Cambrian & Clydach Vale B.G.C vs Abertillery Bluebirds

Friday 29th March 2024 7:30pm

Official Matchday Programme 2023-24

chairmans WELCOME

ceri jones

Good afternoon and welcome to the M&P for what, on paper, should be a great contest against Abertillery Bluebirds in the Cymru South.

Tonight’s encounter should be a cracker with our lads looking to maintain our place in the top 5 and push Carmarthen and Afan Lido for a potential top 4 finish.

At the previous home fixture we hosted our Inaugural Partnership Day, it was a great occasion and I would like thank our valued partners and sponsors for coming along on the day. There were many positive and encouraging conversations throughout the day and it all bodes well for the future trajectory of the club.

The future of the club will see a fully integrated model where all of our football activities including the Mens, Women’s, Disability football and the Academy will be fully integrated with the Cambrian Village Trust into a single organisation.

This model will be quite unique in Welsh football, but it’s a model I know that the FAW would like to see replicated across Wales.

Enjoy today’s a game and let’s hope it will be another positive result for the club.

Ceri

Jones, Cambrian & Clydach BGC Chairman

UPCOMING FIXTURES

Taffs Well FC (Away)

Saturday 1st April 2024

Kick off - 2:30pm

Trefelin BGC (Home)

Saturday 13th April 2024

Kick off - 2:30pm

CAMBRIAN & CLYDACH VALE B.G.C

OUR HISTORY

Cambrian & Clydach Vale BGC is a football cub nestled in the heart of the Rhondda Valley in small village called Clydach Vale. Formed in 2001, we have grown exponentially since that time and have become arguably the biggest and best football cub in RCT.

Within a decade we have had numerous successes including winning the Welsh League Division 1 title in 2011/2012, our highest accolade to date. Another huge milestone for the club happened within the decade also, with our Academy being formed in 2008 after the devolution of RCT Schools/Council Football. The Academy was set up with a sole purpose, to provide elite opportunities for young players within RCT. Starting with 1 team, the present day we have grown to 11 teams from u7 to u16s with the brand #CamArmy renowned within football circles all over Wales. Since the Academy’s inception, over 40 players have gone on to professional clubs in that time and over 20 players have since graduated and played senior football in the Welsh League for the club. Our model for player development is second to none and we are the only affiliated FAW Academy in RCT.

Through our innovative thinking, we became the first club in RCT to have an artificial 3G pitch in 2013, which has helped propel our brand of football to new levels. We have also been loyal to our roots, keeping grassroots teams playing in the local leagues through our link with the ever-present Boys & Girls club.

Cambrian United was formed in 1965, taking its name from the local colliery. After success in the Rhondda & District League, the club was elected to the South Wales Corinthian League in 1972.

They won the second division championship at the first attempt and followed up the following season by winning the Corinthian Cup with a 5-2 extra time victory over Cardiff Corries.

In season 1977-78 the side were runners up in the first division losing out on goal difference to near neighbours Ton and Gelli. In 1980, the club joined with the very successful Clydach Vale Boys and Girls Club seniors, but the merger was a spectacular failure and almost led to the club losing its Amateur League status after several poor seasons during the decade.

The 1990’s saw the rebuilding process begin and the second division title was won for the second time in 1992. in 1994, manager Neil Foulkes joined the club and celebrated by winning the Corinthian cup a season later. In 1996-97, the club had a terrific year winning the FAW Trophy by defeating Rhyl Detta 2-1 at Jenner Park and won a second successive Corinthian Cup beating Cardiff Civil Service 4-2. In addition, they were league runners up to Ely Rangers.

There then followed a run of four more runners up spots in six years and another Corinthian Cup triumph, this time by 4-1 margin against Llantwit Fardre, before the Championship was finally won in 2004/5. In 2000, the club had remerged with the Boys and Girls Club.

The club is also very active off the pitch working closely with the local Village Trust to develop facilities in the area, two full time soccer coaches are employed to work with local schools and major improvements have taken place at the ground. An all-weather, floodlit AstroTurf area has been built at a cost of

CAMBRIAN & CLYDACH VALE B.G.C

OUR HISTORY

£116,000 and a clubhouse facility opened in October 2005 after the club and the Trust successfully generated the £130,000 required. Floodlighting on the ground was completed at the start of August 2007.

The Club entered the Welsh League for the first time in season 2005/06 and a very successful year ended with the Third Division Championship being won after close rivals West End had been deducted three Points.

