Bala Town F.C.

Bala Town Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Pêl-droed y Bala) is a Welsh football team from Bala, Gwynedd, who play in the Cymru Premier.^[1] They play their home games at Maes Tegid.^[2]

Bala Town

Full name	Bala Town Football Club
Nickname(s)	Lakesiders
Founded	1880; 143 years ago (1880)
Ground	Maes Tegid, Bala
Capacity	3,000 (504 seated)
Chairman	Arwel Roberts
Manager	Colin Caton
League	Cymru Premier
2021–22	Cymru Premier, 2nd of 12
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

History

For a full history see; List of Bala Town FC seasons

Although the current Bala Town was formed in 1880, there is record of a football club competing in the 1877–78 Welsh Cup, losing to Corwen after two replays.^[3] After Bala North End, Bala South End and Bala Thursday's merged, Bala Town's first available league status record is playing in the Welsh National League (North) Division 2 East in the 1921–22 season. Bala Town moved to their current home, Maes Tegid, in the early 1950s and joined the Wrexham Alliance in 1950,^[4] however Bala Town had to wait for more than a century until they were promoted to the second tier of Welsh football, into the Cymru Alliance at the end of the 2003–04 season.^[5] After only four seasons in the Cymru Alliance, Bala Town sealed promoted to the Cymru Premier.^[6]

 

A view of Maes Tegid from the corner

Bala Town secured European football for the first time in their history after a John Irving goal in the 89th minute was enough to see off Port Talbot Town 2–1 to ensure the Lakesiders a European place. Bala Town were drawn against Estonian outfit Levadia Tallinn in the Europa League first qualifying round but after winning the home leg 1–0, they lost 3–1 in the reverse fixture in Tallinn and were eliminated. In the 2014–15 season, the Lakesiders finished second, their highest ever league position, thus qualifying for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League. Bala Town missed out the opportunity of playing Turkish giants Trabzonspor in the 2015–16 Europa League after losing on aggregate to FC Differdange 03 after falling victim to an injury time Differdange goal, however Bala maintained a proud record of a 100% win percentage at "home", playing at Rhyl's Belle Vue stadium due to UEFA stadium requirements on both occasions, in Europe.

After finishing second in the 2015–16 Cymru Premier they followed this success up by winning their first Welsh Cup, beating The New Saints 2–1 in the final ending their 8 trophy winning streak.

Stadium

Main article: Maes Tegid

Bala Town have played at Maes Tegid in Bala since the 1950s. For European matches they use Rhyl's Belle Vue stadium due to UEFA stadium regulations. They lost a 2021–22 Europa Conference League qualifying match at Park Hall to Sligo Rovers on 8 July 2021.^[7]

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Levadia Tallinn	1–0	1–3	2–3
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Differdange	2–1	1–3	3–4
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	AIK	0–2	0–2	0–4
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Vaduz	1–2	0–3	1–5
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	PR	Tre Fiori	1–0	0−3	1–3
2020–21	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Valletta	—	1–0	—
		2Q	Standard Liège	—	0–2	—
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Larne	0–1	0–1	0–2
2022–23	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Sligo Rovers	1–2	1–0 (a.e.t.)	2–2 (3–4 p)

Notes

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

Current squad

As of 1 September 2022^[8]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   WAL Alex Ramsay 2 DF   ENG Calum Woods 4 DF   WAL Nathan Peate 6 DF   ENG Jonny Spittle 7 MF   GNB Lassana Mendes 8 FW   ENG Luke Wall 9 FW   WAL Chris Venables 10 FW   WAL James Davies 11 MF   ENG Kieran Smith 12 FW   ITA Soulayman El Amri 13 GK   ENG Daniel Clark

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF   ENG Antony Kay 18 FW   ENG Paul Rutherford 19 MF   WAL Dave Edwards 20 MF   ENG Bradley Bauress 21 DF   ENG Oliver Southern 22 FW   WAL Adam Roscrow 23 DF   WAL Ross White 27 FW   ENG George Newell 28 DF   WAL Naim Arsan 29 MF   ENG Oliver Shannon 30 GK   WAL Harri Lloyd

Honours

• Cymru Premier:
  • Runners-up (3): 2014–15, 2015–16, 2021–22
• Welsh Cup
  • Winners (1): 2016–17
• Cymru Premier Cup:
  • Runners-up (2): 2013–14, 2014–15
• Cymru Alliance
  • Winners (1): 2008–09
  • Runners-up (2): 2006–07, 2007–08
• Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Premier Division
  • Winners (1): 2003-04
• North East Wales FA Challenge Cup
  • Winners (4): 1971–72, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08
• North East Wales FA Junior (Horace Wynne) Cup
  • Winners (1): 1996–97

References

1. "Welsh Premier profile". Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
2. . Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
3. . Welsh Football Data Archive. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
4. . Welsh Football Data Archive. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
5. . Welsh Football Data Archive. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
6. . Welsh Football data Archive. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
7. Pritchard, Tom (15 June 2021). "TNS, Bala and Newtown discover Europa Conference League opponents". Y Clwb Pêl-droed - Your home for Welsh football. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
8. "Og-title-uefaeuropaconferenceleague-team-squad". Bala Town F.C. Retrieved 5 July 2022.

External links

• Official website
• Welsh Premier Official site – Bala Town page.^{[permanent dead link]}