. My understanding is it was definitely not the FAW’s intention for the news to be revealed like this. The level of detail in the press release (which hit inboxes an hour after the BBC leak and appeared online a further 30 minutes later) – with printed tables for every league in Wales between 1-4 and cited explanations of the decision – clearly indicated this wasn’t supposed to come out via a provocative slip of the tongue.

To credit the member clubs, they have maintained their dignity online with most of the histrionics reserved by a few members of the Welsh football media over the privilege of information. The issue of the leak is no doubt a serious one for the FAW, but the real scandal is that member clubs, who have waited over two months for a decision, learnt their fate in this way. For the clubs that will be crowned league champions it must have been a confusing and underwhelming moment, while for clubs like Cardiff Met and Caernarfon Town (whose Welsh Cup semi-final was effectively a Europa League play-off match) they were left to experience their disappointment in a manner akin to being dumped by text message. Clubs hoping to gain promotion or avoid relegation remain in the dark.

You would hope there would be a probe inside the FAW to determine the source of the leak. BBC Wales Sport would not have published their leak on hearsay so their information, I suspect, came from a prominent source at Neptune Court. That is one problem, but the bigger issue here is why was it ever considered acceptable to inform member clubs at the same time as the general press statement? Surely the respectful thing would be to have informed clubs what was coming following the decision by the FAW Game Board; even if merely provisionally before the token consent of the FAW Council was granted a day later.

The FAW and Welsh football come out of this looking totally shambolic and disrespectful towards its members. Ultimately, it’s probably one or two individuals that have pulled the rug from under the FAW and made the entire organisation look farcical but it’s another blow for the image of Welsh football and its credibility. I’ll avoid doing what others have done and throw the entire organisation under the bus because I know there are people at the FAW that care deeply about the domestic game and work very hard every day to try and improve it. They too have been let down here by that/those person(s) that served their own agenda and showed total contempt for the domestic system, its clubs, players and volunteers.

There are still matters awaiting resolution too. The FAW have said no decision has been made yet on promotions and relegations. I suspect this could be a waiting game with (and I’m writing hypothetically here) the potential for promotion/relegation play-off games ahead of next season (whenever that takes place). The FAW have said they hope to complete the Welsh Cup before the start of next season (which will no doubt perturb anyone involved with Cardiff Met or Caernarfon Town even further), so hypothetical promotion/relegation play-offs could be in the same thought-process.

Given how poor today was handled though, the FAW would do well to restore some trust among member clubs affected by the promotion/relegation conundrum by keeping them in the loop about any future plans. That, at least, may alleviate concerns on both sides.

The next step in this convoluted mess is the announcement of Tier 3 Ground Certifications, which are expected next month.

The full statement by the FAW can be read here: https://www.faw.cymru/en/news/faw-board-decide-curtail-national-leagues-season/?back=/en/news/&pos=1

Abertillery pushing to keep tier 3 hopes alive

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)

Treharris Athletic Western looking forward and not just back to the past.

Among groundhoppers interested in Welsh football there are two grounds that historically capture the imagination in south Wales to such an extent it’s something of a badge of honour among those that have “bagged” those grounds to have done so.

“Have you been to Garw?” “Did you ever go to Treharris?”

Blandy Park and the Athletic Ground were two of the most sought after south Wales grounds. Blandy Park in the Blaengarw valley still stands, captivating and alluring hoppers from all over; new and old visitors. Sadly, the Athletic Ground in Treharris is no longer with us. The changing rooms and stand were condemned around 2015/16, demolished in May 2018 and exist now only as relics in memory and photographs. However, the playing field remains and Treharris Athletic Western hope to base their junior set-up there in the future.

Unfortunately, I never got to the Athletic but I’m still enamoured with the story of the place and it’s famous covered terrace and, to an extent, the football club that was based there for over 100 years – Treharris Football Club, Treharris Athletic, or their modern rendition, Treharris Athletic Western.

If you’re interested in the history of football in the south of Wales, Treharris – along with Aberdare – are two of the foremost place names; communities where the “association code” began to win hearts and minds, almost with the same popularity as rugby union, in the final decade of the 19th Century.

Treharris Athletic Western claim to be the oldest football club in south Wales, sharing heritage with the Treharris football club that is believed to have been formed in 1889 and was a founding member of the South Wales League in 1890 and the league’s inaugural champions. Their prominence in football in the southern valleys in these early decades is illustrated by their honours: lifting the South Wales League title twice more, the South Wales Senior Cup four times, the Welsh Football League (then called the Rhymney Valley League) in 1910, as well as being crowned Western League champions in the same year and among the south Wales clubs that joined the Southern Football League as professional outfits between 1908 and 1913.