Season 2006/7 turned out to be even more memorable as promotion was gained to the top division of the Welsh League with second placed finish behind champions Garw, in addition the Youth side won the MacWhirter Cup defeating Pontardawe Town 5-2 in the final as well as finishing runners up in their division.

In the 2007/8 season, the clubs first ever in Division One began with an incredible 5 straight wins and although the small squad could not sustain this long term, a creditable ninth place was achieved.

The club also embarked on a new venture, taking over and forming the new RCT UEFA Academy programme.

This part of the club has gone from strength to strength over the past few seasons and the club now runs age groups from 7 through to 19 at elite level.

A major change also took place on the Management Committee in 2008, with former England Manager Terry Venables agreeing to become chairman of the club. Terry was already Patron of the highly successful Cambrian

Village Trust and has close links with Clydach Vale, where his mother was born. Last season after challenging for the title over the last few seasons Cambrian & Clydach became champions of the Welsh League for the first time in its history.

CLUB HONOURS

Welsh League Division 1 Winners

2011-2012

Welsh League Division 3 Winners

2005-2006

South Wales Amateur League Winners

2004-2005

FAW Nathaniel MG Cup Runners-Up

2018-2019

TODAY’S OPPONENTS

ABERTILLERY BLUEBIRDS AFC

A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was formed in 1989 playing in Cwmnantygroes, in Six Bells Abertillery, originally from the growth of the coal industry, with Arael Griffin Colliery opening in 1898. The club initially started off in the North Gwent League, under the management of Freddie Roan and the first success came in 1992-93 as the club became Division One Champions. 1994-95 saw the club go close to the double, runners-up in the Premier Division but making up for that disappointment by winning the Tom Perkins Cup.

1996-97 saw a managerial change with Martin Price, taking the reigns and the Bluebirds finished as runners up for two consecutive seasons, before the Tom Perkins Cup was won again in 1998-99. The club finally won the North Gwent Premier Division title in 1999-00 as well as compete the double with their third Tom Perkins cup success. The club had won promotion to the Gwent County League.

With Martin Price stepping down as manager to

move upstairs to become club Secretary, Adrian Howells and Steve Edwards took over the management and the club and in its first season in Gwent County Division 3, the club won 16 and drew 4 of its 26 league games to win promotion as runners up behind Pentwynmawr Athletic. The club would spend the next five seasons in Division 2, finishing in mainly mid table positions, before 2006-07, when the club won the championship with 20 wins and 6 draws out of 28 league games, scoring a club record 96 goals.

The first season in Gwent County Division 1, resulted in a third-place finish, however 2008-09 would see the Bluebirds win the championship on goal difference with 26 wins and a draw out of 30 league games, equalling the club record of 96 goals and just 22 goals conceded to reach the Welsh League. From 2005-09, the club also won the Amateur Cup three times.

Success was instant with the Bluebirds winning promotion as runners up in Division 3 behind Aberbargoed Buds, just 1 point between the two clubs at the finish. However, the club

TODAY’S OPPONENTS

ABERTILLERY BLUEBIRDS AFC

suffered relegation after only one season, relegated on the last day of the season with Treharris Athletic Western staying up by a solitary point.

The following two seasons brought mid-table finishes back in Division 3, however 2013-14 saw the club struggle with relegation again on the last day of the season, just time on goal difference to Treharris Athletic Western who finished with an identical record to the Bluebirds, of 9 wins, 10 draws and 17 defeats but a better goal difference of 6 goals.

It was back to the Gwent County, where the club rebuilt for 3 seasons before narrowly missing out on promotion back to the Welsh League to Albion Rovers. However the following season, 2018-19, the Bluebirds won the Gwent County Division 1 with 21 wins, 1 draw and just 1 defeat, winning promotion with an Owen Goodenough goal against Cwmbran Town, under the management Allan Stokes.

With the Bluebirds now back in the Welsh League, Lee Thomas would take over and the

Bluebirds finished 2019-20 in 6th place on a points per game average due to pandemic.

Abertillery Bluebirds now play their football in the Cymru South League.

LATEST RESULTS

Pontardawe 2 - 2 Abertillery Blue.

Abertillery Blue. 2 - 0 Carmarthen

Llantwit Major 3 - 2 Abertillery Blue.

