The pinnacle of Welsh football, aside from the national team of course, and no it’s not the most illustrious tournament around but as a proud Welshman I feel it deserves a mention for once. No the football isn’t fantastic and the crowds hardly at capacity but those that do go to the games across the country are very passionate and proud of their hometown clubs. And this is important really.
Nowadays, kids growing up will almost always pick the Barcelonas, Chelseas and Manchester Uniteds of today without giving a second thought to their local side. I myself am a culprit of this picking Liverpool over my local side Carmarthen Town, for whom I used to play. So here’s to the greatest league Wales has to offer, the Corbett Sports Welsh Premier Football League.
The league was originally founded in 1991 by Football Assocciation of Wales Secretary General, Alun Evans following concerns that the international team was under threat by FIFA. It was thought that other members of FIFA were unhappy to see the four home nations represented individually and were pressing for the countries to unite to form a United Kingdom team instead. The new league was formed in time for the 1992/93 season. Wales’ strongest sides; Wrexham, Swansea, Cardiff, Aberdare, Newport and Merthyr, were absent from this brand new league due to commitments to the English Football League.
It started with a turbulent dispute between the FAW and the non-league sides, dubbed the ‘Irate Eight’, who wanted to remain in the English League system. Of the eight (Bangor City, Barry Town, Caernarfon Town, Colwyn Bay, Merthyr Tudfil, Newport County, Newton and Rhyl) only 3 agreed, reluctantly, to play in the League of Wales. In 1995, Caernarfon joined along with Oswestry Town, a now defunct club from across the border. In 2008, the 18 teams currently playing in the League, voted for a restructure, reducing the top league to 12 teams and expanding the second division.
The league set up as current consists of 12 teams; The New Saints, Airbus UK Broughton, Bangor City, Port Talbot Town, Prestatyn Town, Carmarthen Town, Bala Town, Gap Connah’s Quay, Newtown, Aberystwyth Town, Llanelli and Afan Lido. The top 6 at the end of January play eachother again to contest the European positions whilst the bottom 6 battle to avoid relegation. Current champions are The New Saints, who play their football in England. They are joint with Barry Town on most championships winning 7.
Crowds aren’t huge. Average attendance reached 558 at Bangor City last season, with a low of 163 at Afan Lido. The main problem is the fact that the league has failed to attract teams from the major population areas of Wales, Swansea, Cardiff, Wrexham and Newport opting to stay in the English Football League. One option to improve attendances is to allow these teams playing in the English League to field reserve or representative teams in the league. The league however has attracted some big name players including Bobby Charlton, Neville Southall, Mark Delaney and Jock Stein.
With low crowds comes low income. Llanelli are the latest victims of the financial situation, folding earlier this year. Plenty more have suffered the same fate, including Ebbw Vale, Maesteg Park and Neath. So whether your local side play in the WPL or not, go down to watch them every once in a while. These small teams NEED YOUR HELP!!
The Welsh Premier League re-starts for the new season in October. Tickets are reasonably priced. Matches available to watch on S4C
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.