Baglan Dragons - Evans Bevan Playing Field

Baglan Dragons FC

Evans Bevan Playing Field

Pinewood Terrace

Baglan

Port Talbot

SA12 8BG

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Ground Number: 1595

Friday 6th September 2026

Baglan Dragons 2-1 Ynyshir Albions

Cymru South

BAGLAN DRAGONS FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1950 as Red Dragon & Baglan. They played in local leagues, such as the Port Talbot & District League. The 1970s show the clubs operating individually rather than as a union, and a Red Dragon side also won the South Wales Alliance Division 2 in 1993. The first confirmed records, though, are when they joined the South Wales Amateur League Division 2 in 1999, winning the title in 2003. They changed their name to Baglan Red Dragons in 2004 and competed under that name for five seasons, finishing 3rd in Division 1 twice. In 2009, they changed their name to Baglan Dragons, but two seasons of struggle followed, leading them to be relegated back to Division 2 in 2011. They came straight back up with a 3rd place finish. In 2015, the South Wales Amateur League and Senior League merged to form South Wales Alliance. Baglan Dragons were placed in Division 1 of the new competition. The first season saw them finish as runners-up to Canton Liberal to win promotion to the Premier Division. In 2022, they were Premier Division champions, winning promotion to the Ardal South West. In their first season here, Baglan finished as runners-up to Caerau Ely. Following a 2-0 win at Risca United in the promotion playoffs, they were promoted to the Cymru South, where they remain to this day.

Baglan Dragons were FAW Trophy runners-up in 2022 when they lost 1-0 to Mold Alexandra in the final at Caersws. Baglan is a village in South Wales, near Port Talbot. It was named after Saint Baglan, a 6th-century hermit who lived in the area. It has a population of just under 7,000. Baglan is on the side of a steep hill and surrounded by two hills, Mynydd-y-Gaer to the north and Mynydd Dinas to the east. The moors and Baglan Bay are to the southwest. The village contains a number of historical buildings such as Baglan House, St. Catharine's Church, and St. Baglan's Church. The first St. Baglan's Church is now a shell after a fire in 1954. Baglan is home to four sporting associations; in addition to football, there is Baglan Rugby Football Club, Baglan Cricket Club and Tyn-Y-Twr Bowling Club. Famous people with links to Baglan include comedian Rob Brydon, who was born there, and actor Michael Sheen, who grew up in the village.

MY VISIT

I'm always keen to see some Friday night football, and this one boiled down to two options. I'd have preferred something nearer, but it was not to be. Baglan Dragons was the option that was further away, but at least it was on good roads. It also was one of two that I needed in the Cymru South, the other being Pure Swansea, which has deliberately been left until last due to its distance and the fact that it is a poor athletics ground. The only negative about Baglan was the takeaways with poor reviews and very little choice. Still, at least it was better than the other option, Bungay Town. It was a ground I'd fancied visiting for a while, but it was in the middle of nowhere with no places to eat nearby. Also, it had no backups in the event of something going wrong, whereas South Wales always has a reasonable amount of Friday night football.

I'd had a great and very boozy day during my revisit to Birmingham City on Sunday. I was on a day's holiday from work and had originally planned on going on a pub crawl to Reading. However, I'd had plenty over the weekend, so I decided to abstain. Instead, it was a walk down Wycombe and back, which I repeated on Tuesday, getting over ten miles in my legs two days in a row. There was no football for me on Tuesday. I didn't fancy any local revisits, and the nearest new ground listed was a dull 3G in Bishop Cannings near Devizes. It was only around 8 pm on Tuesday that I realised that Westfields FC near Hastings were at home in a county cup game. This was annoying as it was one of two new grounds that I was able to do midweek, so it was annoying to miss out, especially as it wasn't listed when I checked on Saturday morning. I had been doing my research for this ground, delving into the history of Holmer Green's women's side, which called the pitch home. The Development XI appeared to alternate between the two pitches. I was back to work on Wednesday and eased back into the routine despite a 3 am alarm. The rest of the week was rather dull, with no football and no booze until it came to Saturday. Thursday and Friday were a slog, and I was looking forward to my day off.

