1992–93 League of Wales

League of Wales
Season 1992–93
Champions Cwmbran Town
(1st title)
Relegated Llanidloes Town
Abergavenny Thursdays
Champions League Cwmbran Town
(Preliminary round)
Matches played 380
Goals scored 1,232 (3.24 per match)
Top goalscorer Steve Woods (29)
Biggest home win Ebbw Vale 100 Briton Ferry Athletic
(6 January 1993)
Biggest away win Bangor City 06 Hollywell Town
(31 October 1992)
Abergavenny Thursdays 06 Afan Lido
(16 January 1993)
Llanidloes Town 06 Aberystwyth Town
(24 April 1993)
Highest scoring Ebbw Vale 100 Briton Ferry Athletic
(6 January 1993)
(10 goals)

The 1992–93 League of Wales was the inaugural season of the League of Wales, the top division of Welsh football. The League was made up of 20 member clubs that joined from leagues within both the English football league system and Welsh football league system.

Overview

Background

The new league was formed for the 1992-93 season. At the time, Wales was unusual in world football in that despite the Football Association of Wales (FAW) being a FIFA member and, along with the other three home nations (England, Northern Ireland and Scotland), holding a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board (IFAB), it did not organise a national league.[1] With African and Asian nations feeling that the FAW were taking advantage of this fact, FAW Secretary General, Alun Evans announced in October 1991 that the new league would start at the beginning of the next season.[2][3][4]

There were cross-regional leagues, such as the Cymru Alliance and the Welsh Football League along with the long established National competition, in the form of the Welsh Cup. However it was always felt that organising a national league would prove too difficult, due to the poor transport links between the North and South, combined with the fact that the larger clubs tended to ply their trade in the English football league system. At the time, Cardiff City, Swansea City and Wrexham were playing in The Football League, with Newport County having been relegated at the end of the 1987–88 season. The FAW decided to allow the remaining Football League teams to continue to play in the English system. Of the non-league clubs: Bangor City, Barry Town, Caernarfon Town, Colwyn Bay, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport, Newtown and Rhyl, the FAW gave them the ultimatum of joining the Welsh football league system or continue to play in the English system and be forced to play home games on English soil.[4]

The 'Irate Eight', as they were dubbed by the Welsh press, appealed against this decision arguing that they should continue to play where they wished. However, with the exception of Merthyr Tydfil who were playing in the Football Conference, they were all told that they must join the new league. Of the eight only Bangor City, Newtown and Rhyl decided to join the new league, although Rhyl's application was late meaning they were forced to play in the Cymru Alliance, with the remaining five, dubbed 'The Exiles', would continue to play in the English System.[5][6] Barry Town, who changed their name to Barri while ground-sharing with Worcester City at St George's Lane, continued to play in the Southern Football League Midland Division along with Newport who were ground-sharing with Gloucester City.[7][8] Caernarfon Town and Colwyn Bay continued to play in the Northern Premier League, with Caernarfon Town ground-sharing with Curzon Ashton at their Tameside Stadium and Colwyn Bay doing the same with Northwich Victoria at the Drill Field.[9]

As the new league was to top the Welsh football league system, the FAW sought re-organise the Welsh football pyramid, by placing the League of Wales at the top of the pyramid with the largest regional divisions, the Cymru Alliance and the Welsh Football League, being placed below this as feeder leagues. With this in mind the FAW sought to invite clubs from these leagues to become members of the League of Wales. Of the two leagues eight clubs left the Cymru Alliance with ten clubs leaving the Welsh Football League.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]

