Nodiadau Ebrill 2001 /
April 2001 Notes
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BARRY TOWN 14/04/01 A WARM WELCOME to the Barry Town
club, including their very active and loyal band of supporters who usually
make their presence felt at away grounds as you will see for yourselves. It must be quite an experience to support
a club with such a fine record over the last few years of which you are all
well aware. Their remarkable performances since election to the LoW have not
been achieved by coincidence or luck but I would suggest by the professional
outlook of the club. And dare I say, the obvious
increase in standards in our League since 1992 is not entirely unrelated to
what our visitors have achieved in these years. The current standings in the League Table clearly demonstrate
that other teams are beginning to match our illustrious visitors in their professionalism. Unlike in previous years when the Dragons
would have wrapped up the championship by the end of March, with teams being
unable to cope with their professional structure, you will note that with
just a handful of games to go the League title is still there for grabs. And, of course, last year TNS won the
championship. I could mention, however, that
this tangible improvement by teams within our League could also be attributed
to the establishment of the FAW Premier Cup. Through this, teams like
ourselves have had the opportunity of meeting fully professional outfits,
though not always against the complete first X1s of the Nationwide
clubs. But what about the situation at
grass roots level? Not quite such a
rosy scene, I may venture to say. I do feel standards are nowhere near what
they were. Our Reserve Team operates
in the CC Sports Welsh League Reserve Division which I feel may not have the
playing ability of teams in the Carmarthenshire or Pembrokeshire Premier
Divisions, but the Welsh League certainly comes out on top for their
professional approach and ground facilities. I could quote an incident last week when our reserve Team
played a Mond Cup match against a local league side with K.O. timed at 2.00
pm, but on arriving at 1.00pm there was no sign of anybody, with no nets in
place, no dressing rooms open. The K.O. eventually took place at 2.35pm. This unprofessional approach does not lend
itself to increasing standards and whilst a Carmarthenshire League official
told me once that it is important to keep the fun element in the game, I feel
a more responsible attitude is needed to increase standards. There is an abundance of clubs at local
level these days with even some village clubs having reserve teams as well.
Good talent being thinly spread over a wide area rather than being
concentrated within a fewer number of teams does not help to improve these
standards. The local league, of course, is
primarily for local players to enjoy a game of football – a point with which
I totally agree. I also agree that everyone who wants to play football should
have a game despite regardless of ability. but I fear that some are there
merely ‘for the beer’. All clubs
should conduct themselves in a professional manner which will be to the
benefit of not only the talented players but also those who are not so
gifted. AS I EXCLUSIVELY reported last
week (!), the Intertoto Cup draw was made on Tuesday and in fact the
mouthwatering prospect for the eventual qualifiers in Wales, is a match in
Sweden. Not a bad draw – so let’s go
for it boys! Enjoy today’s game! NEWTOWN AFC 07/04/01 A GOOD
AFTERNOON to you all, including our visitors from Newtown, and especially the Robins’ Junior
Department who have been in competition with our youngsters earlier this
morning. Indeed, the visit of Newtown to
Richmond Park today prompts me to cast my thoughts towards Europe! As you know the League champions qualify
for the European Champions’ Cup, the second placed team for the UEFA Cup, and
the third placed team for the Intertoto Cup.
And dare I say that both Carmarthen and Newtown are contenders for the
latter competition at least, given our current League positions. This is the case unless the following
situation occurs : should Cwmbran win the League and Barry come second and
win the Welsh Cup, then the third placed team would qualify for the UEFA Cup
and the fourth placed team for the Intertoto Cup. An unlikely scenario, you
may say, but football is a very funny old game – and who knows! For your information, the UEFA Intertoto
Cup will begin on 16/17 June and the draw takes place at Nyon as early as
next Tuesday. No doubt the competition has increased in stature, not least
for the reason that the three best placed teams at the end of the competition
will qualify for the UEFA Cup which has attracted entries from the big guns,
such as England, France and Spain. So
there is everything to play for. Once again, the counter
productivity relating to the LoW in
the Welsh press has reared its ugly head and this in the Western Mail of all papers.
A report on Wrexham’s 1-0 defeat at Brentford last Saturday concluded
with a reference to Lee Trundle, whose goal rush with Wrexham had seemingly
come to a hall, He was beginning to learn that scoring goals in the Football
League is a different ball game from scoring in the LoW. This patronisation of the game in England
at the expense of the game in Wales is appalling but I noted that no reporter
had appended his name to the report and it may have come from the Press
Agency which I find surprising. I can
assure that the Press Agencies this Club comes to contact with in South
Wales, such as the Celtic, Mid Glamorgan and Hills Press Agencies are
extremely professional in their reporting with balanced views and without
antagonism. AND FINALLY a note on our guest
contributor this week - Peter Davies, who has written an extremely
interesting article which will be of particular interest to supporters from
Ceredigion. Peter who is employed as a County Executive Officer with the
Farmers Union of Wales has quite a high media prfile, especially on TV and is
easily recognisable here at Richmond Park when he attends matches, usually in
mid week. He is still playing in the
Cardiganshire League after 28 years – quite a record, don’t you tthink. Even though Peter has been fully committed
to the Llandysul club for the last 20 years as a Chairman, Secretary and a
Player, he did in fact play for Ffostrasol in the 70s during that Club’s
golden era when they won many League titles. They particularly excelled in
1974-5 when he was a member of the team that not only won the Championship
but also five cups, including, may I say, the Mond Cup. As Peter writes, our Club is indeed
indebted to the Cardiganshire League’s contribution to our Club over the
years. |