League of Wales

The League of Wales is the national football league for Wales and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was formed in 1992 with nineteen teams, when it was sponsored by Konica Peter Llewellyn Limited of Swansea and was known as the Konica League of Wales. From 2002 the league is named after its new sponsor, the J.T. Hughes Mitsubishi Welsh Premier. The League normally provides three teams for European club competitions (though they invariably do not progress far) -- the League Champions are entered in the UEFA Champions League, the runners-up in the UEFA Cup, and the third place team in the Intertoto Cup. Normally a fourth team is also entered in the UEFA Cup as winners of the Welsh Cup.

Table of contents

1 Composition of the League
2 Former members of the League of Wales
3 Formation of the League of Wales
4 Champions
5 External link

Composition of the League

Current teams in the Welsh Premier are:

Aberystwyth Town F.C
Afan Lido F.C
Bangor City F.C
Barry Town F.C
Caernarfon Town F.C
Caersws F.C
Carmarthen Town F.C
Connah's Quay Nomads F.C
Cwmbran Town F.C
Haverfordwest County F.C
NEWI Cefn Druids F.C
Newtown F.C
(Oswestry Town F.C -- failed to start the 2003/04 season)
Port Talbot Town F.C
Porthmadog F.C
Rhyl F.C
Total Network Solutions F.C (also known as TNS and TNS Llansantffraid).
Welshpool Town F.C

On 14 August 2003 UEFA reversed its previous decision and sanctioned the merger of TNS and Oswestry Town -- consequently Oswestry did not start the season the following weekend; a new stadium for the merged team is to be built in Oswestry.

On 25 August 2003 Barry Town F.C. went into Administration (a form of bankruptcy), locking-out its professional team and manager from their stadium, and appointing a new management team and part-time players for the remainder of the season; Barry's survival as a top-level team in the League of Wales is in considerable doubt.

Former members of the League of Wales

The requirement that two teams be relegated each year (in abeyance when challenged by Welshpool Town in 2003) has resulted in a rapid turnover of teams in the short period of the League's existence.

The following teams have played in the League at some time:

Abergavenny Thursdays F.C (1992-1993)
Briton Ferry Athletic F.C (1992-1994, 1995-1997)
Cemaes Bay F.C (1995-1998)
Conwy United F.C (1992-2000)
Ebbw Vale F.C (1992-1998)
Flint Town United F.C (1992-1998)
Llanelli A.F.C (1992-1996, 1999-2003)
Llanidloes Town F.C (1992-1993)
Maesteg Park A.F.C (1992-1995)
Mold Alexandra F.C (1992-1995)
Rhayader Town F.C (1997-2002)
Ton Pentre F.C ()
UWIC Inter Cardiff A.F.C (1992-2001)

Formation of the League of Wales

The creation of the first national football league for Wales in 1992 was a rather traumatic event. Because of geography, it has always been much easier to travel east-west than north-south, so it was natural for clubs to tend to look east to England for competitors, and the principal non-Football League teams such a Bangor City and Barry Town played in the English non-League pyramid. In the early 1990s UEFA insisted that clubs should not play in a "foreign" league (and arguments about the United Kingdom being one country do not wash with UEFA because all four countries participate in international competition in their own right), thus came about the creation of the League of Wales. Many of the northern clubs refused to participate in the new league initially, and for a time played their "home" English league games in exile at grounds to the east of the English border. Eventually the new order was accepted, although the presence in the English League of the professional Welsh teams, Cardiff City, Wrexham, and Swansea City, remains an anomaly in the eyes of UEFA, ameliorated only by their being debarred from competing for the Welsh Cup which used to provide one of them with near-guaranteed European competition each year.

Champions

Season	Champions	Remarks
2002/03	Barry Town
2001/02	Barry Town
2000/01	Barry Town	1st LOW club to win a Champions League match. Beat FC Shamkir (Azerbaijan)
1999/00	TNS (Llansantffraidd)
1998/99	Barry Town
1997/98	Barry Town
1996/97	Barry Town
1995/96	Barry Town	Beat Dinaburg (Latvia), Visutas Budapest (Hungary), before losing 6:4 on aggregate to Aberdeen.
1994/95	Bangor City
1993/94	Bangor City
1992/93	Cwmbran Town	1st league team to play in Europe. Lost 4-4 on away goals to Cork City

External link

League of Wales website