Pontardawe Town - Parc Ynysderw

Pontardawe Town FC

Parc Ynysderw

Ffordd Parc Ynysderw

Pontardawe

Swansea

SA8 4EG

07925 142661

Official Website

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Ground Number: 1256

Saturday 6th January 2023

Pontardawe Town 1-0 Abergavenny Town

Cymru South

PONTARDAWE TOWN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1947, though football had been played in the town for around half a century before they came along. They were originally known as Pontardawe Athletic and joined the Welsh League sometime during their early years. They were Division 2 West champions in 1961 but would only last a single season in Division 1 before being relegated. Following a league rebranding, the club was placed in Division 1 in 1964, although this was now the second tier. Despite a 4th place finish in 1976, Pontardawe would finish bottom in 1979 and were relegated to Division 2. The club enjoyed a revival, winning promotion to Division 1 as runners-up to Trelewis in 1981 and then to the Premier Division behind Brecon Corinthians the following year where they stayed until 1985. Various league reorganisations and demotions occurred over the next decade and by 1992, Pontardawe were in the fourth tier of Welsh Football. They were Welsh League Division 3 champions in 1995 and won Division 2 in 1997. The club changed its name to Pontardawe Town the following year and finished as Division 1 runners-up to Ton Pentre in 2002. This remains the club's highest finish in the modern Welsh Pyramid. Despite this, Pontardawe spent the 2004/05 season in Division 2 following relegation but bounced back as Champions. They were relegated again in 2015 and then returned to Division 1 following the establishment of the Cymru South in 2019. Following the break due to Covid, Portadawe were placed in the Ardal South East which they won in 2022 to seal promotion to the Cymru South where they finished 9th last season.

Local honours include the West Wales Senior Cup in 1983 and several youth-level competitions. Pontardawe is a town with a population of around 7,000 located on the banks of the River Tawe. It is located around nine miles north of Swansea. The name, which translates to "bridge on the Tawe", first appears on a map in 1729, as "Pont-ar-Dawye" in Emanuel Bowen's New and Accurate Map of South Wales. By 1796, the Swansea Canal had connected Pontardawe with Swansea Docks. Accessibility by canal enabled the industrial development of the area, which started with the Ynysderw ironworks in 1835. Close to the ironworks, tinplate and steelworks became the basis of the town's development during the latter part of the 19th century, exporting products to all parts of the world. The most famous person from the town is Mary Hopkin, singer of the 1968 hit 'Those Were The Days'.

MY VISIT

This game was decided upon a few weeks ago when the Swansea City v Morecambe FA Cup game was moved for overseas TV coverage. It was a ground that I had done twice, in fact, I turned down a third revisit in March 2020 in favour of a new ground at West End. This was the last weekend that football was played in Wales due to the pandemic and they had a much longer break due to the over-cautious government. I was a passenger for once but Richard, Colin & Daniel who were in the car with me needed it. For me, the main reason for going was to get a new ground and a Wetherspoons and explore a local town. Dan originally picked the closest ground to Swansea to double up with but offered to drop me somewhere. I confined my searches to the top three levels of Welsh Football and Pontardawe Town fitted the bill perfectly. If needed, it would be a single bus ride between there and Swansea City and there was a decent-looking pub in the town. Colin was also keen to do it as he wanted to complete the Cymru South. In the end, the 2 PM kickoff meant that the other two came around to the idea and made it far easier in terms of logistics.

It was a quiet and sober week for me with no midweek games due to the Bank Holiday. There was a lot of work too, so I was glad my day off was coming up. The day of the game came and I'd had an early night so I awoke at 6.40 after a good night's sleep. I got a message shortly after to let me know that the lads were running late but that wasn't too much of an issue for me. After leaving at 7.50, I was at ASDA for 8.10 and we met up 20 minutes later. Due to the holiday year slightly altering at my work, I put in for the Sunday of the upcoming North West Counties hop. It was good to catch up with everyone, but Colin was asleep around fifteen minutes into the journey.  We arrived at The Red Lion Wetherspoons in Swansea around 11.45. The wings meal with Black Dragon had gone up but was still great value at £11. Dan, who had driven the first leg in Richard's car was not so flush thanks to a bad employer cutting his hours. He could only afford 5 chicken wings so when I ordered my second pint, I got him one too. Richard would be driving from there on and I wanted to thank him for driving the first part. From there it was to Lidl for snacks and then for a look at Morriston Town FC. It was a nice ground and lovely people although Dan stayed in the car as the walk was too far for him. From there it was a ten-minute drive to Pontardawe where it was an excellent value £5 entry.

Pontardawe Town were sat in 12th place whilst Abergavenny were in 15th. The hosts had been in mixed form. They drew 1-1 at Carmarthen Town in their latest game, beat Llantwit Major in the game before that and lost 4-1 at Goytre United three games ago. The visitors were struggling but won 3-1 and drew 1-1 against Abertillery Bluebirds in their latest games. However, they had lost their previous nine in the league. Pontardawe were the better side early on and they took the lead after 7 minutes, a cross from the right found Tom Davies who blasted home from just inside the area. It was a feisty game and tempers flared between Booth of Pontardawe and Ellaway of Abergavenny. A headbutt and a reaction meant a red card apiece. There were chances for both and tackles aplenty but no further goals. Abergavenny probably deserved a point from the game but it wasn't to be.

A healthy 122 were in attendance, courtesy of the excellent Cymru Football app. From the ground, it was just under 15 minutes to Swansea City for a revisit. In between the grounds, Wycombe managed to go 1-0 down at Burton Albion. I was considering the next two home games, even in the Football League Trophy on Tuesday due to frozen conditions elsewhere.  Wycombe got a reasonable 1-1 draw at the end and thanks to deals I got chicken and chips at KFC for £2.69. We bumped into Groundhop UK organiser Chris in the club shop, having a brief chat before going in the ground. I used the facilities before getting a pint of Cold River for £5.20, not unreasonable for inside a stadium. Everyone was friendly and helpful but I couldn't help thinking I should have been in the away end watching Wycombe but for an abject performance against Morecambe in the previous round. The first half saw the Swans pass the ball around but not really threaten. They had a few chances but so did the Shrimps on the break. Arsenal loanee Charlie Patino bundled a chance home for a scruffy goal on 47 minutes to give Swansea the lead. They went back to not bothering again and soaked up what little Morecambe had to offer. If Morecambe had a bit of quality, they might have stood a chance. But on 87 minutes, it was 2-0, Jerry Yates stroking home a low shot from the edge of the area. The vast majority of the 7,670 fans were going home happy. A decent amount had travelled from Morecambe and were in superb voice, the Swansea fans less so. We headed to Morrisons before home. All of us besides Dan were out quickly but he kept us waiting 15 minutes while he got a meal. We then got petrol before heading home. We were hoping to be back by 11 and after giving Colin a lift home I was planning to have a few drinks before bed.

THE GROUND

PARC YNYSDERW is a basic but pleasant ground with great scenery. Nice hilly views surround three sides and there are a combination of metal seated stands holding around 200. There's plenty of parking and a tea bar which I didn't try. There was no bar that I could see but the town is around ten minutes walk away.