Welsh double part 2

TROEDYRHIW 1-0 CORUS STEEL

Saturday 15th May 2010

Welsh League Division 3

The Willows

Game two of our Welsh double sees us make a ten minute drive in the Merthyr Tydfil direction to the village of Troedyrhiw for their Welsh League division 3 clash against Port Talbot side Corus Steel. Corus still have a chance of promotion to the second division after being promoted to the Welsh League in the summer from the South Wales Amateur League while Troedyrhiw's current stint in the Welsh League has been since 2001. The club play at the Willows Community Centre, a short walk from the railway station. The club are currently in the process of building a stand along the far touchline as the only cover at present is in the form of an overhang attached the changing rooms.

The following history on the club is taken from their website:

"Although Troedyrhiw have come from the very bottom of the pyramid system to attain Welsh League status in five years, this is not a new club. In fact the former mining village between Merthyr and Aberfan has a long football history, with Troedyrhiw Stars first putting it on the map in 1908-09 when they won the South Wales Amateur Cup. In the years leading up to the Great War, the Stars enjoyed some good Welsh Cup runs, notably in 1912-13 when they reached the last eight beating Abertillery, Rhymney, Cardiff Corinthians and Colwyn Bay before losing 1-0 at Chester.

The Star's successors Troedyrhiw FC started to make their mark in the 1930's, winning the Welsh League's Division 2 in 1932 and starting a 20-year unbroken spell in the top flight, with again some good Welsh Cup runs (in 1933-34 and 1934-35 they reached the last 16) though their best league achievements came in the years following the World War 2, when they finished 4th, 3rd and 2nd in successive years. After that it was downhill until relegation came in 1951-52. After over a decade in Division Two East, they found themselves in the midle division when the Welsh League re-organised in 1964 but finished last-but-one. Rather than drop into the lowest of the 3 non-regionalised divisions, Troedyrhiw withdrew from the league in 1965.

And there their story might have ended, as the decline in importance of the South Wales coalfield saw so many village's clubs disappear from the scene. For 30 years Troedyrhiw was barely on the football map, though its Boy's Club continued. A local pub team, in 1993, approached Brian Harbord, who was on the committee for the Boys Club, and asked could they play at The Willows as the senior team and use the unused facilities on a saturday afternoon. Brian, with the help of John Phelps pushed for this to happen and won a majority vote. Troedyrhiw Boys Club Seniors were formed with John Phelps as Chairman and Brian Harbord vice-Chairman. Mark Harbord took over as player-manager with the team based in the Merthyr Premier Division. After two seasons Mark Harbord brought in Brian Sparks to take over as manager, and Mark took the player-coach role. In their first season together they guided Rhiw to the title in dramatic style, needing to win their last game. After going a goal down they came back to win 2-1 and clinch promotion to the Amateur League(1995-96).

For some technical reason Troedyrhiw Boys Club Senior team had to become seperate to the Boys Club and then Became its own club, forming Troedyrhiw FC. After finishing in the top half on their first season in the Amateur League they went on to clinch the double in their second with the Division 2 title and the Intermediate Cup, beating Aberaman Ex to both. They then went on to finish 7th in division One in 1999, and 5th in 2000. Then the next season, lying handily in mid-table while Bryntirion and Barry Athletic made the running, Troedyrhiw did not emerge as obvious promotion contenders until the closing weeks, when a fine run of results as they cleared a big fixture backlog put them in the frame. The disappointment of losing the SWFA Intermediate Cup Final did not deter Brian Sparks's side, who finally went top of the league well into May as the season reached a climax that bettered any boy's comic storyline: Troedyrhiw led Barry Athletic by one point and entertained them at The Willows in the last game - if they drew or won, they would win the league and promotion to the Welsh League, if they lost, the visitors would be champions. Watched by a crowd of over 400, Rhiw fell behind in the first half before battling back and deservedly equalising through Andrew Richards after the break as they put an ageing Barry side under mounting pressure.

