Holywell Town F.C.

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Holywell Town

Full name

Holywell Town Football Club

Nickname(s)

The Wellmen

Short name

Holywell Town

Founded

1893 (as Holywell Acodians)

Ground

Halkyn Road, Holywell
(Capacity 2,000
200 Seated)

Manager

Anthony Wallis

League

Welsh Alliance League

2007-08

Welsh Alliance League, 12th





Home colours





Away colours

Holywell Town F.C. is a football club representing the Flintshire town of Holywell in Wales. They are nicknamed the 'The Wellmen', and play their home games at Halkyn Road, Holywell. They currently play in the Welsh Alliance League after being relegated from the Cymru Alliance in the 2005-06 season.

1 Overview
2 History
3 2007-08 Season
4 Holywell Town Squad 2007/08
5 Current History
6 External links

[edit] Overview

Holywell Town currently play at Halkyn Road, which lies just outside Holywell town centre. It can accommodate 2,000 spectators with 200 seated and 250 covered. In recent times, the Halkyn Road ground has been greatly improved, and it has been the venue for many Youth International fixtures. However Holywell Town's future at the historic Halkyn Road has been underthreat by Flintshire County Council recently, as rumours were abound that the council wished them to move out of their ground, and allow them to play on a football field at the local high school, so that the council could use the land to build the new cottage hospital on. Although Holywell Town have stayed in their ground, and this rumour has never been confirmed, there are still uncertainty surrounding the ground, especially with the building of the new cottage hospital being built nearby.

The Wellmen's first choice strip is red and white striped shirts, red or blue shorts and red and white hooped socks. The second choice strip is green and white striped shirts, with green shorts, and socks.

The team's league rivals are Halkyn United but their traditional main rivals are Flint Town United. This results from the historical rivalry between the two old towns of Flintshire.

[edit] History

The history of football being played in Holywell can be traced back to a club that were simply known as Holywell. They were founded by a Colonel J.Llewellyn Williams. During those early days, Holywell played their football on a ground known as Ffordd Fer and wore red and white for their strips, as the current team, Holywell Town do today. Holywell (as Holywell Acodians) were one of the founder members of the North Wales Coast League back in 1893. However, after being engulfed by the Baron Corvo episode of 1899, the team were defunct by 1902.

After three years, football returned to Holywell, with the formation of a new club, Holywell United F.C. in 1905. Holywell United was to enjoy a successful run during this period by winning many trophies. In 1914 they achieved the North Wales Coast League and Cup double, and in 1922 Holywell overcame Llandudno 1-0 to win the Amateur Cup. Whilst in 1931 they managed to win the Welsh League, but were then known as Holywell Arcadians.

Both Holywell's social and football history came together and combined to establish the club as it is known today. In 1946 former soldiers that were returning home from World War II established the club at Halkyn Road, where it has played its home games ever since. Success came immediately for Holywell Town, when in 1947 they managed to win both The Alves Cup and The Waterfall Cup, and this success was backed-up two years later, when in 1949, they won the NWCFA Amateur Cup.

More success came to Holywell in the 1950s, when they won the Welsh League (North) in 1953. Nine years later in 1962 the record attendance was set when 3000 spectators packed into Halkyn Road for a Welsh Cup 6th round tie with Swansea City. Despite the record attendance, the home failed to win the tie with the Swans winning 2-1.

Most recently, Holywell Town became founder members of the Cymru Alliance in 1990-91 and then became one of the founder members of the League of Wales in 1992/93. The 1992-93 football campaign was a particularly good seaon for Holywell, as they won the Clwyd League Youth Cup, the Auxiliary Youth Cup, whilst also being runners up in the Alves Cup.

The club won respect in North Wales and further afield under the shrewd management of Glyn Griffiths, who almost managed to get the club to qualify for Europe during his tenure. League placings on 6th and 5th in 1993 and 1994 respectively prove the point. However once his reign had ended, inconsistency crept in and results started to suffer and started to slide down the league table. The club finished 8th, then 16th in 1995 and 1996. The slide was complete when they finished bottom of the league during the 1996-97 season and were relegated to the Cymru Alliance. Although they managed to get promoted as runners-up the following season of their relegation, they sadly were relegated again, finishing 17th (bottom) in the 1998-99 season.

Since the 1998-99 season, Holywell Town played their football in Cymru Alliance, the second-tier of the Welsh football league system. Their first two seasons back in the Cymru Alliance ended in disappointing mid-table finishes. Things got worse for them, as they flirted with relegation, by finishing 16th, 17th and 14th during 2001-04. Although they saw under a sort of resurgence under the guidance of Andy Nicholls during the 2004-05 season, by finishing 9th, they were eventually relegated to the Welsh Alliance last season when they finished 17th place, with only their local rival Halkyn United being below them.

The 2006-07 season in the Welsh Alliance League was not a great season for the Wellmen, and they did not lived up to their pre-season hype for being promotion challengers. Inconsistency was apparent, and numerous matches were abandoned due to the Halkyn Road ground having constant problems with being waterlogged. For their first season in the Welsh Alliance, it was a rather indifferent season, finishing 10th in the league, and far away from the main challengers in the league. They were eliminated from the Barrett Cup by Llandudno Junction 6-4 at Halkyn Road and from the NWFCA Cup by Bodedern 4-3.

