Newtown A.F.C.

For the Irish football club, see Newtown F.C. (County Clare).

Newtown Association Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Pêl-droed Y Drenewydd) is a Welsh football club based in Newtown, Powys, which plays in the Cymru Premier. Newtown are one of only two clubs that can claim unbroken membership of the league since its formation in 1992, with the other club being Aberystwyth Town.

Newtown

Full name	Newtown Association Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Robins
Founded	1875; 148 years ago (1875)
Ground	Latham Park
Capacity	5,000 (1,300 seated)^[1]
Chairman	Nick Evans
Manager	Chris Hughes
League	Cymru Premier
2022–23	Cymru Premier, 6th of 12
Home colours Away colours

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 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][3][4][citation needed]}

The club plays at Latham Park, Newtown, which accommodates 5,000 spectators. They are the only top flight football club in Powys.

History

For a full history see; List of football seasons involving Newtown AFC and its predecessor clubs

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 and 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 League of Wales. Since then it has finished runners-up in the league in both 1995–96 and 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 Cymru 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 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 White Stars 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.^[5]

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

Honours

Welsh Cup Winners: 1878–79, 1894–95 Runner-up: 1880–81, 1885–86, 1887–88, 1896–97, 2014–15 League Cup Runner-up: 2011/12 League of Wales Runner-up: 1995–96, 1997–98 Welsh Amateur Cup Winners: 1954–55 Mid Wales League Winners: 2008–09 (Reserves) Ladies Welsh Cup Finalists: 2003–04 Mid Wales League Winners: 1975–76, 1978–79, 1981–82, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1995–96 (Reserves) Summer Cup Winners: 1994–95, 1995–96 Mid Wales South League Winners: 1981–82, 1983–84 (Reserves)

Arthur Barritt Cup Winners: 1986–87 Welsh Intermediate Cup Finalists: 1985–86, 1987–88 Central Wales Cup Winners: 1992–93, 1993–94 Central Wales Floodlit Cup Winners: 1994–95 Mid Wales League Cup Winners: 1994–95, 1997–98 Montgomeryshire Cup Winners: 1936–37, 1968–69, 1947–48, 1949–50, 1951–52, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1978–79, 1981–82, 1995–96 Radnorshire Cup Winners: 1980–81 (Reserves) Finalists: 1969–70, 1986–87 (Reserves) UEFA Cup/Europa League Preliminary round qualifiers: 1996–97, 1998–99, 2015–16 Shropshire League Winners: 1892–93

Current squad

As of 7 August 2023^[6]

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 Andy Wycherley 3 DF   WAL Callum Roberts 4 DF   WAL Ryan Sears 5 DF   WAL Kieron Mills-Evans 6 DF   WAL Shane Sutton 8 MF   WAL Rob Evans 9 FW   ENG Jason Oswell 10 FW   ENG Louis Robles

No. Pos. Nation Player 11 FW   ENG Zeli Ismail 12 FW   ENG Devon Torry 14 FW   ENG Aaron Williams 16 MF   ENG Dylan Downs 17 MF   ENG Henry Cowans 18 MF   WAL Mathew Jones 27 DF   WAL Dominic Smith

Technical staff

Position	Name
Manager	Chris Hughes
Assistant manager	Callum McKenzie
Goalkeeping coach	Andy Roberts
First-team coach	Matty Lewis
Physio	Andy Pellow
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 in UEFA competition five times.

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	Wisła Kraków	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
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Dundalk	0–1	0–4	0–5
2022–23	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	HB Tórshavn	2–1 (a.e.t.)	0–1	2–2 (4–2 p)
		2Q	Spartak Trnava	1–2	1–4	2–6

Notes

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

Name	Competition	Goals
Jason Oswell	UEFA Europa League	2
Tom Goodwin	UEFA Europa League	1
Matty Owen	UEFA Europa League	1
Luke Boundford	UEFA Europa League	1
Romilly Brown	UEFA Cup	1

