The Oldest Football Club In Wales

Wales oldest football team are the Cefn Druids Football Club, originally known as Plasmadoc Football Club they are believed to have been formed in 1869, which makes them the oldest football team in the World outside of England.

A few years after they formed, Plasmadoc were renamed as 'The Druids', as several of the local mining and quarry teams from the North Wales area, were amalgamated into one team. Six players from the Druids were selected to play for the Wales national team in their first ever international match when they played Scotland in 1876.

Chelsea Football Club

The Druids joined the Welsh League in 1890, but at that time they were also allowed to compete in English competitions, including the FA Cup, although they never actually won the trophy, they did beat Bolton Wanderers in the fourth round of the competition in 1882/83, before losing to Blackburn in the quarter finals of the cup, who then went onto win the trophy.

The Druids have been more successful in the Welsh cup, winning the trophy eight times, and have been runners up in the competition a total of eleven times, the Druids also became the first team to win the Welsh Cup for three seasons in succession, from seasons 1880-1882.

In total, thirty players from the Druids have represented the Welsh national team, but the last of these was in 1904. With the development of the English league, the Druids suffered as a result, with many of their more talented players opting to leave and play for English teams in the football league.

By 1920 the club were struggling and they formed a combined team with Rhosymedre to become Rhosymedre Druids, they merged again in 1923 with Acrefair United then being known as Druids United, and by 1930 they had dropped out of the Welsh league and began playing in the Wrexham & District League.

There was a slight resurgence for the Druids during the 1950s, and in 1957 reached the Welsh Amateur Cup final, but lost after a replay. The Druids also moved to a new ground at Cefn Mawr, and played a friendly match against a Manchester United team, to commemorate their first match at the new ground, a United team that contained a young player by the name of George Best.

Druids United didn't really improve, and things became worse when a new local team were formed in 1967 by the name of Cefn Albion, an arch rivalry was immediately formed, but this didn't prevent the newly formed Albion team winning several trophies. All talk of a merger was fiercely resisted, until 1992, when both teams were persuaded to merge and formed Cefn Druids Football Club and it was decided at that time they would wear the original the black and white colours of the 1869 Plasmadoc club.

Following new sponsorship and management, Cefn Druids were promoted to the League of Wales in 1999 and in 2002 reached the semi-final of the Welsh Cup, however after narrowly avoiding relegation for two season, they were finally relegated from the Welsh premier league.

The Druids finally departed their home ground of Cefn Mawr after more than fifty years at the beginning of the 2010-11 season, after the construction of a new stadium called 'The Rock' was completed, the stadium has a 2,000 spectator capacity and will hopefully see a new era for the oldest club in Wales.

The Oldest Football Club In Wales

Fulham FC - London's Oldest Professional Football Club

There's a lot more than just longevity to recommend a visit to Craven Cottage, the riverside home of Fulham Football Club since 1896.

Although I lived a long way from London, Fulham were the first team from the higher divisions I 'supported'. They had some fine players then - even though they seemed to yoyo between the top two divisions. Johnny Haynes, Tony Macedo, Tosh Chamberlain, George Cohen - all great players; Haynes one of the greatest ever. Since then, some wonderful players also turned out for the Cottagers at various stages of their careers - Alan Mullery, Bobby Moore, Rodney Marsh, - even George Best. The finest goal I ever saw was scored by Best in a League Cup tie against Peterborough United in September, 1976. He stepped on the ball, flicked it into the air and then volleyed it past the current Manchester United goalkeeper coach, Eric Steele, from 25 yards. Unbelievable.

Chelsea FC

I also remember seeing Fulham play in February, 1992 - in the 'old' third division. There was no Best, Marsh or such like on that day, as they lost 1 - 0 at home to my side, Peterborough, in front of just over 5,000 people, Even then, though, Craven Cottage was a great place to watch a match. The fans there are always passionate about their team and you're close enough to the pitch to be able to feel part of the action. When Fulham received Mohamed Al-Fayed's backing and began to move through the leagues, the club had to upgrade the stadium to meet Premier League standards, but the atmosphere is still better than at most of the 'big' clubs.

I must admit, though, that I sometimes wonder if older Fulham fans sometimes look back a little nostalgically to the days when they could arrive at the ground ten minutes before the kick off, have a reasonably priced pie and then stand wherever they wanted to cheer on players they often met out in town and who didn't earn more in a week than the fans themselves would make in a year or two.

To an outsider, it does always seem as if Fulham has been able to hang on to some of that traditional atmosphere, however. The Cottage is still idiosyncratically there - an absurdity in a modern stadium but an integral part of this one. The recently unveiled statue of Johnny Haynes blends in as people come into the ground, rather than being elevated to god-like status the way so many others have been.

No, despite their wealthy backing, Fulham seem to have stayed as a people's club much more than any of the other London Premier League clubs - even West Ham. Their fans probably still think of Brentford and QPR as their most hated rivals - apart from Gillingham - just as much as Chelsea. And, with an astute, honest and likeable manager in Roy Hodgson, they also have a team that plays attractive yet committed football. If you're looking to go to a game in London, then give Craven Cottage a try - it's well worth it.

And, incidentally, it is a wonderful place to go to watch the Boat Race.

Fulham FC - London's Oldest Professional Football Club