Newtown A.F.C.

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Newtown

Full name	Newtown Association Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Robins
Founded	1875; 146 years ago (1875)
Ground	Latham Park Newtown Powys
Capacity	5,000 (1,300 seated)[1]
Chairman	Howard Ellis
Manager	Chris Hughes
League	Cymru Premier
2020–21	Cymru Premier, 7th
Home colours Away colours

Newtown Association Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Pêl-droed Y Drenewydd) is a Welsh football club based in Newtown, Powys, which plays in the Cymru Premier. Newtown are one of only two clubs that can claim unbroken membership of the league since its formation in 1992, with the other club being Aberystwyth Town.

The club was founded in 1875 as Newtown White Stars, and was one of the founder members of the Football Association of Wales. Newtown White Stars, which appeared in the first Welsh Cup match on 13 October 1877, is believed to have merged with Newtown Excelsior to form the current Newtown AFC in time to be Welsh Cup finalists in 1885 and 1888.^{[2][3][4][citation needed]}

The club plays at Latham Park, Newtown, which accommodates 5,000 spectators. They are the only top flight football club in Powys.

History[]

For most of the years since the 1920s the club operated in the Mid-Wales League, or the Central Wales League as it was sometimes known, winning the championship in 1975–76, 1978–79, 1981–82, 1986–87 & 1987–88 and on the strength of this record, the club gained entry to the English league system in the Northern Premier League.

In 1992 the club became rather reluctant founder members of the Konica League of Wales. Since then it has finished runners-up in the league in both 1995–96 & 1997–98, and subsequently played UEFA cup ties against Skonto Riga of Latvia and Wisła Kraków of Poland.

Newtown Association Football Club are one of the oldest clubs in Wales, being formed in 1875 and are one of the founder members of the FAW. In addition, the club was also one of the founder members of the League of Wales, now known as the Cymru Premier.

The club has a long and proud tradition with the move in the late 1980s into the Northern Premier League being part of the progressive nature of the club.

Way back in 1877, Newtown took part in the first Welsh Cup tie on Saturday 13 October against Druids of Ruabon. Cefn Druids now former members of the Welsh Premier are derived from this club. Wrexham went on to win the competition but in the following season, Newtown White Stars beat the favourites Wrexham 2–1 in Oswestry and became the first club to receive the famous trophy, which had only been purchased a few months earlier. In December 1895 Newtown travelled to play Manchester City at Maine Road and shocked the City team by winning 3–2. Newtown’s W. Parry scored all three goals for the Robins.^[5]

In 2014 Newtown became the 2nd Cymru Premier club, after The New Saints, to change their grass turf for a 3G pitch. During the 2014/15 season Newtown finished in the top 6 for the second consecutive season. They also took part in their first Welsh Cup Final in 118 Years after memorable wins against Caersws, Bangor and Rhyl. However they lost the match 2–0 to The New Saints, despite it being played at Latham Park in front of a capacity crowd. After the cup final defeat, Newtown entered the European play-offs. During the play-offs, they won away at Port Talbot Town and won away at Aberystwyth Town to take a spot in the 2015–16 Europa League qualifiers.

In July 2015 Newtown faced Maltese opponents Valletta in the first round of qualifying for the 2015/16 Europa League. A last minute winner in the 1st leg at Latham Park gave the club their first European win and was followed with an away victory giving Newtown their first Europa League Win over two legs. Newtown faced Danish giants Copenhagen in the second round and were defeated over both legs losing 5–1 on aggregate. Newtown finished in the top 6 again during the following 2015/16 Welsh Premier League season and were also the only team to beat The New Saints at Park Hall, but eventually lost at home to Airbus UK Broughton in the play-off semi final. Newtown again reached the play-offs after finishing 7th in the 2016/17 season, but were beaten 3–2 away to Bangor City.

Honours[]

Current squad[]

As of 21 July 2021^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  WAL Dave Jones 2 DF  WAL Brett Taylor 3 DF  WAL Callum Roberts 5 DF  WAL Kieron Mills-Evans 6 DF  WAL Shane Sutton 7 FW  ZAM Lifumpa Mwandwe 8 FW  WAL Nick Rushton 9 FW  WAL Jamie Breese 10 MF  WAL Jordan Evans 11 FW  WAL James Davies 12 MF  WAL David Cotterill

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 FW  ENG Aaron Williams 16 MF  WAL Dylan Downs 17 FW  ENG Ben Speake 19 DF  WAL Craig Williams (Captain) 20 MF  WAL Rhys Hesden 22 DF  WAL Alfie Jones 24 MF  ENG George Hughes 25 GK  WAL Max Williams 26 DF  ENG Jake Walker 28 DF  WAL Naim Arsan

Technical staff[]

Position	Name
Manager	Chris Hughes
Assistant Manager	Callum McKenzie
Goalkeeping Coach	Andy Roberts
First Team Coach	Matty Lewis
Physio	Andy Pellow
Kit Man	Dave Rose

{Dave rose} Rose is a former Robins goalkeeper, who was in the squad for one of their European home games in the 1990s. Has been part of the youth team set up, and last season part of the first team back room staff, replacing Tyler Clifton as kit man. Rose signed on as the Robins third choice goalkeeper

- {chris Hughes} -

Chris is going into his fifth full season as the Robins manager after he was appointed to the role back in November 2013.

In the 2013/14 season he guided the club into the play-offs for the first time, before leading them to play off glory the following season.

The former Prestatyn, Rhyl, Buckley and Caersws number two then over saw the historic Europa League win over Valletta, and tie against FC Copenhagen.

Hughes, who previously worked as a sports development officer now works at Glyndwr University and recently completed his UEFA Pro Licence.

- {Callum Mckenzie} - Callum took up his post in 2013, and worked under Bernie McNally before continuing his role under Chris Hughes.

He has over 15 years over coaching experience, having working for Cardiff City and Everton FC.

A Uefa A Licence holder, Callum currently works in the academy at Shrewsbury Town FC, and previously played for the Robins under Brian Coyne.

Managers[]

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (October 2014)

• Brian Coyne (1992–03)
• Roger Preece (2003–06)
• Darren Ryan (2006–10)
• Andy Cale (2010–11)
• Darren Ryan (2011)
• Bernard McNally (2011–13)
• Chris Hughes (2013–)

Europe[]

Newtown have participated in UEFA competition four times.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1996–97	UEFA Cup	PR	Skonto FC	1–4	0–3	1–7
1998–99	UEFA Cup	1Q	Wisła Kraków	0–0	0–7	0–7
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Valletta	2–1	2–1	4–2
		2Q	Copenhagen	1–3	0–2	1–5
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Dundalk	0–1	0–4	0–5

Notes

• PR: Preliminary round
• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round

Rivalries[]

Newtown share a local rivalry with Caersws who are only around 5 miles away and often attract big crowds when the teams meet. In the Cymru Premier Newtown have derby matches against fellow Mid-Wales clubs Aberystwyth Town and The New Saints.

League Record[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Newtown history and info from 1960, Keith Harding
• [1]

Newtown Whitestars website