Those pre-World War I days were very much the glory days for football in Treharris, where the men and boys worked the seams of the Deep Navigation Colliery, because when football resumed after the Great War the town’s club, now called Treharris Athletic, did not re-join the English football pyramid but instead remained exclusively a Welsh Football League (and probably amateur) club. Treharris appear to have enjoyed uninterrupted Welsh League membership since 1919, or at the very least from 1935 (from examination of historic league tables at welshsoccerarchive.co.uk).

The modern idenity as Treharris Athletic Western is the result of incorporating another local football club, Western Hotel FC, in 2009.

While it is tempting to keep looking back with regards to football in Treharris, the modern-club is now very much forward thinking. After a couple of years as groundhoppers themselves, Treharris Athletic Western have set-up a permanent home on the former ground of the now defunct Trelewis Welfare football club in Parc Taf Bargoed – a regeneration of the former Deep Navigation grounds into a nature reserve/public park which sits between Treharris and the neighbouring village Trelewis.

Whereas the Athletic Ground was very much a relic of an era of football the FAW want to put behind them at the top levels of the domestic pyramid, the ground at Parc Taf Bargoed provides Treharris with scope to develop a ground in line with the FAW’s regulations for playing in the new national tier 3 league that commences at the start of the 2020/21 season.

I first visited the ground last season, not long after Treharris had moved in, and it was impressive to see the work the club has done since then to improve the facility even further. In place last season was the covered stand with 100 seats and hard-standing along the side of the pitch but the teams were changing in the park’s visitor centre several hundred yards outside the ground itself. There were no spectator refreshments or facilities inside the ground.

Now Treharris’ modern home boasts floodlights and a modern, stylish looking wooden structure that houses the changing room facilities as well as some much needed indoor communal space with a cafe for serving hot food and drinks. The ground is well-exposed to the elements so that opportunity to escape them and replenish oneself is very welcome, not to mention the benefit for players having facilities on-site. There is also scope for further improvements, including the pitch. Maybe it is a flight of personal fancy but I would love to see in the future the club install an additional stand behind the goal at the southern end of the ground; a terrace in the style of the old Athletic Ground would be a fantastic homage to the club’s history and identity.

The tone of the Welsh League encounter I watched against Treowen Stars was set early by several crunching tackles from Treharris’ Conor Morris. They were indicative of Treharris’ physical domination and desire on the night. The midfield trio of Morris, Shane Davies and Ryan Hawkins were a class above for the hosts.

Jaymie Wearn’s pace and flair up front provided the cutting edge and it was his perfect cross that presented a tap in for Alex Jones early on. Treharris might have extended their lead further before Treowen’s Jordan Price pounced on a mistake by the home keeper Daniel Field to level the scores but that was as good as it got for the Stars on the night.

Wearn finished a lovely flowing move with a caressed finished to give Treharris a half-time lead before he doubled his tally after the interval. Shane Davies chipped Treowen’s keeper from 40 yards before Ross Jolliffe’s red card on the hour for two bookable offences removed any hope of a Treowen fight back.

Treharris substitute Christopher Rees completed the scoring on the night with the only black mark for the home side being a completely unnecessary red card for James Rees following an off the ball incident shortly after namesake Rees’ strike.

Matches Notes
7.2.2020
Treharris Athletic Western 5-1 Treowen Stars
(Alex Jones 7′, Jaymie Wearn 31′ 54′, Shane Davies 58′, Christopher Rees 71′; Jordan Price 20′)
Welsh Football League Division Two
Parc Taf Bargoed, Trelewis
Attendance: 90 (approx) | Entry: £3

Ceiber Carry On through adversity and tragedy

I have mixed feelings about the Centre for Sporting Excellence (CSE) in Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly CBC’s multi-million pound multi-sport facility. It’s got excellent facilities including one of the nicest and most comfortable stands in Welsh football. I’m sure it is fantastic for players and coaches with modern, state of the art facilities. But…

Yes, there is a but…

It has no identity. Which is what you expect of a community-use facility, but as a football ground it feels sanitised, like the matchday experience has been bleached of all it’s colour.

Presently, it is home to two Welsh Football League clubs: Risca United and, the hosts of this fixture, Trethomas Bluebirds. The facility is 10 miles from Risca and 6 miles from Trethomas. Both clubs play at the CSE because their traditional home grounds fail to meet the facilities criteria to play either at Welsh League level or the Cymru Leagues (which gets extended to tier 3 next season).

