Cwmbrân Town A.F.C.

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Cwmbrân Town Football Club is a Welsh football team based in Cwmbran, South Wales, that competes in the Template:Welsh football updater .

The Crows were formed in 1951 when Whiteheads AFC disbanded. After playing in junior leagues the club switched to the Welsh League in 1960, moving to Cwmbran Stadium in 1975.

In 1978 Cwmbrân Town finished bottom of the Welsh League Premier Division and were relegated, in 1981 the Crows finished 16th but in 1982 won promotion to the Premier Division. In 1986 Cwmbrân Town became full members of the FAW and were chosen as one of 14 Welsh clubs to participate in both the English FA Cup and FA Trophy.

History

Formed in 1951, Cwmbrân Town began in the Monmouthshire Senior League, playing their matches at Cwmbrân Park. In 1960 the club joined the Welsh Football League and they moved to their present home at the Cwmbran Stadium in 1975. Cwmbrân lost their place in the top division of the Welsh Football League in 1978 and it took them three years to return to the top level. Although they finished eighth in the 1981–82 season, they were invited to join the National Division of the restructured League. Cwmbrân finished third in 1986–87 and almost won the title in 1989–90. In 1992 they were invited to become founder members of the League of Wales. They took the title by five points from rivals and near-neighbours Inter Cardiff, conceding only 22 goals all season and losing only three games (all 1–0).

That inaugural championship brought European reward in the form of a UEFA Champions League tie against Cork City from the Republic of Ireland. In the preliminary round, Cwmbrân won the home leg 3–2, after being 3–0 in front but despite going a goal ahead early in the second match they lost 2–1 and went out on away goals. Cwmbrân had another taste of European football in 1997 in the European Cup Winners Cup, having lost 2–1 to newly crowned champions Barry Town in the Welsh Cup final.

Qualifying for Europe again in 1998 and 1999, Cwmbrân met FC Național București of Romania, and Celtic respectively.

In the 1999–2000 Welsh Cup final Cwmbrân lost to Bangor City, and in 2002–03 Barry Town defeated them in the final in a penalty shoot-out. In the 2003–04 UEFA Cup they lost 6–0 on aggregate to Maccabi Haifa of Israel, playing the away leg in İzmir, Turkey.

Financial problems (2006–2007)

The 2003–04 season saw the introduction of a new manager, Brian Coyne, who had previously managed Newtown. But his reign was short, and during the 2004–05 season after the resignation of long term chairman John Colley, Brian also decided to step down as manager due to financial reasons.

For the rest of that season Cwmbrân were managed by former player Sean Wharton. For the next two seasons, in difficult circumstances Wharton looked to local talent to try to avoid relegation. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Town were close to dropping out of the Welsh top flight for the first time since the League's formation. Cwmbrân finished in the second relegation position, but were saved from relegation due to a lack of teams in the feeder leagues wishing to be promoted. But at the end of the 2006–07 season Cwmbrân were relegated for the first time from the Welsh Premier League into the Welsh Football League. They finished in 17th place and were ultimately relegated following a 5–1 defeat by Llanelli AFC on 20 April.

The season's on-field performances were overshadowed by off-field financial problems. Towards the end of November 2006, reports surfaced that players were not being paid. The club initially denied this, but on 30 November the club announced officially that it was unable to pay its players. A few key players left, including top scorer Jody Jenkins, who joined Haverfordwest County.

Cwmbrân Town received some help from Newport County, who offered a friendly with all proceeds going to the club. Wharton resigned at the end of the season.

Post Welsh Premier League relegation and Welsh League Football (2007–2011)

Season 2007–08 saw the club install a new manager, Guillermo Ganet; but his reign was short: he only stayed with the club for one season and then left by mutual consent. A year later the experienced Gary Proctor became as manager, but relegation from Welsh Football League Division 1 followed.

For the 2009–10 season the club had a new management team of Barrie Hughes and Gareth Kedward. With a completely new squad, the team finished fifth from bottom in Division 2, and because of the league restructure, demotion to Division 3 followed. Another relegation followed at the end of the 2010–11 season, and Hughes resigned mid-season.

Gwent County League (2011–present)

Manager Mark Parfitt and assistant Jamie Jenkins built a new squad for 2011–12 using local players and managed a creditable third place in Division 1 of the Gwent County League. Season 2012–13 started in promising fashion but a few games into the season Parfitt stepped down and Jamie Jenkins took the hot seat, finishing the long hard season near the bottom.

The following season Jenkins was joined by his brother and ex-Crow Daniel Jenkins and the pair oversaw a good run of results: the team were fighting for the league championship until four defeats in the last five games resulted in a seventh-place finish.