Abertillery Blue. 0 - 3 Baglan Dragons

CAMBRIAN WOMEN’S TEAM

SOPHIE DANDO

Our season has finally begun, and what a start we have made. We were accepted straight into the South Wales Women’s & Girls League Division 1, and won our opening league fixtures. The rigmarole and effort that goes into setting up a new team and getting players to buy into a new set up and ethos has well been worth it.

The women hit the ground running winning both opening league fixtures, both with very healthy score lines against Gurnos FC (6-1) and Fairwater Women (5-0). We aim to continue this success but recognise we are a new team, a working progress and there are some established and competitive teams in the league. We bowed out of the Bute Energy FAW Cup in the qualifying round, losing to Adran South (Tier 2) team Coed Duon WFC.

Despite the difference in leagues, we took the lead twice through Tayla Gould and Danielle Goodenough going in at half time looking very positive. Coed Duon’s experience and pedigree

however led them to convincingly claw the game back in the 2nd half, and sees them progress to the next round. We will take may positives from the gamewhich will put is in good stead going into future fixtures.

We look forward to our league cup match with Penybont Women FC on 31st March. Look out for youngster Kiera Llewelyn, local winger Danielle Goodenough and Holly Gould who has recently returned to football – all have picked up a player of the match award in our opening fixtures after very impressive outings.

Recently some of our players have stepped up as coaches to deliver in Cambrian Village Trust’s first ever girl’s only football camps in the School Holidays. The camps saw around 25 girls, aged 5-11 years old, attend each day!

This is the first step in engaging girls to play and develop their football at Cambrian & Clydach. We must thank everyone at the Club, the

CAMBRIAN WOMEN’S TEAM

SOPHIE DANDO

Academy and Cambrian Village Trust for embracing and supporting the women’s team to get off the ground. We’re all very excited to help grow girl’s and women’s section at the club, and hopefully emulate the success already seen in the Academy and Men’s structure.

UPCOMING WOMEN’S FIXTURES

Penybont Women FC (Away) - CUP

31st March 2024, Kick off - 2:00pm

Lucas Cwmbran Ladies FC (Away) - LEAGUE

7th April 2024, Kick off - 2:00pm

Penydarren BGC Women (Away) - LEAGUE

14th April 2024, Kick off - 2:00pm

Taffs Well FC Women (Away) - LEAGUE

21st April 2024, Kick off - 2:00pm

Follow @CCBGCWomen on Twitter

CAMBRIAN ACADEMY

GARETH EVANS

As another season begins, we are pleased to have gained Category B status following the new and thorough audit process which has been put in place by the FAW. The past year was a stressful one; having to manage the day to day running of the 22/23 season programme whilst also ensuring that all requirements were complete and in place for the end of season audit. However, it was all worth it when the news come through that we had passed the Category B audit requirements for the upcoming season.

As many know in Welsh football, five academies had their status as an academy revoked with three being from the South: Taffs Well, Risca United and Cwmbran Celtic. Whilst others were provided with a Category C status which means they can only run certain age groups which have been presented by the FAW for the forthcoming season. As mentioned in our end of season awards evenings, we are over the moon to have ensured that we can offer Welsh Academy football for all age groups from Under 8s to 19s who will participate in the 23/24 FAW Games Programme.

A special thanks must be given to Mark Morgans, Ryan Wilkinson, Kelly Simkiss and Brendan Hopkins for their work in passing the audit and all the coaches from the 22/23 season for their commitment not only on the pitch, but the off-field tasks required by them to aid in our academy status being achieved. Truly a team effort!

The 2022/23 season was another good season on reflection, especially following the FAW introducing the club 1rule for all players from the Under 12s age group and above.

Our Under 12s to 16’s all competed well in their league campaigns with 4 out of 5 finishing in the top 4 places within a 13/14 team league depending on the age group. Our Under 16s finished the league season unbeaten before suffering a 2-0 loss at the hands of Briton Ferry in the South playoff. Ferry went on to be crowned Welsh Champions. Our Under 14s also made the South playoff finishing second and were minutes away from reaching the national final. However, unbeaten Pontardawe drew level late on before winning via a penalty shootout. These were also crowned FAW national champions.

The foundation phase ages once more performed excellently throughout the season with some great fixtures to challenge the players vs pro clubs teams and we look forward to continuing these opportunities into this coming season too. The number of festivals and tournaments that were organised and delivered by Swansea City was a great addition to the games programme and was great to see us consistently entering two teams per age group, so all gained the opportunity.