Troedyrhiw FC were in the relatively unusual position these days of having a ground already fit for Welsh League Football, and it was this advantage that guaranteed their automatic promotion without the need for a play-off with the Senior League winners. The Willows ground, situated next to the railway line a couple of minutes walk frpm the station on the Merthyr Branch line, is an enclosed ground dominated by the huge Boys Club building at its western end, behind one goal, the overhang of which provides a covered terrace. At the opposite end and on the southern side, the pitch is tightly hemmed in by the railway and houses respectively. Rhiw are back where they belong! "

We were charged £3 for admission which included a programme, though the programme was unfortunately was for the original game scheduled in November. The home side went into the game in the bottom three but on the day it was hard to tell which side was which as Corus did not look like a side going for promotion. To be honest it was a poor game and thus I have very little to write about that was settled five minutes from time when Chris Quinlan scored from the penalty spot at the second attempt, after the referee disallowed the first attempt for I believe encroachment.

websites:

Troedyhiw: http://www.troedyrhiwfc.bravehost.com/

Welsh Double Part 1

TREHARRIS ATHLETIC WESTERN 1-2 LLANGEINOR

Saturday 15th May 2010

Welsh League Division Two

Athletic Ground

An offer from Gary (plus along with some clubs kicking off at 12 noon) has given me the chance to take in two games today in south Wales. My only other game in Wales came earlier this season @ Newcastle Emlyn back in September. Gary picked me up at 7.15am and we set off to pick up the "Merseyside 2" - Pete and Ian from Coleshill Parkway station at 8am. From there we went to Bromsgrove for a breakfast at the Pit Stop Cafe on the A38 - excellent value for money with the food being bloody good as well. Thankfully the roads were clear and we made the journey without problems and arrived at the Athletic Ground with about an hour before kick-off.

Treharris is a small town with a population of over 6,000 located between Cardiff (17 miles to the south) and Merthyr Tydfil (10 miles to the north). The town was formed around Harris's Deep Navigation Colliery and coal mining excavations begun in 1878. Originally known as Harris's Navigation Pits the Deep Navigation shafts were, at the time the deepest in south Wales, some of them at a depth of 760 yards. Ownership was transferred to the Ocean Coal Co. Ltd in 1893 and remained in production until 1991. Most of the land where the Deep Navigation was situated has been landscaped and is now part of the new Millenium Park where many local football and rugby teams play and train.

The football club are, according the cover of their programme "South Wales Oldest Football Club". The club were formed in 1889 and were founder members of the South Wales League. The club became the league's first champions. In 1906 after dominating the South Wales League Treharris became one of the first clubs to play over the border when they joined the Western League. Four years were spent in the Western League and in their final campaign they became champions, and along with Cardiff City were elected to the Southern League. Just four seasons were spent in the second division of the Southern League before they resigned / were not re-elected in 1914. I stand to be corrected but I believe the club has been ever present in the Welsh League ever since. In 2008 they merged with local Merthyr League club Treharris Western to give us their present title. This season both Treharris and Llangeinor sit in mid-table with only three places and four points between them at the start of play. The two sides played each other three days ago @ Llanegeinor with Treharris recording a 2-0 victory.

The ground is certainly one of the most interesting ones I have ever come across and one that I felt oozes character and charm in a rustic kind of way. We were not charged any admission or any money for the programme, though anyone who turned up nearer to kick-off was charged an admission though how much I don't know. The game was fairly even and played in the right spirit, with the visitors I would say shading affairs overall. Despite being an end of season game both sides had plenty of chances, though the majority did not trouble either keeper. Llangeinor took the lead on twelve minutes when following a double save from the Treharris keeper Jordan Mortimer headed the ball home from five yards out. Both sides continued to create chances but the not further scoring occured. The second half continued in the same vain as the first but following a spell of possession and territory for around ten minutes Llangeinor hit Treharris on the counter attack with Josh Ellis cooly slotting the ball into an empty net following a good save from the home keeper who injured himself in the process. The home side never gave up and got, what turned out to be a consolation goal in stoppage time when Ross Porter hit an unstoppable shot into the top right hand corner from fully thrity five yards.

