Aberystwyth Town F.C. facts for kids
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| Full name | Aberystwyth Town Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Seasiders Black and Greens |
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| Founded | 1884 | ||
| Ground | Park Avenue, Aberystwyth | ||
| Capacity | 5,000 (1,500 seated) | ||
| Chairman | Donald Kane | ||
| Manager | Antonio Corbisiero | ||
| League | Cymru Premier | ||
| 2021–22 | Cymru Premier, 8th of 12 | ||
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Aberystwyth Town Football Club (in Welsh: Welsh: Clwb Pêl-Droed Tref Aberystwyth) is a Welsh semi-professional football team. They play in the Cymru Premier, which is the top football league in Wales. This club is the only top men's football team in the area of Ceredigion.
The club started in 1884. Their home ground is Park Avenue, Aberystwyth. This stadium can hold 5,000 fans, with 1,000 seats. Aberystwyth Town was one of the first teams to join the Cymru Premier.
The club also has a youth team, Aberystwyth Town Under 19's. They play in the Welsh Premier Development League – South. The women's team plays in the Genero Adran Premier. The club has an academy that helps young players. Many of these players have gone on to play for the main team or even at higher levels.
History of Aberystwyth Town Football Club
How the Club Started
Aberystwyth Town FC officially began in 1884. But there might have been a similar club in the 1870s. Records show a "town" club was restarted in 1876. The club was founded by Arthur Hughes and his brothers, Jack and Hugh. Arthur Hughes was the son of a local lawyer.
Even though football was played in the town since the early 1870s, the official start happened in October 1884. Arthur Hughes put an advertisement in the local newspaper. It asked gentlemen who wanted to join the "Aberystwyth Football Club" to come to a meeting.
It's possible the club stopped playing for a short time after 1884. There is evidence that the Aberystwyth Association Football Club formed again in September 1892. A banquet was held to celebrate the new club. Someone at the banquet said the club started because three friends looked bored after cricket season. He told them to start a football club. They held a meeting, and 40 members joined right away!
In its early days, the club only played friendly matches. They did not join a league until 1896. They played in the Welsh League for one year. Then they went back to playing friendly games. In 1900, Aberystwyth Town won the Welsh Cup. They beat Druids 3–0 in the final. This made them the first team from mid-Wales to win this important trophy.
From 1945 to 2000
The club joined the Welsh League (South) in 1951. They also had a team in the Mid-Wales League. For a while, they played in the Cambrian Coast League too. Aberystwyth returned to the Mid-Wales competition in 1963. They finally won the league championship in 1984. Before that, they had been runners-up six times. They won the title again the next season, both times under manager Meirion Appleton.
In 1987, they went back to the Welsh League (South). They finished as runners-up three times. Then, in 1992, they became founding members of the League of Wales. Aberystwyth finished third in the very first season (1992-93). Aberystwyth Town is one of only two teams that have played in every season of the Cymru Premier. The other team is Newtown.
Manager Meirion Appleton was replaced by Barry Powell after a big 5–0 home loss to Caersws. In the 1998/99 season, the club qualified to represent Wales in the UEFA Intertoto Cup.
Aberystwyth lost 3–4 over two games against Floriana from Malta. Qualifying for Europe brought many changes to Park Avenue. A new BBC studio and TV gantry were added. Then came the new Dias stand. This stand brought the total number of seats in the two stands to almost 600. The Dias stand was named after David "Dias" Williams. He holds the club's scoring record. He scored 476 goals in only 433 games between 1966 and 1983.
The club did not qualify for European football again for a while. But they did get into the FAW Premier Cup competition for the third year in a row. They reached the quarter-finals twice. Barry Powell left the club by agreement.
The 21st Century
Frank Gregan became the new manager at the start of the 2001–02 season. He brought in several players with lots of experience from English football. Town lost in the Welsh Cup to Aberaman Athletic in October 2001. They also had a poor record in away games. They were knocked out of the FAW Premier Cup by Caersws.
Gary Finley took over as player/manager after Gregan left. The team's performance quickly improved. Finley led the club to fourth place in 2003–04. The club qualified for the UEFA InterToto Cup again. However, the club decided to focus on using more local players. Finley left, and David Burrows became the new player/manager. This new plan led to worse results in 2004/05. But the club decided to stick with the Ceredigion player policy. This caused attendance at Park Avenue to drop by almost 40%.
The club faced another problem in December 2004. A serious fire destroyed much of the social club's facilities. This meant the ground could not host cup finals for a while. A new lounge, named the John Charles lounge, was opened in 2005 by his widow, Glenda.
After several average seasons, the Seasiders reached the final of the Welsh Cup in 2009. This was under manager Brian Coyne. However, they lost 2–0 to Bangor City F.C.. Coyne stepped down early the next season. Alan Morgan was appointed as the new boss. The club finished fourth in the 2009–10 season. They just missed out on qualifying for Europe.
In the first season of the Cymru Premier Super 12, Aberystwyth was in the top six for most of the first half. But they ended up in the bottom half of the table at the mid-season split. They finished in seventh place. They beat Airbus in the UEFA Europa League playoff quarter-final. But they lost to Neath F.C. in the semi-final.
In the 2011–12 season, Aberystwyth Town was in the bottom six again. They were fighting to avoid being relegated. After losing to Cymru Alliance team Cefn Druids A.F.C. in the Welsh Cup, Alan Morgan left. Tomi Morgan returned as manager. Under Morgan, the team finished in eighth place. This meant they qualified for the end-of-season Europa League playoffs again. They beat Airbus U.K in the quarter-finals. But they lost to Llanelli in extra time.