The Crows appointed former Cwmbran Celtic FC manager Steve Morgan for the start of the 2014–15 season, but after a bad run of results with no wins in the first eight games, Morgan resigned. First team coach Andrew Howells stepped into the manager position and was joined by former PILCS manager Matthew Ryder with a third of the season remaining. Together they steered the team to the safety of 14th place. Howells left the club, and Ryder took over as manager for the 2015–16 season.

Season 2015–16 started so well on the new 3G pitch at Cwmbran Stadium winning more than usual; as the season ended, the Crows avoided another relegation, finishing in 12th place, with the league restructuring relegating 4 teams from the Gwent County League.

For 2016–17, Ryder brought in Gareth Hinwood as his assistant manager and a host of new players from Cwmbran Celtic FC, finishing the season in eight position, despite being the league's leading goal scorers; it was the other end that let the team down.

In 2017–18 Ryder and Hinwood had added quality to the squad, with a real hope of achieving promotion to the Welsh Football League. Ryder hit a bad patch over the Christmas period losing three games in succession resulted in him resigning, leaving the Crows in sixth position and Hinwood taking over as caretaker manager for the final ten games, but Hinwood also stepped down with three games remaining.

In April 2018, at the end of the season, Nicky Church was appointed manager with Della Cheedy as his assistant. The club finished the season in 4th place.

The 2018–19 season proved to be the Crows' strongest of recent years. The squad was enhanced with experience and talented youth players and although the Crows cemented 4th place again in the league, the club won the Gwent Senior Cup for the fourth time, beating a very strong Ynysddu Welfare side in the final 1-0 and claiming their first trophy in over 13 years.

On top of this, the Club endured a very strong showing in the Welsh Cup getting to the 2nd round proper eliminating Afan Lido of the Welsh League First Division before eventually being knocked out by Ton Pentre, losing 2–1 at Cwmbran Stadium.

An unbeaten league run of 17 games topped off a very successful season for Cwmbran Town.

The 2019–2020 season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic bringing a premature end to Nicky Church's reign as manager. Town secured a mid table finish due to a points per game outcome. Dean Taylor was appointed as Church's replacement in May but only lasted a few weeks in the job leaving for Abergavenny Town.

Lee Waddon replaced Dean Taylor in June with Wayne Jepson stepping in as assistant manager. Lee only lasted a few months then stepped down.

Dark Days

A lack of players and Lee stepping down week before the season started looked like the end of the crows, crises meeting led to the Appointment of former Newport County Defender Darren Jones. Not before the team played two games against Pill home and the worse result a 20–0 away loss.

Darren appointed Jon Mardon as his assistant and started to build a team, 2021/2022 was a long hard season surviving relegation by just three points.

In the 2022–23 season, new club President Dan O'Connell brought in a new lease of life, with new players and the club started winning games more regularly. The club finishing in fourth position.

In the 2023–24 season Darren Jones stepped down. Former Newport County coach Danny Elliott became manager, replaced by Steve Davies, another Newport County coach taking the hot seat before the start of the season. At the end of the season, the team finished fifth with 20 wins, one draw, and nine losses, just one place behind last season.

The Dale Clark Era

On 30 May 2024, Dale Clark was appointed as the manager of Cwmbran Town, signifying the start of a new era for the football team. From his appointment, Dale has taken the team on a 22 match unbeaten run, breaking the team record set in 1992–93 season. During this period, the team became the subject of Sgorio, who made a short video summarising the history of Cwmbran Town, interviewing several key figures and fans.

On 16 February 2025, the club announced that they had received planning permission for the instalment of a stand at Cwmbran Stadium, a huge step from the position they were in five years ago.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the 2024–25 season they won the Gwent Premier League title after an unbeaten season, and were promoted to the Ardal South East.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Their first Ardal South East game was a 6–1 win away at Abertillery Bluebirds.