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

League Record

Season	League	Position	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1959–60	Mid Wales League	7th	26	12	5	9	73	54	29
1960–61	Mid Wales League	6th	24	10	3	11	64	42	23
1961–62	Mid Wales League	6th	20	10	2	8	54	42	22
1962–63	Mid Wales League	7th	22	11	2	9	49	52	24
1963–64	Mid Wales League	8th	24	9	4	11	51	62	22
1964–65	Mid Wales League	6th	24	10	4	10	64	49	24
1965–66	Mid Wales League	9th	26	9	7	10	60	62	25
1966–67	Mid Wales League	8th	26	12	3	11	60	56	27
1967–68	Mid Wales League	4th	26	15	3	8	76	49	33
1968–69	Mid Wales League	4th	26	15	6	5	68	39	36
1969–70	Mid Wales League	11th	30	10	4	16	62	73	24
1970–71	Mid Wales League	11th	28	6	7	15	46	77	19
1971–72	Mid Wales League	11th	26	5	9	12	34	50	19
1972–73	Mid Wales League	13th	26	3	6	17	—	—	12
1973–74	Mid Wales League	11th	26	7	5	14	32	48	19
1974–75	Mid Wales League	2nd	26	18	4	4	—	—	40
1975–76	Mid Wales League	1st	28	20	3	5	86	33	43
1976–77	Mid Wales League	4th	28	15	3	10	54	45	33
1977–78	Mid Wales League	7th	28	9	10	9	50	43	28
1978–79	Mid Wales League	1st	30	25	2	3	77	22	52
1979–80	Mid Wales League	3rd	30	19	3	8	68	40	41
1980–81	Mid Wales League	3rd	26	16	5	5	53	18	37
1981–82	Mid Wales League	1st	26	21	3	2	77	24	45
1982–83	Mid Wales League	2nd	22	12	7	3	52	25	31
1983–84	Mid Wales League	6th	28	14	8	6	67	38	36
1984–85	Mid Wales League	5th	28	13	7	8	70	53	33
1985–86	Mid Wales League	3rd	26	15	6	5	65	30	36
1986–87	Mid Wales League	1st	24	20	2	2	67	16	42
1987–88	Mid Wales League	1st	24	20	2	2	72	21	42
1988–89	NPL First Division	9th	42	15	12	15	65	59	57
1989–90	NPL First Division	14th	42	14	12	16	49	62	54
1990–91	NPL First Division	13th	42	13	12	17	68	75	51
1991–92	NPL First Division	14th	42	15	6	21	60	95	51
1992–93	League of Wales	18th	38	9	9	20	55	87	36
1993–94	League of Wales	6th	38	18	9	11	52	48	63
1994–95	League of Wales	4th	38	20	8	10	78	47	68
1995–96	League of Wales	2nd	40	23	11	6	69	25	80
1996–97	League of Wales	5th	40	22	5	13	74	49	71
1997–98	League of Wales	2nd	38	23	9	6	101	47	78
1998–99	League of Wales	6th	32	13	10	9	45	35	49
1999–00	League of Wales	8th	34	14	6	14	49	41	48
2000–01	League of Wales	4th	34	18	4	12	68	37	58
2001–02	League of Wales	13th	34	9	11	14	35	44	38
2002–03	Welsh Premier League	10th	34	12	6	16	48	54	42
2003–04	Welsh Premier League	10th	32	12	5	15	43	50	41
2004–05	Welsh Premier League	10th	34	13	7	14	49	55	46
2005–06	Welsh Premier League	16th	34	10	6	18	42	61	31
2006–07	Welsh Premier League	16th	32	6	6	20	30	63	24
2007–08	Welsh Premier League	13th	34	9	10	15	47	66	37
2008–09	Welsh Premier League	10th	34	10	10	14	46	54	40
2009–10	Welsh Premier League	13th	34	10	11	13	54	57	41
2010–11	Welsh Premier League	9th	32	8	11	13	40	55	35
2011–12	Welsh Premier League	12th	32	7	5	20	44	82	23
2012–13	Welsh Premier League	9th	32	10	7	15	44	54	37
2013–14	Welsh Premier League	5th	32	12	6	14	46	58	42
2014–15	Welsh Premier League	6th	32	10	8	14	52	65	38
2015–16	Welsh Premier League	5th	32	11	9	12	46	54	42
2016–17	Welsh Premier League	7th	32	12	9	11	59	41	45
2017–18	Welsh Premier League	8th	32	12	4	16	52	55	40
2018-19	Welsh Premier League	5th	32	13	7	12	53	56	46
2019-20	Cymru Premier	6th	25^[a]	10	5	10	25	30	35
2020-21	Cymru Premier	7th	32	12	6	14	57	53	42

1. League was suspended on 13th March due to COVID-19 pandemic

References

1. "Newtown AFC | Latham Park | Football Ground Guide".
2. "Welsh Newspapers Online ----THE WELSH CHAMPION FOOTBALL TEAM.|1895-04-27|The Montgomery County Times and Shropshire and Mid-Wales Advertiser - Welsh Newspapers Online". newspapers.library.wales. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
3. "[No title]|1879-09-13|Wrexham Guardian - Welsh Newspapers". newspapers.library.wales. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
4. "The Popularity of Football |1893-04-18| The Montgomeryshire Express and Radnor Times - Welsh Newspapers". newspapers.library.wales. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
5. http://welsh-premier.com/rel_club.php?cid=13. 2016-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
6. "First Team". Newtown AFC. Retrieved 7 August 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Whitestars website