Buckley Town F.C.
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| Buckley Town | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Buckley Town Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| League | Cymru Alliance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007-08 | Cymru Alliance, 14th (of 18) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Buckley Town F.C. is a football team based in Buckley, playing in North East Wales in the Cymru Alliance (part of the Welsh football league system).
[edit] History
Buckley is an old established football centre in North Wales. The game was first introduced in Buckley around 1860. There were very few organisations, and lack of funds meant that the game was played in a basic way. An early player named Sarbat recalls[citation needed] playing football with his friends on the common in Buckley, using coats for goal posts, because the Lord of the Manor had forbidden the use of permanent wooden posts on the land. He recalls the day when he and his friends were presented with a real, full sized, brand new football, from a vicar in the area.
With the new ball, they regarded themselves as a real team, and established themselves as a football club, playing under the name of Belmont Swifts Football Club. This formed the heart of what would later become Buckley Victoria Football Club, the first organised team in the town. The team had their own pitch at Mill Lane, and soon played home and away matches against teams such as Mold Athletic, Wrexham Victoria and Rhyl Athletic.
Buckley Victoria were superseded by the Buckley Engineers, who carried on the 'Vics' winning ways. The amateurs' most famous team consisted of ten colliers, and a plumber. They picked up a huge amount of silverware in their playing days, including the Welsh Amateur Cup which they won on 3 occasions. In 1887 Buckley Town football club was formed, and it wasn't long before they had a taste of success. They went on to win the Wirral & District League in 1898, and picked up the Pike Challenge Cup in the same year. Buckley Town continued to play right up to the 1920's, and in 1925 joined the Welsh League, North Division. In 1937 they went on to win the North Wales amateur cup.
During the 1930's it seemed that Buckley Town Football Club and other organised football teams in Buckley fell apart and no longer continued to be successful in competitions. Then, in 1937 Buckley Town A.F.C won the North Wales Amateur Cup. In 1949 Buckley Wanderers and Buckley Rovers were the only two teams playing competitive football in Buckley. Buckley Rovers struggled in the lower division of the Welsh Leagues, while Buckley Wanderers joined the Welsh National League Division One. In their first season, Buckley Wanderers finished runners-up behind Chirk AAA, and again in the 1953-54 season finished runners-up to Overton St Mary's. Then in the 1955-56 season Buckley Wanderers scored over one hundred goals to clinch the League title.
During the 1960-61 season Buckley Rovers joined Buckley Wanderers in the Welsh Football League First Division. With two teams firmly established in top flight Welsh football, Buckley once again was revelling in the 'Glory days'. Buckley Wanderers finished runners-up for the third time in their history, with Chirk AAA finishing just two points ahead of them. 'Rovers' struggled in there first season in top flight football, finishing ninth in the league. Then in the 63-64 season Buckley Rovers were relegated, only to come straight back up the following season.
From 1974 Buckley Rovers then became the better of the two sides, with a runners-up finish and a third place finish. The 1976-77 season saw both teams finish in the bottom half of the table. This was the end of both teams, and in 1977 an agreement was made for both teams to join and play under the name of Buckley Town Football Club, which is the club we know to this day.
Since the Millennium, the club has had its most successful period to date. It has won the NEW Challenge Cup five times, the Cymru Alliance League Cup once in 2003-04 and in the League the club finished 3rd in 2002-03, 2nd in 2003-04, finally becoming Champions in 2004-05. In 2005-06 Buckley returned to the Racecourse to win the NEW Challenge Cup and were runners-up in the League to Glantraeth FC.
[edit] Globe Way Stadium
Since moving from the old pitch at the Hawksbury, in front of the Elfed High School, to a purpose built facility on the outskirts of town, at The Globe off Liverpool Road, the club has gone from strength to strength. The club aims to develop the Globe every year and it has seen much improvement.
Ground drains have been laid around and under the playing surface to aid drainage away from what was sometimes a boggy pitch. A stand provides both covered seating and standing areas down one side. Floodlights were added in 2004-05 and the ground has now been boarded out completely with a concrete path laid around the circumference of the pitch. With a lot of tender loving care and time spent on it by the committee, especially by former club Treasurer Eric Davies, the club have one of the finest playing surfaces in North Wales. So much so, that Wrexham AFC now play all their home Pontin's League matches at The Globe.
Plans are already under way to build another stand, standing area and disabled access area behind the Clubhouse goal that will help bring the number of seats up to the 250 required by the Welsh Premier League. The aim is to ultimately comply with the full UEFA criteria of 500 seats, by bringing the stand around to the area behind the current Away dugout. Gatehouse, turn-styles and a treatment room will also be added.