Honours

Senior

Youth

League record

Season Competition Position PLD W D L F A GD PTS
1967/68 Welsh League Division Two 1st 32 26 2 4 156 42 114 54
1968/69 Welsh League Division One 7th 34 19 4 11 103 63 40 42
1969/70 Welsh League Division One 2nd 32 21 5 6 61 39 22 47
1970/71 Welsh League Premier 14th 34 6 10 18 52 72 20- 22
1971/72 Welsh League Premier 16th 34 8 7 19 40 77 37- 23
1972/73 Welsh League Premier 10th 33 13 5 15 51 56 5- 31
1973/74 Welsh League Premier 7th 34 14 11 9 61 42 19 39
1974/75 Welsh League Premier 16th 34 8 9 17 38 62 24- 25
1975/76 Welsh League Division One 2nd 34 20 9 5 64 34 30 49
1976/77 Welsh League Premier 14th 34 8 12 14 24 37 13- 28
1977/78 Welsh League Premier 18th 34 3 12 19 28 71 43- 18
1978/79 Welsh League Division One 15th 34 8 8 18 34 53 19- 24
1979/80 Welsh League Division One 18th 34 1 6 27 35 101 66- 8
1980/81 Welsh League Division Two 16th 38 11 4 23 63 78 15- 26
1981/82 Welsh League Division Two*** 2nd 32 20 8 4 77 27 50 68
1982/83 Welsh League Division One 8th 32 13 8 11 60 48 12 47
1983/84 Welsh League National 12th 30 10 4 16 40 50 10- 34
1984/85 Welsh League National 15th 32 4 9 19 43 87 44- 21
1985/86 Welsh League National 5th 32 16 7 9 68 43 25 55
1986/87 Welsh League National 3rd 32 18 8 6 60 31 29 62
1987/88 Welsh League National 5th 34 20 4 10 57 36 21 64
1988/89 Welsh League National 14th 32 9 6 17 43 59 16- 33
1989/90 Welsh League National 4th 30 19 3 8 55 33 22 60
1990/91 Welsh League National 9th 30 11 6 13 63 58 5 39
1991/92 Welsh League National 7th 30 11 12 7 51 42 9 45
1992/93 League of Wales 1st 38 26 9 3 69 22 47 87
1993/94 League of Wales 8th 38 16 9 13 51 46 5 57
1994/95 League of Wales 5th 38 20 7 11 69 49 20 67
1995/96 League of Wales 7th 40 14 15 11 58 49 9 57
1996/97 League of Wales 9th 40 19 8 13 71 61 10 65
1997/98 League of Wales 5th 38 22 7 9 78 47 31 73
1998/99 League of Wales 3rd 32 17 6 9 72 44 28 57
1999/00 League of Wales 3rd 34 21 6 7 71 37 34 69
2000/01 League of Wales 2nd 34 24 2 8 71 34 37 74
2001/02 League of Wales 7th 34 17 4 13 66 53 13 55
2002/03 Welsh Premier League 9th 34 14 8 11 51 39 12 50

European record

Season Competition Round Opponents Home leg Away leg Aggregate
1993–94 UEFA Champions League Preliminary round 1 Template:Flagicon Cork City 3–2 1–2 4–4
1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Qualifying round 1 Template:Flagicon National București 2–5 0–7 2–12
1999–2000 UEFA Cup Qualifying round 1 Template:Flagicon Celtic 0–6 0–4 0–10
2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup Qualifying round 1 Template:Flagicon Nistru Otaci 0–1 0–1 0–2
2001–02 UEFA Cup Qualifying round 1 Template:Flagicon Slovan Bratislava 0–4 0–1 0–5
2003–04 UEFA Cup Qualifying round 1 Template:Flagicon Maccabi Haifa 0–3 0–3 0–6

Stadium

Cwmbran Stadium holds 10,500 people and the main outdoor arena consists of an international standard athletics track and field surrounding an artificial 3G football pitch. The complex has an outdoor floodlit artificial playing surface for football and hockey.

On 16th February 2025, Cwmbran Town announced they had obtained planning permission to install a stand at their home, Cwmbran Stadium.

Squad

Template:Updated<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Template:Famous

Notable former players

Coaching staff

Position Name
Manager Template:Flagicon Dale Clark
Assistant manager Template:Flagicon Wayne Jepson
First team coach Template:Flagicon John Mardon
Physio & Kit Manager Template:Flagicon Mark Cook

Club officials

Position Name
Presidents Template:Flagicon Dan O'Connell / Jennifer Drury
Chairman Template:Flagicon Dan O'Connell
Secretary Template:Flagicon Mark Cook
Treasurer Template:Flagicon Cheryl Herbert
Website Editor Template:Flagicon Steve Thomas
Youth Chairman Template:Flagicon Alex Guest
Youth Secretary Template:Flagicon Emma Lewis
Youth Treasurer Template:Flagicon Robert McGrath
Safeguarding & Welfare Officers Template:Flagicon Rhiannon Fisher/ Kate Banks

Youth set up

The club has a large and very successful youth structure at various age groups. All youth sides are based at Pen-y-Lan playing fields in Cwmbran, Torfaen. The Club holds a very popular mini festival tournament each year which is attended by many clubs around the Gwent area.