League Members

Club Ground Manager Captain Previous league Pos.
Abergavenny Thursdays Pen-y-Pound Welsh Football League National Division 1st
Aberystwyth Town Park Avenue Wales Tomi Morgan Welsh Football League National Division N/A
Afan Lido Afan Lido Sports Ground Wales David Rees
Wales Phil Robinson
Welsh Football League National Division N/A
Bangor City Farrar Road Stadium Wales Paul Rowlands Northern Premier League Premier Division 20th
Briton Ferry Athletic Old Road Stadium Welsh Football League National Division 2nd
Caersws Recreation Ground Cymru Alliance 1st
Connah's Quay Nomads Deeside Stadium England Ray Jones Cymru Alliance 6th
Conwy United Y Morfa Cymru Alliance 5th
Cwmbran Town Cwmbran Stadium Welsh Football League National Division N/A
Ebbw Vale Eugene Cross Park Welsh Football League National Division 11th
Flint Town United Cae-y-Castell Cymru Alliance 4th
Inter Cardiff Cardiff Athletics Stadium Welsh Football League National Division N/A
Haverfordwest County Bridge Meadow Stadium Welsh Football League National Division N/A
Holywell Town Halkyn Road Cymru Alliance 11th
Llanelli Stebonheath Park Wales Alwyn Mainwaring Welsh Football League National Division N/A
Llanidloes Town Victoria Avenue Cymru Alliance 12th
Mold Alexandra Alyn Park Cymru Alliance 10th
Maesteg Park Tudor Park Welsh Football League National Division N/A
Newtown Latham Park Scotland Brian Coyne Northern Premier League Division One N/A
Porthmadog Y Traeth Cymru Alliance 3rd

League table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Cwmbran Town (C) 38 26 9 3 69 22+47 87 1993–94 UEFA Champions League Preliminary round
2 Inter Cardiff 38 26 5 7 79 36+43 83
3 Aberystwyth Town 38 25 3 10 85 48+37 78
4 Ebbw Vale 38 19 9 10 76 61+15 66
5 Bangor City 38 19 7 12 77 58+19 64
6 Holywell Town 38 17 8 13 65 48+17 59
7 Conwy United 38 16 9 13 51 510 57
8 Connah's Quay Nomads 38 17 4 17 66 671 55
9 Porthmadog 38 14 11 13 61 49+12 53
10 Haverfordwest County 38 16 5 17 66 65+1 53
11 Caersws 38 14 10 14 63 60+3 52
12 Afan Lido 38 14 10 14 64 651 52
13 Mold Alexandra 38 16 3 19 63 696 0481
14 Llanelli 38 11 8 19 48 6416 41
15 Maesteg Park 38 9 13 16 52 597 40
16 Flint Town United 38 11 6 21 47 6720 39
17 Briton Ferry Athletic 38 10 9 19 61 8726 39
18 Newtown 38 9 9 20 55 8732 36
19 Llanidloes Town (R) 38 7 9 22 48 9345 30 Relegation to Cymru Alliance
Welsh Football League First Division
20 Abergavenny Thursdays (R) 38 7 7 24 36 7640 28

Source: Barclays Premier League


Rules for classification:

1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1 Mold Alexandra were docked three points for entering administration.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Top Goalscorers

Goals Player Team
39 Steve Woods Ebbw Vale
26 Tim O'Connor Afan Lido
25 David O'Gorman Connah's Quay Nomads
Chris Summers Inter Cardiff
23 David Taylor Conwy United
22 Francis Ford Briton Ferry Athletic
21 Chris Davies Connah's Quay Nomads
20 Kevin Morrison Aberystywth Town
18 Mitch Patton Afan Lido
17 Michael Davies Aberystwyth Town
Ian Howat Holywell Town

Source:[28]

See also

References

  1. FIFA's 208 Member Associations fifa.com Retrieved 30 August 2009
  2. League History welshpremier.com Retrieved 18 June 2010
  3. League History welsh-premier.com 18 June 2010
  4. 1 2 The Exiles welsh-premier.com Retrieved 18 June 2010
  5. Bangor City Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  6. Newtown Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  7. Barry Town Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  8. Barri Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  9. Club History clubwebsite.co.uk/caernarfontown Retrieved 18 June 2010
  10. Abergavenny Thursdays Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  11. Aberystwyth Town Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  12. Afan Lido Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  13. Briton Ferry Athletic Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  14. Caersws Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  15. Connah's Quay Nomads Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  16. Conwy United Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  17. Cwmbran Town Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  18. Ebbw Vale Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  19. Flint Town United Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  20. Inter Cardiff Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  21. Haverfordwest County Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  22. Holywell Town Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  23. Llanelli Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  24. Llanidloes Town Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  25. Maesteg Park Athletic Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  26. Mold Alexandra Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  27. Porthmaog Football Club History Database Retrieved 18 June 2010
  28. "Top 25 individual scorers 1992/3". welsh-premier.com. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
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