Pontypridd Town A.F.C.

Pontypridd Town Association Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Dragons
Founded	1992
Ground	USW Sport Park
Chairman	Phillip Gibb
Manager	Dominic Broad
League	Welsh Football League Division Two
2016–17	Welsh Football League Division Two, 2nd in Division Two 2017/2018
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Pontypridd Town AFC is a Welsh football club, based in the town of Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf. The club was formed in 1992 after merging with another team, Ynysybwl. The club plays in the Welsh Football League.

The club is currently managed by Dominic Broad, assisted by Damien Broad.

Recent history

In April 2006, former Cardiff City player Ryan Nicholls earned success at the first attempt as The Dragons of Pontypridd beat Cardiff Corries 4–1 at Ynysangharad Park to secure promotion (for the 2006/2007 season) to the Welsh Football League 1st Division. Nicholls also took The Dragons to Round Four of the prestigious FAW Welsh National Cup. Earlier in the competition they had knocked out the Division 2 and Division 1 champions (Pontardawe Town & Ton Pentre) as well as the biggest giantkilling of the season – a 1–0 home win over Vauxhall Master Welsh Premier League side Aberystwyth Town.

The team manager for the 2007/08 season was Mal Camilleri but after the club's successive relegations down to Division 3, the club was on the brink of collapse. Discussions between Pontypridd Town and Treforest began with a view to a merger however stark opposition from the amateur league prevented the merger from happening. At the 11th hour the club received support from local businessman Clayton Jones and was saved. In 2009 Cardiff businessman Phil Gibb joined the club and Allan Davies was appointed as Manager. Davies was an experienced defender who also coached at Graig FC in 2008 and previously spent ten years at Burton Albion where he played under Nigel Clough before joining Worcester then Gresley.

In the 2010/11 season the team started erratically, but from January they were on fire losing just 2 out of 20 games and they were on top of the table for more than 2 months. In the last week of the season, although they won the last game, they missed out on promotion to Division 2 on goal difference.

Pontypridd Town gained promotion to the Division One of the Welsh League in May 2018 after a 3–1 win at fellow promotion hopefuls Ammanford Town. The title passed the club by as Llantwit Major clinched the title in their last game of the season. This means that for the first time in a decade and a half, Pontypridd Town will play at the second tier of Welsh domestic football.

The club were forced to move from their Ynysangharad Park home ground for the 2017/18 season to University of South Wales Sports Park in nearby Nantgarw. Unfortunately the club were forced to move once more to meet new Tier 2 requirements and will be playing out of Cardiff Athletics Stadium at Leckwith until such time when the new ground at the University of South Wales Sports Park is ready.

A new chapter

2013/14 season started with a change of management, Dominic Broad was appointed Manager, bringing in his brother Damien Broad as his Assistant Manager and Sam Houldsworth as First Team Coach. A week before the season started the club only has 2 signed players, the others having followed Allan Davies out of the club. They quickly set about signing enough players to field a team for the first match and set themselves the target of maintaining Welsh League status, which they achieved by finishing 15th that year.

On 29 July 2014, Ponty played a pre-season friendly against Valencia CF Mestalla, the second team of Spanish La Liga giants Valencia CF. In the run-up to the game, TalkSPORT radio presenter Colin Murray picked up on news of the match as it gathered national media attention and decided to come and watch the game, inviting any of his listeners to join him. Well over 100 people from around the UK booked their flights to Valencia and spent 3 days supporting the club in what became known as the Ponty Party. After a valiant performance against this professional team, Ponty came away with an impressive 3–0 defeat.^[1]

In the summer of 2015, Assistant Manager Damien Broad took over the Manager's position from his brother Dominic due to work commitments; Dominic remained as Player/Assistant Manager. On 29 July 2015, exactly a year after the Valencia game, the club repeated it's feat by securing another high-profile friendly in Spain, this time against Deportivo de La Coruña.

In January 2016 Manager Damien Broad left the club having secured a prestigious coaching role with Manchester City based in China. Dominic Broad returned as Manager and lead the club to the Division 3 title, breaking the club record for most wins in a season (25) and goalkeeper Ryan Griffiths breaking the club record for most Clean Sheets (14).

The talkSPORT Trophy

On 11 May 2016, almost 1,600 supporters from around the UK gathered in Ynysangharad Park to see Ponty Town take on the talkSPORT All Stars. The brainchild of Dominic Broad and talksSPORT Radio presenter Colin Murray, the match saw a team of ex. professional footballers, other sportsmen and celebrities descend on Pontypridd in the inaugural talkSPORT Trophy. The All Stars fielded names including Danny Murphy, Dietmar Hamann, Danny Gabbidon, Simon Davies, Matthew Etherington, Micky Grey, Perry Groves, Martyn Williams, Mike Tindall, Sonny Pike, Max Rushden and Colin Murray. Ponty Town won the game 3–1 with goals from Luke Gullick, Scott Hillman and Omar Abdillahi, with a consolation penalty coming in the last minute for the All Stars' Micky Grey.

Welsh League Division Three title

After a successful 2015/16 The Dragons sealed the Division Three title in May 2016 after a 2–0 victory away at Tredegar Town. The Dragons lifted the prestigious trophy the following week away at Bridgend Street and won the accolade for the first time in the club's history.

2016/17

After their title winning season, Pontypridd Town started this season in Division Two of the Welsh Football League and have made several changes in and around their management team. Damien Broad has returned in a Head Coach role at the club alongside spending his days working at Bristol City's prestigious youth academy, whilst Welsh League veteran Phil Clay came in to replace Sam Houldsworth as Assistant Manager.

The club harbour a goal of becoming the first football team from the Rhondda Cynon Taf area to play in the Welsh Premier League.

First-team squad 2017/2018

As of 23 May 2018^[2]

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

No. Position Player GK David Burnett GK Callum Meyer DF Scott Hillman DF Jack Wheeler DF Nyran Bird DF Zac Iheanacho DF Bo Cordle DF Rhys Carr DF Bobby Briers DF Dominic Broad

No. Position Player MF Rhys McCarthy MF Tom Milton MF Aiden Lewis MF Mike Thomas MF Jamal Easter FW Luke Gullick FW Gavin Beddard FW James Hill FW Adam Johns FW Andrew Smith FW Gareth Hole

Honours

Welsh Football League

• Division 3 Winners: 2015–16
• Division 2 Promotion: 2017–18

Final league positions

References

External links

• Official website