Position Name
Under 6 coach

Template:Flagicon Alex Guest

Under 7 coach

Template:Flagicon Ben Jukes

Under 7 coach

Template:Flagicon

Under 8 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 8 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 9 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 9 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 10 coach Template:Flagicon Owen Llewellyn
Under 10 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 11 A coach Template:Flagicon Emma Lewis
Under 11 A coach Template:Flagicon
Under 11 B coach Template:Flagicon Mike Board
Under 11 B coach Template:Flagicon Steve Board
Under 12 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 12 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 13 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 13 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 14 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 14 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 15 coach Template:Flagicon Richie Bowen
Under 15 coach Template:Flagicon Joe Little
Under 16 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 16 coach Template:Flagicon
Under 18 coach

Template:Flagicon

Under 18 coach

Template:Flagicon

Under 10 Girls Template:Flagicon Mark Williams
Under 10 Girls Template:Flagicon Cerys Pike
Under 15 Girls Template:Flagicon Reggie Al Haddi

Managerial history

Dates Names Notes Honours
1968–1969 Template:Flagicon Kenny Morgans Player Manager
1991–2003 Template:Flagicon Tony Wilcox League of Wales (Welsh Premier League) Inaugural Winner: 1992–93

Welsh Cup Runner-up: 1997, 2000

Welsh Premier League Cup Runner-up: 2001

Office Interiors Welsh League Cup Winner: 1990–91

Gwent Senior Cup Winner: 1994–95, 1995–96

2003 Template:Flagicon Roger Gibbins Caretaker manager Welsh Cup Runner-up: 2003
2003–2005 Template:Flagicon Brian Coyne
2005–2007 Template:Flagicon Sean Wharton Gwent Senior Cup Winner: 2005
2007–2008 Template:Flagicon Guillermo Ganet
2008–2009 Template:Flagicon Gary Proctor
2009–2011 Template:Flagicon Barrie Hughes
2011–2013 Template:Flagicon Mark Parfitt
2013–2014 Template:Flagicon Jamie Jenkins
2014–2015 Template:Flagicon Steve Morgan
2015–2016 Template:Flagicon Andrew Howells
2016–2018 Template:Flagicon Matthew Ryder
2018 Template:Flagicon Gareth Hinwood Caretaker manager
2018–2020 Template:Flagicon Nicky Church Gwent Senior Cup Winner: 2018/19
2020-2021 Template:Flagicon Lee Waddon
2021-2023 Template:Flagicon Darren Jones
2023-Present Template:Flagicon Steve Davies

Miscellaneous

Club record appearances

Name Position Apps
Template:Flagicon James 'Jimmy' Blackie Defender 378
Template:Flagicon Pat O'Hagan Goalkeeper 350

Top scorers

Season Player Goals
1992–93 Template:Flagicon John Powell 12
1993–94 Template:Flagicon Andrew Clissold 9
1994–95 Template:Flagicon Andrew Mainwaring 28
1995–96 Template:Flagicon Andrew Mainwaring 17
1996–97 Template:Flagicon Mattie Davies

Template:Flagicon Simon Dyer

27

15

1997–98 Template:Flagicon Simon Dyer

Template:Flagicon Mattie Davies

27

22

1998–99 Template:Flagicon Chris Summers

Template:Flagicon Mattie Davies

21

20

1999–00 Template:Flagicon Chris Summers 28
2000–01 Template:Flagicon Mattie Davies

Template:Flagicon Jodie Jenkins

19

18

2001–02 Template:Flagicon Craig Hughes 16
2002–03 Template:Flagicon Chris Summers 10
2003–04 Template:Flagicon Chris Summers 21
2004–05 Template:Flagicon Jason Welsh 14
2005–06 Template:Flagicon Kaid Mohamed 11
2006–07 Template:Flagicon Jodie Jenkins 12
2007–08 Template:Flagicon Jean Black Ngody 10
2008–09 Template:Flagicon Rob Fowler 8
2009–10 Template:Flagicon Steve Hughes 12
2010–11 Template:Flagicon Kristian Powell 13
2011–12 Template:Flagicon Chris Ham 20
2012–13 Template:Flagicon Luke Thomas 19
2013–14 Template:Flagicon Luke Thomas 32
2014–15 Template:Flagicon Chris Pike 9
2015–16 Template:Flagicon Luke Thomas 19
2016–17 Template:Flagicon Owen Llewelyn 33
2017–18 Template:Flagicon Owen Llewelyn 21
2018–19 Template:Flagicon Owen Llewelyn 22
2019–20 Template:Flagicon Dan Pritchard 7*

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Ardal Leagues Template:Welsh Premier League

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