Saturday saw me headed to Wycombe Wanderers v Burton Albion. I headed out later than usual, past 11 am. A pint of Old Rosie at Spoons kicked me off, followed by a pint of Strongbow at the Rose & Crown. A great chicken curry at a local shop was under a fiver, but cost was irrelevant as far as football costs were concerned. Wycombe beat Burton 2-0, so I wrote off my costs in the joy of victory. One more £2 pint at Wetherspoons was enjoyed before home, a pizza and more booze. I was in bed around 9. On Monday, I was at Adams Park again, this time for the academy team's game against Brentford U21. It was a bargain £3 entry, making for a cheap night out. Both sides fielded a few first-team players, and it was a good contest. Wycombe lost their way after Emre Tezgel went off and, in truth, Brentford were good value for their 2-1 win. With no football for a few days, the week dragged, but work was a bit calmer than usual. Colin was his usual self, taking a while to confirm and initially offering a vague 'okay' when I sent him details. I managed to get an answer in the affirmative eventually, but I can never be 100% confident he will turn up.

 

Friday was, as usual, the busiest day of the week at work, with so many people seemingly having extended the weekend to three days now. This was especially annoying, as I only get Saturday, but at least it made the time go quickly. I was out at 12 and went home, and had some lunch before going out for a walk. I was back at 2.30 and had around 40 minutes to kill before leaving. I was pleasantly surprised when Colin turned up, having heard nothing from him all day. We got going at 3.15 and had a good journey, arriving in Baglan at 6.30. Texaco was first up; I needed petrol to get home due to the distance, and it was a whole 7p cheaper than home. Then, I drove to Superfry Chinese takeaway where I had chicken with peppers and salt and chilli chips. It was £11.90, and happily it took card. Most Chinese places are cash only, so it's nice to see some embracing modernity. We got to the ground 25 minutes before kickoff. I paid £6 to get in and £5 for a pint of Aspall's. The chips were bland, but the chicken was amazing, and the service was excellent. It was disappointing to see that I could have eaten at the ground and given them my money, but there were no details on the website. I snapped a picture of the menu for my blog and hope that it encourages others to spend at the club.

 

Baglan Dragons were 6th on 17 points. They were in mixed form and had lost 1-0 to Treowen Stars in their last game. Ynyshir Albions were 5th on 19 points. They were on a good unbeaten run and had beaten Pure Swansea 4-2 in their last game. It was a fairly tepid opening, but Baglan looked the better side. Ynyshir had Christian Bethel sent off in the 32nd minute for a rash tackle. There were no goals in the first period, but Ynyshir had a good spell at the start of the second half, pinning the home side back for the first five minutes. Baglan had a few chances but they were all wasted. Ynyshir took the lead in the 56th minute through a Scott Jones penalty. In the 61st minute, it was all square with Baglan equalising through a Tom Randall penalty. Finally, we had a goal from open play, a peach of a right-sided cross from Osian Williams and a good header from Tobias Jones. The game ended at around 9.25, and it should have been a simple jaunt down the M4 to home. But the Highways Agency, in their infinite wisdom, had decided to close three separate sections of the M4. I appreciate that this is the best time to do works that need to be done, but three at once?. As a result, we were sent up to Merthyr Tydfil, across a load of places I've never heard of, into Herefordshire, and onto some terrible roads around Gloucestershire with most of the journey fog-bound. Then down to Cheltenham, the welcome sight of Oxford and finally Amersham at 1 am. I was back home ten minutes later, glad to be home safely after being up for 22 hours.

THE GROUND

The EVANS BEVAN PLAYING FIELD is a smart and functional setup. There's a well-kept pitch area, shared with cricket, so there's limited hard standing. There are the standard couple of metal drop-in stands, holding around 200. There is a decent tea bar inside the ground, though they should shout about this more on their site and social media. Outside is a pleasant Sports Bar. Aspalls is a good choice for cider drinkers, but it's sad to see an absence of Welsh products. There's a small car park at the ground or plentiful street parking. A chippy, a Chinese and a Premier Inn are all close by.