Aberystwyth Town - Park Avenue

Aberystwyth Town FC

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Aberystwyth

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Ground Number: 1440
Friday 27th June 2025

Aberystwyth Town 2-0 Kerry
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ABERYSTWYTH TOWN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

Although Aberystwyth Town FC was formed in 1884, the club probably existed in the 1870s in an earlier incarnation – the re-establishment of a "town" club is recorded in 1876. The club was founded by Arthur Hughes, son of a local solicitor, and his brothers Jack and Hugh. Although football had been played in the town since at least the early 1870s, it was in October 1884 that Arthur Hughes placed an advertisement in the local press, appealing for members and players. The club played only friendlies early on, aside from a single season in the Welsh League. After playing in Mid Wales Leagues for several years, the club joined the Welsh League in 1952, finishing as runners-up to Pembroke in 1956.  Aberystwyth returned to the Mid-Wales competition in 1963 but did not win the league championship until 1984, after having been runners-up six times. They retained the title the following season and were runners-up twice more before moving to the Welsh League National Division, where they were runners-up three times.

With the Welsh national team's existence under potential threat from FIFA, the Welsh FA set about establishing a singular national division at the summit of the Welsh football pyramid. This was established in 1992 as the League of Wales and is now known as the Cymru Premier. Aberystwyth Town were founder members and were ever present in all of the 33 seasons up until this season when they were relegated, along with fellow stalwarts Newtown. Their best finish came in the league's inaugural season as they finished 3rd behind Cwmbran Town and Inter Cardiff. The last two decades have been a struggle, and Aberystwyth have only finished in the league's top half twice - 4th place finishes in 2010 and 2015. After finishing a single place above the relegation spots in three out of the last four seasons, the trapdoor finally opened in 2025, and the club went down to the Cymru South.

(picture from Welsh soccer archive, colourised and upscaled) 

Aberystwyth Town won the Welsh FA Cup in 1900. They beat Rhayader. Newtown & Carnarvon Ironopolis before beating Druids 3-0 in a game played at The Cunnings, Newtown in front of 3,000. The venue is now Newtown Bowls Club. They have been losing finalists three times since - in 2009 against Bangor City, in 2014 to The New Saints and in 2018 to Connah's Quay Nomads. They also have a couple of Welsh Premier Cup quarter-finals to their name. Aberystwyth have four European campaigns to their name. In the Intertoto Cup, they lost to Floriana in 1999 and Dinaburg in 2004. In the Europa League, they were beaten by Derry City over two legs in 2014. The club has a stand named after its most famous player. The Dias stand was named after David "Dias" Williams, who holds the club scoring record of 476 goals in only 433 games between 1966 and 1983. Links with Wycombe Wanderers include Alex Samuel, who made 9 appearances for Aber in 2011/12 before turning up at Wycombe Wanderers in 2018, making 72 appearances over three years, scoring 6 goals. Going the other way, Stuart Roberts made 70 appearances for Wycombe between 2001 & 2004 before ending up at Aber between 2005 & 2008, where he scored 15 goals in 80 appearances.

The town of Aberystwyth is located on the west coast of mid-Wales and has a population of around 14,600. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, Aberystwyth means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". It has been a major educational location in Wales since the establishment of University College Wales, now Aberystwyth University, in 1872. The town is situated on Cardigan Bay on the west coast of Wales, near the confluence of the River Ystwyth and Afon Rheidol. Following the reconstruction of the harbour, the Ystwyth skirts the town. The Rheidol passes through the town. The seafront, with a pier, stretches from Constitution Hill at the north end of the Promenade to the harbour at the south. As well as having two cinemas and a golf course, the town's attractions include the Aberystwyth Cliff Railway, a funicular railway, The Vale of Rheidol steam railway (Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge), the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, the Parc Penglais nature reserve, the Ystwyth Trail cycle path and the National Library of Wales.