A huge addition to the academy over the last year is our new Infantry Division. A great pat on the back to Mark Morgan who has created and delivered this part of the academy and the growth in a year has been phenomenal. Our members have increased, a bespoke curriculum, increased games programme (especially for the coming 23/24 season) and a number of players now attending proacademies at the pro clubs in South Wales. We have no doubt that this will be huge in the short / medium term for the academy and the long term for the clubs first team.

CAMBRIAN ACADEMY

GARETH EVANS

Thanks to restrictions being released and normality resuming, we are able to bring our European Tours back to the academy. The 8-14s travelled to Juliana Malden at the end of may whilst the 15 and 16 age groups travelled to the Easter Open tournament, both destinations in Holland. Both trips were excellently attended and the performances on the pitch by all the age groups was pleasing to see.

More importantly the behaviour off the pitch by the players were a credit to the academy, club and their parents. The 12s and 15s won their respective tournaments, 14s and 16s come second and a mixed 12/13s team went unbeaten.

We are already looking forward to the 2024 Tour where we will return to the Easter Open in Holland with the 12-16 age groups and the 8-11s with travel to Belgium this time around.

As always there is a turnover of coaches from season to season and I personally would like to thank: Owen Davies, Richard Johns, Grant Blacker, Phil Thomas, Dan Crozier and Jason Davies for all their work with the players and academy last season and seasons previous.

As they leave new coaches come in and I would like to give a huge #CamArmy welcome to: Miles John, Paul Jones, Liam Davies, John Noble and Karl Jones.

Finally, it will be great turn out from all within the academy today to support the first team.

WHO ARE WE?? #CamArmy

CAMBRIAN infantry

MARK MORGANS

What a start it’s been for the Infantry programme! Started in March 2022, the sessions have gone from strength to strength and have become a huge part of our development pathway. We started the journey with a mixture of 2016 and 2017 players and signed around 25 players to start with us with just a few coaches.

Fast forward to today ......... 16 months later. We have over 60 players ranging from 2016 to 2019 (after we decided to align the U7s from the Academy pathway into the Infantry pathway instead) and over 12 members of staff. We secured funding from Sport Wales with the huge help from Scott Woodford from Sport RCT who saw the enormous potential in our project, and this allowed us to grow the programme with extra sessions and a “coach of the future programme” where we can fund CPD and guide/ mentor our current academy players who want to further their career aspirations in football coaching. To date, we have had 6 academy players take up this opportunity.

The experiences and opportunities the children have had has been exceptional! The obvious highlight, they have played Manchester City at the Etihad Campus. Other key experiences, they have played in numerous competitions and festivals and also have played Swansea City, Cardiff City, Bristol Rovers within the time since our inception. We currently have 26 players in pre-academy programmes at both Welsh clubs! This is over a third of our player base. INCREDIBLE!

Socially, the programme is extremely important to us also. We have had 2 football presentations, a visit from Santa Clause and

numerous times supporting the senior team with our players being mascot for games, including today’s game which the children are extremely excited for. We have also given over 100 star of the week certificates and medals to date.

Why is the programme so successful? Firstly, it’s a unique spin on coaching. We use simple and effective techniques which make the children robust and resilient beyond their years through intense physical sessions that include wrestling, core and stability exercises, as well as speed / endurance races. We teach them winning isn’t important, but wanting to win is! So nearly everything is competitive. Technically, the sessions are all about them with each player having a football and working on core movement skills to beat players and also protect the ball. We don’t promote passing within our sessions, just skills, skills and more skills with lots of positive reinforcement. We play lots of 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 games with lots of ball rolling time.

The real key to the programme is we look at bio banding and relative age effect. This may sound gobbledgook to you so I’ll explain it in simple terms. We don’t have U5/U6s etc, we have year of birth sessions. Each child grows and matures at different rates ... so we look at this and group the sessions in accordance with size and strength thus they can get success (bio banding) so some of our current U6s have trained with our U8s and in reverse, we break down the stigma and that it’s ok to “train and play down an age”. My own son is the perfect example of this being born in August (late in school year) he is physically underdeveloped compared to the other boys in his school year thus doesn’t

CAMBRIAN infantry

MARK MORGANS

compete and get success within his “age category” so he trains with the 2017/18s and therefore grows in confidence and has lots of success especially with the skills we teach. If you go and watch grassroots U6s per example up and down the country, the best player or strongest team, I can guarantee will be September / October / November born, and the June / July / August born children will be ignored somewhat in their development. This is relative age effect where the older players in the category are favoured over younger players due to natural advantages in physical development.

