Newtown A.F.C.

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Newtown
Full nameNewtown Association Football Club
Nickname(s)The Robins
Founded1875; 149 years ago (1875)
GroundLatham Park
Capacity5,000 (1,300 seated)[1]
ChairmanNick Evans
ManagerScott Ruscoe
LeagueCymru Premier
2022–23Cymru Premier, 6th of 12

Newtown Association Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Pêl-droed Y Drenewydd) is a Welsh football club based in Newtown, Powys, which plays in the Cymru Premier. Newtown are one of only two clubs that can claim unbroken membership of the league since its formation in 1992, with the other club being Aberystwyth Town.

The club was founded in 1875 as Newtown White Stars, and was one of the founder members of the Football Association of Wales. Newtown White Stars, which appeared in the first Welsh Cup match on 13 October 1877, is believed to have merged with Newtown Excelsior to form the current Newtown AFC in time to be Welsh Cup finalists in 1885 and 1888.[2][3][4][citation needed]

The club plays at Latham Park, Newtown, which accommodates 5,000 spectators. They are the only top flight football club in Powys.

History[edit]

For a full history see; List of football seasons involving Newtown AFC and its predecessor clubs

For most of the years since the 1920s the club operated in the Mid-Wales League, or the Central Wales League as it was sometimes known, winning the championship in 1975–76, 1978–79, 1981–82, 1986–87 and 1987–88 and on the strength of this record, the club gained entry to the English league system in the Northern Premier League.

In 1992 the club became rather reluctant founder members of the League of Wales. Since then it has finished runners-up in the league in both 1995–96 and 1997–98, and subsequently played UEFA cup ties against Skonto Riga of Latvia and Wisła Kraków of Poland.

Newtown Association Football Club are one of the oldest clubs in Wales, being formed in 1875 and are one of the founder members of the FAW. In addition, the club was also one of the founder members of the League of Wales, now known as the Cymru Premier.

The club has a long and proud tradition with the move in the late 1980s into the Northern Premier League being part of the progressive nature of the club.

Way back in 1877, Newtown took part in the first Welsh Cup tie on Saturday 13 October against Druids of Ruabon. Cefn Druids now former members of the Welsh Premier are derived from this club. Wrexham went on to win the competition but in the following season, Newtown White Stars beat the favourites Wrexham 2–1 in Oswestry and became the first club to receive the famous trophy, which had only been purchased a few months earlier. In December 1895 Newtown travelled to play Manchester City at Maine Road and shocked the City team by winning 3–2. Newtown’s W. Parry scored all three goals for the Robins.[5]

In 2014 Newtown became the second Cymru Premier club, after The New Saints, to change their grass turf for a 3G pitch. During the 2014–15 season Newtown finished in the top six for the second consecutive season. They also took part in their first Welsh Cup final in 118 Years after memorable wins against Caersws, Bangor and Rhyl. However they lost the match 2–0 to The New Saints, despite it being played at Latham Park in front of a capacity crowd. After the cup final defeat, Newtown entered the European play-offs. During the play-offs, they won away at Port Talbot Town and won away at Aberystwyth Town to take a spot in the 2015–16 Europa League qualifiers.

In July 2015 Newtown faced Maltese opponents Valletta in the first round of qualifying for the 2015-16 Europa League. A last minute winner in the 1st leg at Latham Park gave the club their first European win and was followed with an away victory giving Newtown their first Europa League Win over two legs. Newtown faced Danish giants Copenhagen in the second round and were defeated over both legs losing 5–1 on aggregate. Newtown finished in the top 6 again during the following 2015-16 Welsh Premier League season and were also the only team to beat The New Saints at Park Hall, but eventually lost at home to Airbus UK Broughton in the play-off semi final. Newtown again reached the play-offs after finishing 7th in the 2016-17 Welsh Premier League season, but were beaten 3–2 away to Bangor City.