MY VISIT

Aberystwyth Town is a team that I have fancied doing for years, for over two decades. Back around 2001, before I even knew what Groundhopping was, I used to chat to a lad called Geraint from there on the Coronation Street message board. Back in those rudimentary days of the internet, you had to be tethered to a desk to go online at a snail's pace. It tied up the phone line, and the nearest you got to social media was MSN Messenger. I was still able to see some of the town online, though, and it looked like a great place to visit. Who knows where he is now? It is a nice town, and there is also a mighty fine ground and a historical team there. Up until a month or so ago, they and Newtown were the only ever-present members of the Cymru Premier. They both bit the dust this year, ironically. Aber were placed in the Cymru South, given their location in mid-Wales. Though their Cymru Premier status heightened their claim for a visit, I was equally keen to visit the second-tier teams in Wales.

From our game at South Park Reigate, friendly hopper Leatherhead Pete dropped me off near the site of Redhill FC's old ground, once with a magnificent stand, but now just a park. It was kind, a reflection of the amazing groundhopping community that helps each other out and looks out for each other. There are the miniscule few who love the block function on Twitter and try to sew division and stick to cliques, but these bellends are few and far between. From there, I walked to The Sun Wetherspoons, 410 in the chain for me. This was solid, though not as lovely as the one in Wimbledon earlier. A £1.99 pint of Stowford Press was appropriate, far lighter than my preferred Old Rosie, but I'd be driving in a few hours. It was 20 minutes wait for the train to London, via a shop for a vitamin drink. I was able to get my blog up on the journey back to Victoria. There, I visited the Savanna South African shop and got some new ciders to take home. It was a scorcher on the Underground and a longer-than-wanted wait on the Victoria for some reason. Overall, not horrendous and once we got moving, it was lovely. I switched over to the Bakerloo to get to Marylebone, where I got another drink and my final train home to Amersham. I was home by 7, relaxing and having my South African ciders before bed.

Sunday was the usual mixed bag at work, heavenly for the first 4.5 hours, then grim and busy once customers came in. I spent the afternoon having a clear out, having been sick of looking at shelves full of books, CDs and DVDs that I'll never use. All of them were sent off to online selling services such as Music Magpie, with around £50 coming my way. Nowhere near what I paid, but clutter gets on my nerves. Monday was a breeze at work, and I finished at 12. I'd already planned what I was going to do in the afternoon, and it involved football. Jubilee Line v Chilton (sic) had not been publicly advertised, so it was a bit of a risk. But if nothing else, I'd get two new Wetherspoons and the cost would be low. It would also get rid of 23rd June as a day I've not seen a game on. I got a train ten minutes earlier than intended, so I was ahead of time. A couple of bland Wetherspoons were ticked for food and drink. JJ Moon's in Kingsbury was doing a roaring trade for Monday afternoon, and I had a Shawarma Wrap and chips. I should have gone for the 3 for £10 plates, really, but it seemed too much food. It went well with a pint of Stowford Press. Then, a £2.29 pint of Strongbow at the equally bland Moon Under Water. I stopped at a shop for crisps and a drink, regretting not getting those plates earlier. From there, I got to the ground at 3.30, just as my earbuds ran out of power.

It was quiet at first, but gradually the teams turned up sporting two great shirts. The visitors, as I'd slightly suspected, were Chiltern Railways, whom I'd used to get to Harrow On The Hill today. I'd also used the Jubilee for the short hop from Wembley Park to Kingsbury. I didn't have long to wait for a goal, Chiltern Railways going ahead with a low shot from a left-wing cross in the opening minute. Jubilee equalised on three minutes, a similar move on the break. Jubilee were the better team, hitting the bar on 14 minutes. On the half hour, the pressure told, though Jubilee scored straight from the corner, #17 making it 2-1. #26 made it 3-1 a couple of minutes later, a low shot in off the post. Then on 34  it was 4-1, a back pass chased down. On 63, Jubilee made it 5-1, a good run and rounding of the keeper. Chiltern hit the woodwork twice during a rare break, but it was 6-1 on 67, the ball forced home after several fluffed clearances. A couple of minutes later, a shot on the turn made it 7-1 from close range. On 77, a deflected shot from a right-sided corner made it 8-1. It was then 9-1 on 78, a low shot from just inside the area. A shot into the top corner made it 10-1 on 87 minutes. It was a bus to Harrow On The Hill and then a tube, with me getting home at 7.30.