Overall a good game played in glorious sunshine at a superb ground that would have the health and safety brigade in England having a hissy fit!!!!!

websites:

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treharris

Treharris Athletic Western FC: http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/treharrisathleticwestern/

Welsh Football League: http://www.welshleague.org.uk/

1st Welsh

NEWCASTLE EMLYN 1-1 AMMANFORD

Wednesday 23rd September 2009

Welsh League Division 2

Parc Emlyn

One thing I don’t normally do is take a holiday during the football season mainly due to give my wife a break from me talking about the game, but a four night break in Cardiganshire and more specifically the village of Oakford sees me able to take up this rare opportunity. I have never been to a game in Wales before and to be honest when I did go it would have been a team that represents one of the border towns, Welshpool being a good example. Oakford is small village near to Aberaeron and New Quay and is around a thirty minute drive north of Newcastle Emlyn. Sometimes you get lucky regarding finding a fixture and tonight’s game is no exception as it is the only midweek fixture in the area. This will be the first fixture on the British mainland outside of England that I will have been to, though I have attended four fixtures in the past while on holiday in Belgium, Portugal, Slovenia and Italy. The last one was in June 2007 when I took in Rimini’s final game of the season at home to Mantova in the Italy’s Serie B. The other clubs to join my illustrious list are Racing Club Mechelen, Uniao Madeira and NK Bled.

Newcastle Emlyn play in the third tier of Welsh football in the Welsh League Division 2, a league that covers south Wales and is a feeder league (along with the north and mid-Wales based Cymru Alliance) to the Welsh Premier League. They joined the third division of the league in 2000 from the Cardiganshire League and spent eight years in the lower division, before a runners-up spot in the 2007/08 season secured promotion.

The town itself according to as tourist brochure is a lively, picturesque, friendly and very Welsh market town, nestling in the Teifi Valley. The river runs around three sides of the historic castle which was built on the site of an old fortress. It divides Newcastle Emlyn (Carmarthenshire) from Adpar (Ceredigion / Cardiganshire). Other buildings of note include the old market hall with its clock tower and one of the smallest theatres in Britain, a 19th century church, a magistrate’s court which houses the library and several chapels. The town stands on the banks of the River Teifi and claims to be the site of the last dragon which was slain in Wales after it had alighted at the castle breathing fire and smoke.

The ground is situated on New Road in the town, behind a public car park. The car park is a pay and display one, though is free after 6pm. It was £2 for the admission and a further £1 for a forty four page programme which doubled up for the forthcoming Saturday game against Tredegar Town. There is a 100 seated stand on the left hand side of the ground and a small overhang in front of the building that houses the changing rooms and clubhouse. Hot drinks were available from a room between the changing rooms and the bar.

At the start of play Newcastle had only won one of their opening four league games and find themselves in thirteenth place in the eighteen team division. Opponents Ammanford had obtained seven points from five games and occupied seventh place. The game kicked off seven minutes late but it took all of 45 seconds for Newcastle to open the scoring. A free kick was awarded for offside five yards inside their own half, from which the ball was headed across goal and volleyed into the net from their number 8. Ammanford then dominated the half in terms of possession and created the better chances but could not find a way through the home defence, which at times was at sixes and sevens. The game was played at a high pace throughout and did not let up at all during the game. The second half was a more even affair with both sides having chances but it was the visitors who got an equaliser with just four minutes remaining when the ball found ‘a player’ 10 yards out who made no mistake. The referee somehow found around seven or eight minutes of added time in a game that was not particularly dirty or nasty. From the point of view of a neutral spectator I would say both teams would be satisfied with a point and from an enjoyment angle I would rate the game 3* out of five.

And finally...I could not recommend a visit to Newcastle Emlyn highly enough. I was made to feel most welcome from the gateman to the former chairman. Whether it was to do with my middle England accent who knows? Top marks.

www.newcastleemlynfc.com