The club had a tough day in the 2019–20 season. They lost 10–1 to The New Saints in their second home game. On December 2, 2022, Aberystwyth Town lost 11-0 to The New Saints. This was their biggest defeat ever.
Club Records
Biggest Wins and Losses
- Biggest win: 21–1 against Machynlleth in 1934.
- Biggest defeat: 1–20 against Caersws in 1962.
- Biggest Cymru Premier defeat: 0–11 against The New Saints, on December 2, 2022.
- Biggest League of Wales wins:
- 6–0 against Briton Ferry Athletic and Llanidloes Town, both in 1993.
- 6-0 against Afan Lido, on February 18, 2014.
- 7-1 against Afan Lido, on March 28, 2014.
- 7–1 against Prestatyn, on December 16, 2017.
European Matches
Aberystwyth Town has played in European competitions a few times. Here's how they did:
| Season | Competition | Round | Opponents | 1st Leg | 2nd Leg | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | 1st Round |  Floriana FC |
2–2 | 1–2 | 3–4 |
| 2004 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | 1st Round |  Dinaburg |
0–0 | 0–4 | 0–4 |
| 2014–15 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q |  Derry City |
0–4 | 0–5 | 0–9 |
Players and Staff
Current Squad
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Development Squad
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Club Staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Chairman |  Donald Kane |
| Secretary |  Thomas Crockett |
| Manager |  Antonio Corbisiero |
| Assistant Manager | Bari Morgan |
| Strength and Conditioning Coach | Tomos Wilson |
| Player/Coach | Alex Darlington |
| Player/Coach | Steff Davies |
| Goalkeeper Coach | Dave Owen |
| Physiotherapist | Lucy Jones |
| Physiotherapist | Megan Meredith |
Managers Through the Years
- Angus McLean (Player/Manager) (1951–??)
- Ron Cullum (1974–1977)
- Ron Jones (1977–1979)
- Brian Morris (1979–1980)
- Chris Brown (1980–1981)
- Meirion Appleton (1981–1992)
- Tomi Morgan (1992 – September 1994)
- Meirion Appleton (September 1994 – February 1999)
- Barry Powell (March 1999 – May 2001)
- Frank Gregan (June 2001 – November 2001)
- Gary Finley (November 2001 – August 2004)
- David Burrows (August 2004– November 2005)
- Brian Coyne (November 2005 – September 2009)
- Christian Edwards (interim) (September 2009 – November 2009)
- Alan Morgan (November 2009 – February 2012)
- Tomi Morgan (29 February 2012 – 9 May 2013)
- Ian Hughes (21 May 2013 – 19 April 2016)
- Wyn Thomas (interim) (14 January 2016 – 19 April 2016)
- Matthew Bishop (24 May 2016 – 21 May 2017)
- Tony Pennock (21 May 2017 – 15 June 2017)
- Neville Powell (12 July 2017 – 28 March 2018)
Seamus Heath (28 March 2018 – 9 August 2018)- Neville Powell (3 October 2018 – 27 January 2019)
- Gavin Allen (interim) (27 January 2019 – 24 March 2019)
- Matthew Bishop (24 March 2019 – 15 June 2020)
- Gavin Allen (15 June 2020 – 24 May 2021)
- Antonio Corbisiero (2 June 2021 – 12 May 2022)
- Anthony Williams (28 May 2022 – 8 October 2024)
- Dave Taylor (interim) (9 October 2024 – 12 November 2024)
- Antonio Corbisiero (12 November 2024 – present)
Famous Players
Here are some notable players who have played for Aberystwyth Town:
- Andy Parkinson: Played for many Football League clubs, including Tranmere Rovers in a cup final.
- Conall Murtagh: Played for Wrexham when they were in League 2.
- Tom Bradshaw: Was called up to the Wales national team in 2015. He made his international debut in 2016.
- Christian Edwards: Played for 6 Football League clubs, like Nottingham Forest and Swansea City.
- Gwion Edwards: Currently plays for Morecambe in EFL League One.
- Jack Edwards: Played for Wales.
- John Hughes: Played for Wales twice and for Aberystwyth from 1873–79.
- Marc Lloyd-Williams: The top scorer of all time in the Cymru Premier, with 319 goals.
- Dr. Robert Mills-Roberts: A Welsh international goalkeeper in the 1880s and 1890s.
- Grenville Morris: Played for Wales while at the club. Later moved to Swindon Town and Nottingham Forest.
- Charlie Parry: Played for Wales 13 times before joining the club in 1899. He won the Welsh Cup with Aberystwyth in 1900.
- Ernest Peake: A Welsh international who later played for Liverpool.
- Leigh Richmond Roose: This goalkeeper was chosen to play for Wales while playing for Aberystwyth in 1900.
- Wyn Thomas: Holds the record for most appearances in the Cymru Premier with over 500 games.
- Alex Samuel: A Welsh under-19 international who plays for Wycombe Wanderers in the EFL Championship.
- Daniel Alfei: Joined the club after leaving Swansea City in 2016. Later played for EFL League Two team Yeovil Town.
- Alan Goodall: Played over 300 games in the English Football League. He played for clubs like Chesterfield and Morecambe.
- Rhys Norrington-Davies: A Sheffield United player currently on loan at Stoke City and a Wales international.
Alhagi Touray Sisay: Played for Aberystwyth five times in 2020. He then moved to EFL League Two team Grimsby Town.- Geoff Kellaway: A club legend who played over 350 games for the club over 15 years.
- Owain Jones: Joined the club in 2020. He previously played for Swansea City and Yeovil Town.
Images for kids
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The official logo of Aberystwyth Town Football Club.
See also
In Spanish: Aberystwyth Town Football Club para niños