 

I had a huge 10.5-hour sleep that night, compared to my usual six hours of sleep. Tuesday was an uneventful day off, but I did check the price of accommodation. Premier Inn were asking £151 a night, so camping it would have to be. It was what had put me off visiting Aberystwyth before, but then I started thinking outside the box. The camping was a comparable snip at £15, though I might treat myself to a Taxi back from town after. It was a pleasant couple of days after, Wednesday evening saw me rewatch 'Adventures In Babysitting', a cult classic movie with an absurd storyline, but still brilliant. On Thursday, I prepped for my trip, pumping up my tyres, checking my oil and putting all of the stuff in my boot. It was also the day that the Wycombe Wanderers fixtures came out. Despite a few negatives, I was far happier with the scheduling than in the previous few years. I watched another movie, Final Destination Bloodlines, which was also great. After not watching any films for a few years, I'd watched two in 24 hours. It was a grueller as usual on Friday, a packed store, tons of queries and lots of screaming kids. I was hoping to be offered an early finish, but it was not to be. I had a McDonald's Sweet Chilli Wrap meal before taking the rest of my break and leaving at 1.

Google Maps said it'd be 4 hours 20. It was OK at first, despite slowdowns on the M40 and M6. But then I was sent off the motorway around Stourbridge and Kidderminster and it was all country roads from there. Beautiful scenery and some lovely places that I'd have loved to have stopped at. Farm Shops, a couple of grounds and Welsh Mountain Cider. Even the picturesque village of Kerry, tonight's visitors. There were plenty of slow drivers, the worse an arsehole on a coach towing a shitty Abarth F1KSA. I was sick of the sight of that number plate after following it for 30 miles at pedestrian speeds. Eventually, I got to my campsite at 5.40. In contrast to the boiling sunshine that I left in High Wycombe, it was drizzle and winds that greeted me in Llangorwen. It was supposed to be a nice walk to the ground, but Google Maps screwed me over once more as the footpath didn't exist. I scaled a steep bank in search of it, but eventually gave up and ordered an Uber. That was unavailable, so a procession of local taxis were rang until hero Jim turned up. I made the game by the skin of my teeth, just as it was kicking off.

Aberystwyth were in yellow and black, their step 3 visitors in blue and white. I was just glad to be there. On reflection, I should have dumped my car in town and picked it up tomorrow, but I wasn't to know. I genuinely thought I was snookered for making kickoff but fortune smiled with me two cans deep. An uneventful first half but I like putting money into clubs so got a scarf from the club shop and some chips from the tea bar, both great. A raft of changes occurred at halftime. An attack from Daffis set up a trialist who finished well from wide on the right. It was 2-0 on 80 minutes, the same trialist again, smashing one in from a left-wing cross. An uneventful game where Kerry hardly threatened. The day was bit of a pain logistically, but I was chuffed to get it ticked. 

THE GROUND

PARK AVENUE is an excellent ground to visit. There are three seated areas, the old main stand along the side, the Dias Stand behind one goal and some uncovered seating along the other side. All in all, around 1000 seats are available and the same in standing with a few small areas of cover. The club shop has a decent range and is spacious. The tea bar offers decent food at very good prices for the usual football fare. The John Charles Suite is decent, with lots of football items on the walls. Sadly no Welsh cider but they do Cold River and Rekorderlig. The town is less than ten minutes walk away and has loads of choice.