Risca’s historic home at Ty-Isaf Park is a fantastic ground, well-situated in the heart of its community, with a good stand and a nice feel of history about it. Sadly, it needs serious investment to meet the FAW criteria for the level of football The Cuckoos play at. Likewise for Trethomas, whose home pitch is just a railed pitch on the village recreational space. Since joining the Welsh League, the Bluebirds have been forced to play at homes away from home. They were briefly based at Bedwas Rugby Club before making the CSE their permanent home at the start of the 2017/18 season.

Importantly, this isn’t a criticism of either club. I always want to see clubs playing in their town or village because that seems to me to be part of the essence of Welsh football: clubs rich in local identity, based in and connected to their community. But ambition, finances and a lack of support from bodies like local authorities means clubs sometimes are forced to rub against this. It is an unfortunate, but sometimes, necessity of football in Wales. Ultimately, I suppose it is how you go about doing something as much as why.

Trethomas Bluebirds are a recent addition on the Welsh League scene, gaining promotion in 2016 after winning the Gwent County League title. Despite claiming to have been founded in 1903, much of the club’s history has been played out on the local scene, joining the Gwent County League at the start of this century (a Trethomas side is recorded to have played two seasons in the Welsh League between 1945 and 1947). Since promotion four years ago the club have become an established Welsh League outfit, achieving an improved final league position each year. Last season’s 5th place finish is the highest in the club’s history.

Visitors Penrhiwceiber Rangers have been established in the Welsh League since 1992, playing mostly in the bottom two tiers. Last season the club were unfortunate to finish on the wrong-end of a thrilling three-horse race for the two promotion spots with Trefelin BGC and Penydarren BGC. All three clubs accumulated a very impressive 70+ points but in the end Rangers missed out by two points to Trefelin.

The club looks like it will challenge again this season although so far the campaign has been overshadowed by the tragic loss of first team manager and club legend Steve Haggett before Christmas. Haggett’s successor Dean Brown is another clubman well-acquainted in the traditions of the club and hoping to finish the job Haggett had started.

At the start of the evening Trethomas had the chance to go top of division two if they could better Ynysygerwn’s result and having won the first meeting between the sides 4-1 at Penrhiwceiber’s Glasbrook Field ground, there may have been some confidence of doing the double. However, this was very much going to be the visitors’ night.

An intense start to the game saw opportunities for both sides to take the lead in the first two minutes before a 4th minute penalty from Ricky Carter gave Penrhiwceiber the lead. Dafydd Pearce scrambled home an equaliser in the 10th minute after Rangers’ keeper fumbled a ball into the box, but that was ultimately as good as it got for the Bluebirds.

In this clash of styles, Penrhiwceiber’s quick passing game and rapid attacks out of transition dominated against a more direct strategy from Trethomas, looking to get the ball forward quickly for their speedy forwards to run in behind. Only poor finishing stopped Penrhiwceiver running away from it before half-time, but an superb looping header from Brandon Hill to finish a top drawer right wing cross did ensure the Cynon Valley side led at the break.

Carter had another chance from the penalty spot early in the second-half but Gareth Williams read the striker’s penalty and saved the effort. More chances came and went for Rangers before Warren Jones finally gave them a cushion with a powerful drive. A minute later Joseph Jenkins punished a poor clearance with a well-executed chip. Carter did complete his brace with a tap-in from Brandon Davies’ cross before the excellent Davies got a goal his performance deserved; finishing off a superb sweeping counter-attack from a Trethomas corner kick to complete the rout to the delight of an excellent away following that comprised most of the 100+ souls in attendance.

An excellent night’s entertainment and a genuinely thrilling attacking display from Penrhiwceiber who came with a game-plan suited perfectly for the 3G surface; moving the ball quickly to feet, pressing high to force mistakes, the movement and precision of their play when the chance to attack came posed Trethomas too many questions they couldn’t answer on the night.

Match Notes
31.1.2020
Trethomas Bluebirds 1-6 Penrhiwceiber Rangers
(Dafydd Pearce 10′; Ricky Carter 4′ [p] 75′, Brandon Hill 40′, Warren Jones 63′ Joseph Jenkins 64′, Brandon Davies 82′)
Welsh Football League Division Two
Centre for Sporting Excellence, Ystrad Mynach
Attendance: 110 (approx) | Entry: £4 (no programme available) |