So what’s next for the Infantry?? We held a free open day for new football stars to come and show us what they can do. This was our 4th free open day where we have engaged with the community to offer football to players starting their journey. The Infantry then start their sessions in line with the school year in September and they have an unreal programme coming up including trips away to Newport County, Bristol City, West Bromwich Albion, Norwich City and much more to come.

Strategy wise, we will also look to expand the programme into key territories with the RCT area including the Cynon and Taff valleys as well as community turn up and play sessions within the heart of the Rhondda, school based sessions as well as birthday parties and soccer camps. Watch this space!

Finally, the Infantry falls in line with our Academy philosophy, the 2 pillars of success. Which is can we get a player signed by a pro club, and if not can a player represent our first team. We could absolutely smash the record of players signed by a pro club within a season in a few years time, smash through the 100 signed players relatively quickly and finally in 10 years time, see the first Infantry player represent the first team. It seems a long way away, but I can summarise the importance of the Infantry to the club and its continuous success in one simple and effective quote: “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit”. Please show your support and come and see the future of the #CamArmy.

BE PART OF THE BLOOD, SWEAT

CAMBRIAN & CLYDACH SQUAD

PLAYER SPONSORS 2023 - 2024

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Sponsored by: Jacob CROSS

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Sponsored by: Daniel SPENCER

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Kyle JONES

Taylor JONES

Morgan DAVIES

David VINCENT

Jay WOODFORD

Cameron STRINATI

David THOMAS

Cameron KEETCH

Tim PARKER

Ceri MORGAN

CAMBRIAN & CLYDACH SQUAD

PLAYER SPONSORS 2023 - 2024

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Liam REED

Jacob JONES

Liam EASON

Danny WOOLFENDEN

Mervyn BENNETT

Munyaradzi MABWE

Efan FLETCHER

Kai CROSSLEY

Keiron COLES

Bailey WILLIS

Kane DRAPER

CARTREF

CHWARAEON CYMRU HOME OF WELSH SPORT

GEMAU RHAGBROFOL UEFA EURO 2024

CYNGHRAIR CENHEDLOEDD UEFA

CYMRU DAN 21

CYMRU PREMIER JD

CWPAN CYMRU JD

CYNGHREIRIAU ADRAN GENERO A MWY

UEFA EURO 2024 QUALIFIERS

UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE

WALES UNDER 21’S

JD CYMRU PREMIER

JD WELSH CUP

GENERO ADRAN LEAGUES AND MORE LIVE

1 in 4 referees in Wales have experienced physical abuse during their career.

Cambrian & Clydach Vale B.G.C. are supporting the FAW #PAWBValues campaign to help stop this. Together we can play our part in respecting every member of the Welsh football family. Visit www.pawb.cymru for more information.

CAMBRIAN & CLYDACH VALE

Manager: Gareth Evans

Morgan DAVIES

David VINCENT

Jacob CROSS

Daniel SPENCER

Kyle JONES

Taylor JONES

Jay WOODFORD

Cameron STRINATI

David THOMAS

Cameron KEETCH

Tim PARKER

Ceri MORGAN

Liam REED

Jacob JONES

Danny WOOLFENDEN

Keiron COLES

Liam EASON

Mervyn BENNETT

Munyaradzi MABWE

Efan FLETCHER

Kai CROSSLEY

Bailey WILLIS

Kane DRAPER

ABERTILLERY BLUEBIRDS FC

Manager: Lee Thomas

Brandon POWELL

Lewis CLARK

Michael VAGG

Alexander LINE

Richard CREES

Joshua CLAYTON

Iwan JOHN

Thomas REES

Curtis METHVEN

Kyle WILLIAMS

Ryan MEREDITH

Mathew POWELL

Brett MORGAN

Benjamin WARD

Abdullah AL-MUHARRAMI

Iestyn GWILLIAM

Nathan TUNLEY

Kevin DAVIES

TODAY’S OFFICIALS

Referee: Cieran Lebreton

1st Assistant Referee: Mark Cockram

2nd Assistant Referee: Brooklyn Lloyd-Meek

Please visit our social media channels from one hour before kick-off for today’s starting line-ups.

THANKS TO ALL OUR VALUED SPONSORS