Abertillery Bluebirds - Cwmantygroes

Abertillery Bluebirds FC

Cwm Nant-Y-Groes

Six Bells

Abertillery

Monmouthshire

NP13 2PR

Ardal Southern Page

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Ground Number: 1261
Saturday 3rd February 2024

Abertillery Bluebirds 0-3 Baglan Dragons
Cymru South

ABERTILLERY BLUEBIRDS - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1989, immediately joining the North Gwent League. They won Division 1 in 1993 and then two years later were runners-up in the Premier Division. After a couple more near misses, Abertillery Bluebirds were champions in 2000. With that, they earned promotion to the Gwent County League. Starting in Division 3, their debut season saw them win promotion as runners-up behind Pentwynmawr Athletic. They would then spend six seasons in Division 2, starting off in mid-table and improving upon their placing each season until they won the title in 2007. A 3rd place finish in Division 1 was a great debut season and the Bluebirds would go on to win the title the following season and with it, promotion to the Welsh Football League.

Success was immediate with them narrowly missing out on the Division 3 title to Aberbargoed Buds by a single point but still winning promotion. It would be the same margin that would see them go back down in their first season. The Bluebirds never really did recover from this and in 2014, they were relegated back to the Gwent County League on goal difference. After taking time to recover, Abertillery Bluebirds finished as runners-up to Albion Rovers in 2018 before winning the title in 2019. Following an enforced break from football due to the pandemic, the Welsh league system was restructured. Abertillery finished as runners-up to Abergavenny Town in their debut season, then suffered double disappointment as they missed out in the promotion playoffs to Ynyshir Albions. They put that right this season, winning the title and with it, promotion to the Cymru South.

Local cup wins include the North Gwent League's Tom Perkins Cup and the Gwent County FA Amateur Cup, both on three occasions. They've also won the Gwent County Motors Cup and the Gwent Senior Cup in 2018. Abertillery is a town in the Ebbw Fach Valley in Monmouthshire. The population of the area is around 11,600. Major industry came to the area in 1843 when the locality's first deep coal mine was sunk at Tir Nicholas Farm, Cwmtillery. The town developed rapidly thereafter and played a major part in the South Wales coalfield. Its population rose steeply, being 10,846 in the 1891 census and 21,945 ten years later. The population peaked just short of 40,000 around the beginning of the 1930s. Away from the town centre, the often steep-sided nature of the landscape imposes its own demands on development. Whilst this sounds limiting it has helped provide the almost amphitheatre nature of Abertillery Park, often described as one of the most attractive rugby grounds in world rugby. In football, local rivals Abertillery Excelsiors play a couple of levels lower in the Gwent County League.

MY VISIT

Back on July 22nd, Colin, Daniel, Richard and I made our way down the M4 hoping to see a double of Llanhilleth Athletic and Abertillery Bluebirds. You would expect blue skies and sunshine in mid-July, but we lost both games due to torrential rain. However, We managed to get a game at Blaenavon Blues due to their superb pitch and it was a good day out. Abertillery's pitch was a victim of its beautiful setting although I think a lot of pitches would have had issues given the downpour. We did manage to visit the ground though and the people were very friendly. Colin managed to do his usual trick of pinching food when they gave him the pack of chocolate bars from the tea bar after he had asked for them. As if they were going to go out of date before the next game. It had been a terrible summer weather-wise with the occasional hot day amongst days of rain and grey skies. Allegedly, it was one of the hottest years on record but certainly not from my experience. We vowed to revisit sometime although it had taken until February to do so. The advance weather forecast looked better this time although it looked like it was going to be OK last time.

The day of the game came and I awoke well before my alarm went off at 6.10, around half an hour early in fact. A symptom of me getting up for work but it wasn't too much of a hassle. I had a wash and got dressed. I left at 7.40 and met Dan and Colin at ASDA at 8. We had a good journey down, arriving at the John Wallace Linton in Newport at around 9.15. This was my 306th in the chain, named after a World War 2 commander. Initial impressions were good, a very nice breakfast with black pudding and a pint of Black Dragon was £7.51. Service was variable though, Colin's apple juice took half an hour to arrive. Dan's pancakes were utterly pitiful for £3.25, about 40p worth. I had a second drink of Old Crow and a brownie before we headed off. The Spoons was packed with fans of Newport, Swindon, Wycombe, Braintree, Plymouth, AFC Fylde, Scotland and Wales amongst others. We met fellow hopper Lee who was getting a lift with us. Whilst in there I booked my hotel in Valenciennes for my trip to Belgium and France for under £60. I went for convenience over cost, getting a hotel right near the ground. Colin was in annoying mode, poking and prodding people and stinking the car out with a toxic fart. We were at the ground at 11.30 and I fancied a walk up the hill for a scenic view. It was however quite tricky with lots of gates so I decided against it. Entry was a great value £5 and the views were stunning.

Abertillery Bluebirds were struggling down in 15th place whilst Baglan Dragons were 6th. The hosts were in disappointing form having one, drawn two and lost two of their last five games. In their last game, they had lost 1-0 at Carmarthen Town and had also lost a crunch game 3-1 at Abergavenny Town. On the bright side, they had won 2-1 at Cwmbran Celtic and drawn 1-1 against Llanelli Town and Taffs Well. The visitors were in far better form having won three and lost two of their last five. They'd beaten Goytre United 2-1, Caerau Ely 2-0 as well as winning 2-0 at Afan Lido. However, they'd lost 2-0 to Cambrian & Clydach Vale and at Briton Ferry Llansawel.

Contrary to the league positions, Aber were well on top in the early stages. Amongst a partisan home support, I might have been biased but they didn't have any killer instinct in attack. Their task was made harder by the sending-off of Brett Morgan when he caught the Baglan man awkwardly and got his marching orders after 22 minutes. The man shortage made a difference, on 26 minutes Baglan's first serious attack, a cross from the right and a header from a few yards out by Tom Davies. Baglan had a good spell after this but Abertillery struck back. There was still the lack of quality up front though but it was a decent contest as we approached half time. I had a pint of Orchard Reveller at halftime, very reasonable for £4. Baglan started the second half brightly and they doubled the lead on 56 minutes, Harry Davies netting after the referee played a good advantage. It was all one-way traffic after that, 3-0 on 61 minutes, Tom Randall with a lob over the stranded keeper. It was probably a justified result but Abertillery probably deserved a goal. The official attendance was 112 but it looked more.

THE GROUND

CWMANTYGROES is an excellent ground set in stunning countryside. There is just one stand although this is quite large with around 150 seats and plenty of standing under cover. The rest of the ground is open to the elements. There is a tea bar and a bar at the ground. Parking is plentiful and the town is around 20 minutes walk away. A smart bar is available as well as more basic food options.