Llanelli Town - Stebonheath Park

Llanelli Town AFC

Stebonheath Park

Evans Terrace

Llanelli

Carmarthenshire

SA15 1EY

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 1502

Friday 21st November 2025

Llanelli Town 0-6 Barry Town United

Welsh Cup 3rd Round

LLANELLI TOWN AFC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The first incarnation of the club was established in 1896 and was known as LLANELLY, the anglicised name of the town at the time. They played mainly friendlies before joining the Southern League in 1912. Achievements here include finishing as runners-up behind Exeter City II in the 1931 Western Division and finishing 5th in the Premier Division in 1951. By this time, they were alternating between the English and Welsh league systems, moving to Wales full-time in 1957 after finishing bottom of the Southern League. They won the Welsh League Division 2 West (Step 2) in 1958. Whilst the Welsh League Division 1 was the joint-top Division in Wales, they won it six times. 

They changed their name to LLANELLI in 1966 and became founder members of the League of Wales in 1992. Four unremarkable seasons were spent here before relegation to the Welsh League Division 1 in 1996. Two runners-up spots and a third-place finish in three years saw them go back up in 1999, where they achieved a 5th place finish at the turn of the millennium. Llanelli were relegated again in 2003 but were promoted straight back the following year as Welsh League D1 champions. After a season of stabilisation, the club entered upon the most successful period of their history. Between 2005 & 2010, they finished 3rd, achieved three runners-up spots and were Welsh champions in 2009. Following this period, two more 4th place finishes were achieved.

In the final season of the old club, they had three winding-up petitions issued against them by HMRC. The club were wound up in April 2013 over an unpaid tax debt amounting to £21,000.  They were reformed over the summer, and the new LLANELLI TOWN were officially considered as a successor club to the old one. They started in the Welsh League Division 3, at step 4 of the Welsh League system. Following a 6th-place finish in their debut season, they were champions in 2015. Llanelli Town won Division 2 in 2017 and Division 1 the following year. They finished bottom of the Welsh Premier in 2020 and were relegated to the Cymru South. Following three runners-up spots, the club won the title earlier this year to return to the Cymru Premier for this season.

Llanelli entered the FA Cup regularly until 1988. They took Bristol Rovers to two 1st Round replays in 1950 and made their record progress to the 2nd Round two years later, losing 3-2 to Colchester United. They won the Welsh Cup in 2011, beating Bangor City 4-1, and in 2008, they won the Welsh League Cup in 2008, beating Rhyl 2-0. Other cup wins include two Welsh League (South) cups and ten West Wales Senior Cups. Llanelli had seven consecutive seasons in Europe between 2006 & 2012. Notable achievements include beating Swedish outfit Gefle IF over two legs in the 2006 UEFA Cup, holding Lithuanian side FK Vetra to a 6-6 draw over two legs in the 2007 Intertoto Cup following a 5-3 home win and winning 1-0 at Motherwell in the 2009 UEFA Europa League. In the 2011 version, Llanelli were drawn against Dinamo Tbilisi. The first leg was played at Parc Y Scarlets. Llanelli, who were missing 5 key players, stunned the Georgians by taking the game 2–1, with a brace coming from Jordan Follows. Tbilisi pulled a goal back in stoppage time with a penalty. The Reds approached the second leg with confidence, key players returning and a 2–1 advantage. Hopes of progressing were quickly dashed as a rampant Tbilisi side knocked in 5 goals without reply. Llanelli went out 6–2 on aggregate.

Llanelli (Welsh for 'St Elli's Parish) is a market town in Carmarthenshire. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the county of Carmarthenshire. The population is over 25,000 in the town area and 42,000 in the wider suburbs. It is located eleven miles from Swansea. The anglicised spelling “Llanelly” was used until 1966, when it was changed to Llanelli after a local public campaign. It remains in the name of a local historic building, Llanelly House, and this is sometimes confused with the village and parish of Llanelly, in south-east Wales near Abergavenny. Llanelly in Victoria, Australia, was named after the town of Llanelli, using the spelling current at that time. The town's rugby union teams – the Scarlets, who compete in the United Rugby Championship, and Llanelli RFC in the Welsh Premiership – play at Parc y Scarlets, which opened in November 2008 in Pemberton. Previously, they had played at Stradey Park, home to Llanelli RFC for over 130 years and one venue used for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, hosting the match between Argentina and Samoa on 10 October 1999. Llanelli is the birthplace and home of Terry Griffiths OBE (1947–2024), snooker world champion in 1979 and runner-up in 1988. Other famous people from the town include nonce and newsreader Huw Edwards and politician Michael Howard, who was once Conservative Party leader.