Honours[edit]

Current squad[edit]

As of 7 August 2023[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Wales WAL Andy Wycherley
3 DF Wales WAL Callum Roberts
4 DF Wales WAL Ryan Sears
5 DF Wales WAL Kieron Mills-Evans
6 DF Wales WAL Shane Sutton
8 MF Wales WAL Rob Evans
9 FW England ENG Jason Oswell
10 FW England ENG Louis Robles
No. Pos. Nation Player
11 FW England ENG Zeli Ismail
12 FW England ENG Devon Torry
14 FW England ENG Aaron Williams
16 MF England ENG Dylan Downs
17 MF England ENG Henry Cowans
18 MF Wales WAL Mathew Jones
27 DF Wales WAL Dominic Smith

Technical staff[edit]

Position Name
Manager Wales Chris Hughes
Assistant manager Wales Callum McKenzie
Goalkeeping coach Wales Andy Roberts
First-team coach Wales Matty Lewis
Physio Wales Andy Pellow
Kit Man England Dave Rose

Managers[edit]

Europe[edit]

Newtown have participated in UEFA competition five times.

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1996–97 UEFA Cup PR Latvia Skonto FC 1–4 0–3 1–7
1998–99 UEFA Cup 1Q Poland Wisła Kraków 0–0 0–7 0–7
2015–16 UEFA Europa League 1Q Malta Valletta 2–1 2–1 4–2
2Q Denmark Copenhagen 1–3 0–2 1–5
2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League 1Q Republic of Ireland Dundalk 0–1 0–4 0–5
2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League 1Q Faroe Islands HB Tórshavn 2–1 (a.e.t.) 0–1 2–2 (4–2 p)
2Q Slovakia Spartak Trnava 1–2 1–4 2–6
Notes
  • PR: Preliminary round
  • 1Q: First qualifying round
  • 2Q: Second qualifying round
Name Competition Goals
Jason Oswell UEFA Europa League 2
Henry Cowans UEFA Europa Conference League 2
Tom Goodwin UEFA Europa League 1
Matty Owen UEFA Europa League 1
Luke Boundford UEFA Europa League 1
Lifumpa Mwandwe UEFA Europa Conference League 1
Aaron Williams UEFA Europa Conference League 1
Romilly Brown UEFA Cup 1

Rivalries[edit]

Newtown share a local rivalry with Caersws who are only around 5 miles away and often attract big crowds when the teams meet. In the Cymru Premier Newtown have derby matches against fellow Mid-Wales clubs Aberystwyth Town and The New Saints.

League Record[edit]