[edit] 2007-08 Season

Date	Opposition	Competition	Score
18th Aug 2007	Corwen	Welsh Cup Preliminary Round	1-2
21st Aug 2007	Glan Conwy	Welsh Alliance League	0-0
25th Aug 2007	Llanrug United	Welsh Alliance League	2-0
12th Sept 2007	Nantlle Vale	Welsh Alliance League	1-2
12th Sept 2007	Amlwch Town	Welsh Alliance League	0-5
22nd Sept 2007	Acrefair Youth	Welsh Trophy Round Two	6-1
29th Sept 2007	Nantlle Vale	Cookson Cup Round One	0-3
6th Oct 2007	Rhyl Reserves	Welsh Alliance League	1-4
13th Oct 2007	Llanberis	Welsh Alliance League	2-1
20th Oct 2007	Penycae	Welsh Trophy Round Three	2-1
27th Oct 2007	Amlwch Town	Welsh Alliance League	2-0
3rd Nov 2007	Pwllheli	Welsh Alliance League	1-1
10th Nov 2007	Nantlle Vale	Barritt Cup Round One	4-2
24th Nov 2007	Corwen	Welsh Trophy Round Four	2-6
1st Dec 2007	Llandudno Junction	Welsh Alliance League	3-2
15th Dec 2007	Rhydymwyn	Welsh Alliance League	P-P
22nd Dec 2007	Bethesda Athletic	Welsh Alliance League	2-8
26th Dec 2007	Halkyn United	Welsh Alliance League	0-1
5th Jan 2008	Conwy United	Welsh Alliance League	2-1
12th Jan 2008	Conwy United	Welsh Alliance League	2-6
19th Jan 2008	Bethel	Barritt Cup Round Two	0-3
26th Jan 2008	Llanberis	Welsh Alliance League	2-2
2nd Feb 2008	Llandudno Junction	Welsh Alliance League	P-P
9th Feb 2008	Nantlle Vale	Welsh Alliance League	2-2
16th Feb 2008	Llanrwst United	Welsh Alliance League	1-2
20th Feb 2008	Llanrwst United	Welsh Alliance League	1-2
23rd Feb 2008	Pwllheli	Welsh Alliance League	3-6
1st Mar 2008	Rhydymwyn	Welsh Alliance League	1-1
4th Mar 2008	Rhyl Reserves	Welsh Alliance League	0-2
15th Mar 2008	Nefyn United	Welsh Alliance League	P-P
18th Mar 2008	Glan Conwy	Welsh Alliance League	0-0
22nd Mar 2008	Bethesda Athletic	Welsh Alliance League	0-6
24th Mar 2008	Halkyn United	Welsh Alliance League	P-P
1st Apr 2008	Rhydymwyn	Welsh Alliance League	1-0
5th Apr 2008	Llanrug United	Welsh Alliance League	4-4
8th Apr 2008	Llandudno Junction	Welsh Alliance League	3-1
12th Apr 2008	Halkyn United	Welsh Alliance League	P-P
15th Apr 2008	Halkyn United	Welsh Alliance League	4-0
19th Apr 2008	Nefyn United	Welsh Alliance League	0-4
26th Apr 2008	Nefyn United	Welsh Alliance League	4-0
29th Apr 2008	Rhydymwyn	Welsh Alliance League	2-2

Key: P = Posponed; All home games in BOLD
Current results correct as of 29th April 2008

[edit] Holywell Town Squad 2007/08

Position	Name
GK	Richard Dolphin
GK	Kevin King
DF	Darren Jones
DF	Ben Welsh
DF	Chris House
DF	Johnny Griffiths
DF	Liam Robinson
DF	Chris Williams
MF	Gareth Thomas (C)
MF	Nick Voyle
MF	Jamie Morris
MF	Ian Ferguson
MF	Brett Jones
MF/FW	Matty Bennet
FW	Wayne Edwards
FW	Lee Blythin
FW	Gareth Henley
FW	Ben Lewis
FW	Danny Wynne
FW	Wayne Shill

Key: GK = Goalkeeper; DF = Defender; MF = Midfielder; FW = Forward
Current squad correct as of 6th October 2007

[edit] Current History

Season	League	Position	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1990-91	Cymru Alliance	9th	26	6	6	14	29	40	24
1991-92	Cymru Alliance	11th	30	7	10	13	48	49	31
1992-93	League of Wales	6th	38	17	8	13	65	48	59
1993-94	League of Wales	5th	38	18	10	10	74	57	64
1994-95	League of Wales	8th	38	16	10	12	62	55	58
1995-96	League of Wales	16th	40	12	7	21	53	74	43
1996-97	League of Wales	20th	40	7	8	25	52	81	29
1997-98	Cymru Alliance	2nd	36	25	6	5	86	34	81
1998-99	League of Wales	17th	32	3	9	20	38	86	23
1999-00	Cymru Alliance	12th	32	7	4	21	41	69	25
2000-01	Cymru Alliance	10th	32	11	6	15	47	69	39
2001-02	Cymru Alliance	16th	34	8	5	21	50	85	29
2002-03	Cymru Alliance	17th	32	4	5	23	33	96	8*
2003-04	Cymru Alliance	14th	32	8	8	16	38	61	32
2004-05	Cymru Alliance	9th	34	13	7	14	77	64	46
2005-06	Cymru Alliance	17th	34	5	12	17	49	72	24
2006-07	Welsh Alliance League	10th	28	8	8	12	59	63	32
2007-08	Welsh Alliance League	12th	28	8	6	14	44	70	27**

Key: P = Played; W = Won; D = Drawn; L = Lost; F = Goals For; A = Goals Against; Pts = Points
* = 9pts deducted, ** = 3pts deducted
Current league position as of 29th April 2008