Newtown A.F.C.

Newtown

Full name	Newtown Association Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Robins
Founded	1875 (1875)
Ground	Latham Park Newtown Powys
Capacity	5,000 (1,300 seated)[1]
Chairman	Howard Ellis
Manager	Chris Hughes
League	Welsh Premier League
2017–18	Welsh Premier League, 8th
Home colours Away colours

Newtown Association Football Club is a Welsh football club based in Newtown, Powys, which plays in the Welsh Premier League. Newtown are one of only two clubs that can claim unbroken membership of the league since its formation in 1992, with the 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 ever 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] The club plays at Latham Park, Newtown, which accommodates 5,000 spectators.

History

Newtown White Stars won the Welsh Cup in 1879 and were losing finalists in 1881. Newtown AFC won the cup again in 1895, but this was the last national trophy won for sixty years, until the Welsh Amateur Cup was won in 1955. The first match was played at what is now Latham Park in 1951, and the ground has since been brought up to a standard which makes it fully eligible to stage big games such as cup semi-finals, Welsh Cup finals, UEFA Youth Internationals, Women's International matches and UEFA Cup matches.

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 & 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 Konica League of Wales. Since then it has finished runners-up in the league in both 1995–96 & 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 Welsh 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 ever 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 Whitestars 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.^[3]

In 2014 Newtown became the 2nd Welsh Premier League club, after The New Saints, to change their grass turf for a 3G pitch. During the 2014/15 season Newtown finished in the top 6 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 season, but were beaten 3–2 away to Bangor City.

Honours

Current squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Dave Jones 2 DF Joe Kenton 3 DF Ryan Sears (on loan from Shrewsbury Town) 4 DF Leon Clowes 5 DF Kieron Mills-Evans 6 MF Jay Denny 7 FW Neil Mitchell 8 FW Nick Rushton 9 FW Luke Boundford 10 FW Jamie Reed 12 MF Jojo Harries 13 GK Jack Perry

No. Position Player 15 MF Jamie Price 16 DF Sam Litchfield 18 MF Ryan Kershaw 19 DF Craig Williams (Captain) 20 MF Tom Goodwin 22 MF Craig Williams 23 MF Elliot Williams 24 MF Iwan Cartwright 25 MF Will Evans 27 DF Jordan Jones — DF Callum Roberts (on loan from Shrewsbury Town) MF Damien Allen

Technical staff

Position	Name
Manager	Chris Hughes
Assistant Manager	Callum McKenzie
Goalkeeping Coach	Andy Roberts
First Team Coach	Gavin Cadwallader
Physio	Sophie Love
Kit Man	Dave Rose

Managers

• Brian Coyne (1992–03)
• Roger Preece (2003–06)
• Darren Ryan (2006–10)
• Andy Cale (2010–11)
• Darren Ryan (2011)
• Bernard McNally (2011–13)
• Chris Hughes (2013–)

Europe

Newtown have participated three times in the UEFA Cup/Europa League.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1996–97	UEFA Cup	PR	Skonto FC	1–4	0–3	1–7
1998–99	UEFA Cup	1Q	Wisla Krakow	0–0	0–7	0–7
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Valletta	2–1	2–1	4–2
		2Q	Copenhagen	1–3	0–2	1–5

Notes

• PR: Preliminary round
• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round

Rivalries

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 Welsh Premier League Newtown have derby matches against fellow Mid-Wales clubs Aberystwyth Town and The New Saints.

League Record

Notable Former Players

• Harry Beadles
• Mickey Brown
• Thomas Chapman
• Andy Cooke
• George Latham
• Dickie Morris
• Jason Oswell
• Charlie Parry
• Marc Lloyd Williams
• Mark Williams
• Ian Woan

References

External links

• Official website
• Newtown history and info from 1960, Keith Harding