Season League Position Pld W D L F A Pts
1959–60 Mid Wales League 7th 26 12 5 9 73 54 29
1960–61 Mid Wales League 6th 24 10 3 11 64 42 23
1961–62 Mid Wales League 6th 20 10 2 8 54 42 22
1962–63 Mid Wales League 7th 22 11 2 9 49 52 24
1963–64 Mid Wales League 8th 24 9 4 11 51 62 22
1964–65 Mid Wales League 6th 24 10 4 10 64 49 24
1965–66 Mid Wales League 9th 26 9 7 10 60 62 25
1966–67 Mid Wales League 8th 26 12 3 11 60 56 27
1967–68 Mid Wales League 4th 26 15 3 8 76 49 33
1968–69 Mid Wales League 4th 26 15 6 5 68 39 36
1969–70 Mid Wales League 11th 30 10 4 16 62 73 24
1970–71 Mid Wales League 11th 28 6 7 15 46 77 19
1971–72 Mid Wales League 11th 26 5 9 12 34 50 19
1972–73 Mid Wales League 13th 26 3 6 17 12
1973–74 Mid Wales League 11th 26 7 5 14 32 48 19
1974–75 Mid Wales League 2nd 26 18 4 4 40
1975–76 Mid Wales League 1st 28 20 3 5 86 33 43
1976–77 Mid Wales League 4th 28 15 3 10 54 45 33
1977–78 Mid Wales League 7th 28 9 10 9 50 43 28
1978–79 Mid Wales League 1st 30 25 2 3 77 22 52
1979–80 Mid Wales League 3rd 30 19 3 8 68 40 41
1980–81 Mid Wales League 3rd 26 16 5 5 53 18 37
1981–82 Mid Wales League 1st 26 21 3 2 77 24 45
1982–83 Mid Wales League 2nd 22 12 7 3 52 25 31
1983–84 Mid Wales League 6th 28 14 8 6 67 38 36
1984–85 Mid Wales League 5th 28 13 7 8 70 53 33
1985–86 Mid Wales League 3rd 26 15 6 5 65 30 36
1986–87 Mid Wales League 1st 24 20 2 2 67 16 42
1987–88 Mid Wales League 1st 24 20 2 2 72 21 42
1988–89 NPL First Division 9th 42 15 12 15 65 59 57
1989–90 NPL First Division 14th 42 14 12 16 49 62 54
1990–91 NPL First Division 13th 42 13 12 17 68 75 51
1991–92 NPL First Division 14th 42 15 6 21 60 95 51
1992–93 League of Wales 18th 38 9 9 20 55 87 36
1993–94 League of Wales 6th 38 18 9 11 52 48 63
1994–95 League of Wales 4th 38 20 8 10 78 47 68
1995–96 League of Wales 2nd 40 23 11 6 69 25 80
1996–97 League of Wales 5th 40 22 5 13 74 49 71
1997–98 League of Wales 2nd 38 23 9 6 101 47 78
1998–99 League of Wales 6th 32 13 10 9 45 35 49
1999–00 League of Wales 8th 34 14 6 14 49 41 48
2000–01 League of Wales 4th 34 18 4 12 68 37 58
2001–02 League of Wales 13th 34 9 11 14 35 44 38
2002–03 Welsh Premier League 10th 34 12 6 16 48 54 42
2003–04 Welsh Premier League 10th 32 12 5 15 43 50 41
2004–05 Welsh Premier League 10th 34 13 7 14 49 55 46
2005–06 Welsh Premier League 16th 34 10 6 18 42 61 31
2006–07 Welsh Premier League 16th 32 6 6 20 30 63 24
2007–08 Welsh Premier League 13th 34 9 10 15 47 66 37
2008–09 Welsh Premier League 10th 34 10 10 14 46 54 40
2009–10 Welsh Premier League 13th 34 10 11 13 54 57 41
2010–11 Welsh Premier League 9th 32 8 11 13 40 55 35
2011–12 Welsh Premier League 12th 32 7 5 20 44 82 23
2012–13 Welsh Premier League 9th 32 10 7 15 44 54 37
2013–14 Welsh Premier League 5th 32 12 6 14 46 58 42
2014–15 Welsh Premier League 6th 32 10 8 14 52 65 38
2015–16 Welsh Premier League 5th 32 11 9 12 46 54 42
2016–17 Welsh Premier League 7th 32 12 9 11 59 41 45
2017–18 Welsh Premier League 8th 32 12 4 16 52 55 40
2018-19 Welsh Premier League 5th 32 13 7 12 53 56 46
2019-20 Cymru Premier 6th 25[a] 10 5 10 25 30 35
2020-21 Cymru Premier 7th 32 12 6 14 57 53 42
2021-22 Cymru Premier 3rd 32 15 6 11 50 35 51
2022-23 Cymru Premier 6th 32 12 5 15 49 56 41
  1. ^ League was suspended on 13th March due to COVID-19 pandemic

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Newtown AFC | Latham Park | Football Ground Guide".
  2. ^ "Welsh Newspapers Online ----THE WELSH CHAMPION FOOTBALL TEAM.|1895-04-27|The Montgomery County Times and Shropshire and Mid-Wales Advertiser - Welsh Newspapers Online". newspapers.library.wales. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
  3. ^ "[No title]|1879-09-13|Wrexham Guardian - Welsh Newspapers". newspapers.library.wales. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  4. ^ "The Popularity of Football |1893-04-18| The Montgomeryshire Express and Radnor Times - Welsh Newspapers". newspapers.library.wales. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  5. ^ http://welsh-premier.com/rel_club.php?cid=13. Archived 2016-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "First Team". Newtown AFC. Retrieved 7 August 2023.

External links[edit]