1996–97 League of Wales

The 1996–97 League of Wales was the fifth season of the League of Wales since its establishment in 1992.^[1] The league was won for the second consecutive season by Barry Town, who accrued a record total of 105 points. Their total of 129 goals scored was also a record until they broke it by five goals the following year.

League of Wales

Season	1996–97
Champions	Barry Town
Relegated	Ton Pentre Holywell Town Briton Ferry Athletic
Champions League	Barry Town
UEFA Cup	Inter Cardiff
Cup Winners' Cup	Cwmbran Town
Intertoto Cup	Ebbw Vale
Matches played	420
Goals scored	1,396 (3.32 per match)
Top goalscorer	Tony Bird (42)
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

For the first time, the League champions competed in the subsequent Champions League.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Barry Town (C)	40	33	6	1	129	26	+103	105	Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2	Inter Cardiff	40	26	6	8	80	32	+48	84	Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Ebbw Vale	40	23	9	8	87	40	+47	78	Qualification for Intertoto Cup group stage
4	Caernarfon Town	40	23	9	8	81	58	+23	78
5	Newtown	40	22	5	13	74	49	+25	71
6	TNS Llansantffraid	40	19	12	9	78	54	+24	69
7	Conwy United	40	20	8	12	66	44	+22	68
8	Bangor City	40	20	5	15	82	62	+20	65
9	Cwmbran Town	40	19	8	13	71	61	+10	65	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round^[a]
10	Porthmadog	40	18	8	14	64	60	+4	62
11	Connah's Quay Nomads	40	16	9	15	62	64	−2	57
12	Cemaes Bay	40	13	10	17	62	72	−10	49
13	Aberystwyth Town	40	13	8	19	67	82	−15	47
14	Caersws	40	11	9	20	53	77	−24	42
15	Flint Town United	40	11	8	21	48	76	−28	41
16	Carmarthen Town	40	11	7	22	41	79	−38	40
17	Welshpool Town	40	10	9	21	50	80	−30	39
18	Ton Pentre (R)	40	12	3	25	59	99	−40	39	Relegation to Welsh Division One^[b]
19	Rhyl	40	10	8	22	51	71	−20	38
20	Holywell Town (R)	40	7	8	25	52	81	−29	29	Relegation to Cymru Alliance
21	Briton Ferry Athletic (R)	40	5	1	34	39	129	−90	16	Relegation to Welsh Division One

Source: ^[1]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. As 1996–97 Welsh Cup runners-up
2. Although they finished outside the relegation zone, Ton Pentre resigned from the League of Wales to play in Division 2 South

Results

Home \ Away	ABE	BAN	BAR	BRI	CAE	CWS	CMR	CEM	CQN	CON	CWM	EBB	FTU	HOL	INC	NTW	POR	RHY	TNS	TON	WEL
Aberystwyth Town		1–2	1–4	3–1	4–5	1–2	2–0	6–2	3–3	0–1	4–1	2–3	2–0	1–2	0–1	1–0	3–0	2–1	1–2	2–3	2–2
Bangor City	5–1		0–4	1–0	0–2	2–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	1–2	0–1	4–2	3–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	3–0	0–2	8–1	4–0
Barry Town	8–1	0–0		4–0	5–2	4–0	6–0	4–3	2–0	5–0	3–0	7–3	2–0	1–0	3–0	3–1	1–0	6–1	3–3	7–1	4–0
Briton Ferry Athletic	1–3	3–2	0–4		2–5	2–2	0–2	2–1	0–1	2–4	1–4	0–2	3–1	4–3	1–4	2–5	1–2	0–3	1–8	0–2	1–2
Caernarfon Town	2–2	1–4	1–3	6–2		3–2	2–1	1–1	3–1	3–3	2–3	1–0	0–0	3–0	0–1	3–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–1
Caersws	0–1	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–2		1–4	0–1	0–2	2–6	3–1	0–5	1–5	2–1	1–1	0–3	2–2	2–0	1–1	0–3	2–0
Carmarthen Town	0–4	1–5	1–1	2–0	1–3	2–3		2–4	1–0	0–2	2–3	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–3	0–2	2–1	0–0	0–4	2–3
Cemaes Bay	1–1	3–2	1–2	4–2	1–1	0–1	1–3		1–2	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–2	3–3	1–4	0–1	0–3	1–1	0–1	5–1	1–0
Connah's Quay Nomads	4–1	2–4	1–4	2–0	1–0	1–1	3–1	5–3		0–3	1–5	0–3	0–1	0–0	0–3	4–0	3–3	4–1	0–1	1–0	3–0
Conwy United	4–0	1–0	0–1	6–0	0–1	2–0	2–0	0–0	3–0		1–1	2–2	1–1	0–3	1–0	2–0	0–1	3–2	1–1	2–0	2–0
Cwmbran Town	6–0	1–3	0–4	2–3	1–1	2–1	2–2	2–2	0–1	3–1		0–1	1–2	2–1	2–1	1–3	2–1	4–4	3–1	3–1	2–1
Ebbw Vale	4–0	2–2	1–1	4–0	3–1	3–1	4–0	0–0	1–3	1–0	3–0		0–1	5–0	3–1	0–1	4–0	3–1	2–2	3–0	4–0
Flint Town United	0–1	3–4	0–8	3–1	0–3	1–1	4–0	1–3	0–2	0–1	2–4	0–1		2–1	0–2	1–3	2–3	3–2	1–1	2–1	1–1
Holywell Town	3–3	0–4	0–0	3–1	1–4	3–2	0–1	1–1	3–4	1–4	0–1	1–1	0–1		0–3	1–3	5–0	2–3	1–3	3–1	2–3
Inter Cardiff	1–0	4–1	1–2	7–0	6–1	3–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	3–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–0		1–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	3–0	3–4
Newtown	2–1	2–0	0–3	3–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	6–2	0–0	1–0	0–1	2–2	5–1	1–1	0–1		3–0	1–1	0–3	0–3	1–0
Porthmadog	2–2	2–0	1–4	2–0	0–0	1–3	0–0	2–4	2–0	3–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	4–1	0–2	0–4		6–0	4–1	2–1	1–2
Rhyl	0–2	1–2	1–2	4–0	1–1	1–1	4–0	0–1	3–1	1–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–0	3–1	0–1		1–3	2–1	0–1
TNS Llansantffraid	3–2	4–1	1–0	3–0	2–3	3–2	3–3	1–2	2–2	3–1	0–1	3–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–3	0–2	0–1		4–2	2–0
Ton Pentre	1–1	4–3	0–2	3–2	2–3	2–2	0–1	1–2	4–3	1–0	0–3	1–1	3–0	1–0	0–3	1–7	3–4	1–3	1–2		4–3
Welshpool Town	0–0	3–2	1–2	4–0	0–3	0–4	1–3	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	2–2	2–2	1–4	1–3	1–1	2–1	1–1	6–1

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

References

1. "Wales 1996/97". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 31 August 2021.