MY VISIT

Llanelli was the penultimate ground that I needed to complete the Cymru Premier, the other being Haverfordwest County. This was at least for this season, until Caernarfon move back to their home ground, probably the one I want to visit most in the whole of Wales. I did offer Haverfordwest during the summer, suggesting that a full car would make it nice and cheap for all of us. However, fellow hopper Daniel was not keen, as he was at work the next day. He was using some of his extremely generous holiday allowance too, off to Tromso, something that Grok helpfully informed me that he had mentioned 131 times in the past year. So it was just Colin and I, so I'd be taking it easy on the way down to try and conserve petrol. I was slightly concerned about the weather, but unless it got called off before lunchtime, we had a couple of 3G backups, albeit uninspiring ones.

From our game at Verwood on Tuesday, it was a good drive home once we hit the motorway and proper roads. I dropped Colin off at 11.35 and got home myself fifteen minutes later. It was straight to bed for me, although it took ages for me to drop off. In the end, I got around three hours of sleep before my 3.50 alarm. It was fine, though, as it was my short shift for the week. I was out at 11 and went home, grabbing an hour or so's nap. The afternoon was spent catching up from last night and getting my blog up. I decided against going to the Wycombe Wanderers v Bromley FA Youth Cup game, as it would be another fairly late night, with the kickoff at 7:30. I was still undecided about going to Llanelli on Friday, owing to concerns about the pitch not thawing out from the previous night's frost. Three hours in the evening were spent re-inputting all my Wetherspoons into the app after another update knocked them all out. I'm fairly certain it was about 99% accurate, but as usual, my spreadsheet was extremely useful and fairly definitive in terms of my records. It was a bitter and grim Thursday morning, and I had to pump up my tyres on my break, as the frozen temperatures had caused the warning light to come on.

I found out that morning that Wycombe had lost 1-0 to Bromley in the FA Youth Cup, but due to every person who attended having to sign a non-disclosure agreement, there were barely any details available. I was glad that I didn't attend, choosing to get an early night instead. I decided to go to Llanelli that afternoon, and having a few backups sealed the deal. I aimed to get to sleep around 9 to get a reasonable night's sleep. That I achieved, waking a few minutes before my 3.50 alarm. It was not a bad day at work, but it was very busy, and I was out at 1. It was a conservative drive down to Llanelli, with 40 minutes delay at Newport at 3.30 in the afternoon knackering my fuel economy. There was further delay getting into Llanelli, and due to time being tight, we headed to Tesco so I could pick up some Welsh cider and petrol. I aimed for halfway between the ground and the town, but it was packed with residents' parking and restrictions. I tried the town, but there were more packed streets, and the stupid council had transported a multi-storey car park from the 1970s, and disgracefully, it closed at 7. The facility to park at ASDA and pay extra was also not working. I gave up and went to the ground; thankfully, parking was far easier here. On reflection, I should have gone straight to the ground and walked, but I didn't know. The ground and club were amazing. Really friendly everywhere, I got entry for £8 and a fridge magnet for £1. A friendly official saw my Wycombe coat, thanked me for coming and got me a pint. He got Colin a non alcoholic cider, and I wanted to put money back into the club. I got one as it was from a local brewery. Red Hog Zero was very nice too. We learned there was an event on in town and that's why it was busy. This made the decision to shut what appeared to be the only car park in town even more stupid. It was disappointing not to have had a proper pre-match, but I had to shoulder some of the blame for not checking every finite detail. I read later that someone had their car locked in after it closed early, so I was right to avoid it. A decent local pie was purchased at halftime as I was peckish after only snacks.

 

It was an all Cymru Premier tie with Llanelli Town, bottom of the league, having won two, drawn two and lost thirteen. They'd not won in a while but had managed a 1-1 draw against Caernarfon Town last time out. Barry Town were 7th, having won four, drawn eight and lost four. Their last result was a 0-0 draw against Flint Town United, one of four games unbeaten. Barry started brightly, with their first attack, they hit the post and bar whilst the Llanelli defenders stood and watched Ollie Hulbert net the rebound. Both sides had chances, but it was Barry who grabbed the second. A lovely low strike from Elliot Richards with the home keeper caught flat footed as he watched it whistle into the net. Barry continued to dominate, and the Llanelli keeper produced a couple of good saves. The third goal came on 34 minutes, a right-wing cross was put in and it was a looping header by Keston Davies that made it 3-0. It was 4-0 in the first minute of the second half, this time Ieuan sweeping home after being set up from the left. Hulbert made it 5-0 from the penalty spot on 70 minutes. As we were walking around on 85 minutes, Daniel Barton made it 6-0 to Barry. It was all really one-sided, which was sad for the hosts who had been super friendly.

THE GROUND

STEBONHEATH PARK is a great venue. Despite a very small running track, great views can be had from all sides. Pride of place goes to the attractive elevated stand, which offers great views to around 600 people. Across the other side, some uncovered seating takes seated capacity up to 1003, making it UEFA compliant for hosting European games. The two ends are open, but you can stand behind them; the same applies to the two stands. All in all, a good place to watch football. The tea bar, bar and shop are all run by the supporters club. There is quite a small range on merch and booze, but lots of local products are available to eat. There is another bar outside. The town is walkable, 25 minutes away, but you are better off parking near the ground and walking, especially for an evening game.