Play the game fairly, respect the opposition, Accept that some games you expect to win, you will lose, And some you think you might lose, you will win.
LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL SQUADS
GARDEN VILLAGE
VELENTINO AMIENI
RUBEN BARTRAM
ALFIE BRADLEY
ALEXANDER DELANEY
REUBEN DEVALL
LIAM DIDDAMS
RHYS FIELDING
DYLAN GIBBS
DAVID GREENFIELD
JACOB HILLS
AARON HUANG
OSCAR HUANG
CHRISTOPHER JAMES
ASHTON JENKINS
CALUM JOHNS
ASHTON KELLY
LEVI KNIGHT
HARRY MOONEY
JEFFERSON RAMIREZ
LEVI OLIVER
JOSHUA PENNINO
DYLAN QUIN
BEN THOMAS
ETHAN THOMAS
JADEN THOMAS
JAMES WATKINS
AMIR YAHYA
COACHES:
CERI COOK
RYAN FIELDING
DAVID GREENFIELD
CLASE SOCIAL
JACK AMBROSE
MAX BARRY
JOEL BRAGG
RIO CREAMER
MAX CROCKER
JOSHUA ELLIS
OLLIE HANNEY
KANE HARRIS
JACK LEE JONES
TRAVIS LAWSON
RYAN LEWIS
CAI LEWIS-HUGHES
JAXSON LOREY
LIAM MCSWIGGAN
ETHAN MEREDITH
BRADLEY PRISMICK
WILLIAM REYNOLDS
LUCAS RICKARD
EMRE SAGLAM
ZAFER SEKERLI
JENSON THOMAS
NATHAN THOMAS
KIAN TOMKINS
KORBEN WHITE
CHARLIE WILKINS
COACHES:
LEE JONES
JAMES LEWIS
PAUL MICHAEL
RICKY THOMAS
CRAIG WELLINGTON
Founded in 1922, Garden Village started playing football at Swansea League level before joining the Carmarthenshire Leagues where the club had numerous successes, winning the Senior Cup in 1990, 1995, 1996 & 1997 and the Challenge Cup in 1989.
In the late 1980s the club were fortunate to secure Stafford Common as its home ground, where we developed our club house, a Welsh League standard pitch together with two junior pitches. A state of the art changing facility followed in the coming years.
The club saw success in various Carmarthenshire League campaigns during the 1990s and in 2002 secured a place in the Welsh League Division 3.
The Welsh League debut season was memorable as the club secured promotion by finishing third in Division.
The Second Division proved to be a much tougher test for Village, who still managed to finish eighth in the first season. However, continued success in the following season saw the club finish as champions, securing promotion to Division 1. Village had a short spell in the topflight but remained in the Welsh League set up for almost 20 years.
(2018/19) the club secured its place in the South West Division of the Ardal Southern Leagues.
A poor run of form during the first half of the 2022/23 ultimately led to our relegation into the West Wales Premier League (Tier 4) in 2023, where our first team currently play.
Alongside our senior teams, the club has always boasted healthy junior and youth sections, with both having seen much success over the years.
Our current youth team have had an exceptional season in the WWYL under the management of Ryan Fielding and David Greenfield, winning the Cup against Clase at the end of March.
The existing club management team have spent many months structuring a new setup and blending many youngsters with senior players, 16 youth players making first team appearances over the past 12 months.
We are a club that gives opportunities to develop players at an early stage and by mixing this with our senior players the intention is to revisit our former heights and make our football club future proof.
On behalf of Garden Village I would like to wish both teams the best of luck in today’s League Championship Play Off Final, and hope for an enjoyable and competitive match.
Rich Davies, Chairman
Clase Social FC was founded in 2000 as a Sunday league team, which lasted 18 seasons and was very successful, winning many honours along the way until the Sunday league disbanded. They switched over to the Saturday League in 2019 and currently have 3 Senior sides, they added a Junior section in 2022 and a Youth team in 2023 for the first time.
The Senior First Team presently plays in the Swansea Senior League Premier Division with the two other Senior Teams playing in the Swansea Reserve Divisions 1 and 2.
The move to Youth Football for Clase has proven to be very successful. In their first season (2023-24), Clase won the Cup Final beating Rhos in a closely fought contest. In the League last year, whilst they couldn't quite catch the eventual winners, they still won 17 of their 21 matches played.
In their second season, Clase are again flying high. They got to the Cup Final again and finished top of Adran Tawe before beating Mumbles Albion and then Mumbles Rangers in two closely fought matches on
their way to the League Championship Play Off Final. With some strong players, many of them play for one of the senior teams as well as the Youth Team.
Clase Social FC Youth play at Cwmbwrla Park and are managed by Lee Jones and
Could the
World's
longest serving referee be from Swansea?
Many of you will know Ken Wright from refereeing one of your matches this season. Well, did you know he may be the World’s longest serving referee? He was recently featured on ITV Wales News and this is what ITV Wales' Swansea correspondent Dean Thomas-Welch had to say,
Ken Wright was 16 when a school teacher told him he’d “never make it as a footballer”. It was that reprimand which sent Ken on a lifelong journey of officiating.
Sixty years on, the 77-year-old from Swansea is still lacing his boots and putting the whistle to his mouth each Saturday.
“I refereed my first game when I was in school,” Ken told ITV News. “My PE teacher told me straight, he said ‘Wrighty, you’ll never make it as a footballer so why don’t you take up refereeing’. I can remember my first official game quite clearly. It was at Cefn Coed Hospital in Swansea and it was a horrendous day, pouring down with rain, I got drowned before I got to the ground."
“I had a nightmare,” Ken recalls. “Allegedly, I missed penalties and gave offside goals, everything a referee shouldn’t do, I did. I walked home from the game soaked and said to myself ‘What am I doing here?’. But, the following Saturday I was back out again.”
Ken, who began refereeing in 1964, says he’s taken charge of over 5,000 games throughout his career. He’s been the man in the middle for Welsh League games throughout his six decades as a ref, while also taking the whistle for West Wales Premier League matches and university fixtures.
During the 1970s and 80s, Ken officiated in games involving Arsenal at Highbury, Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. He was also appointed to Swansea City games at the old Vetch Field against European heavyweights Paris Saint Germain and Manchester United. “It was one of the best nights of my career,” Ken said of being chosen as an assistant referee for the visit of United. “There were 28,000 fans inside the Vetch Field and as a local lad running the line in front of the North Bank, there
were a lot of people who knew me. I had some abuse that night!
“When I went to Arsenal it was a great occasion, but the best ground I have ever been to is the old White Hart Lane when I refereed Tottenham Hotspur. It was a fantastic place from a referring point of view with great facilities.”
This year marks Ken’s 60th season as a referee and he is now bidding to be recognised as the world’s longest-serving football referee. The official Guinness World Record belongs to Hungarian referee Csernyi Geza who started officiating in 1950 and retired in 2007, serving 57 years as a referee.
On potentially being the referee with the longest career in world football, Ken says: “It’s a nice thought, possibly my 60 years will surpass the current record. I don’t referee for the records, I referee for the love of the game and the benefit of local football.”
A spokesperson for Guinness World Records said: “We would encourage Ken to make an application and we look forward to receiving the evidence for our Records Management Team to review.”
Ken says he has no plans to retire from the game despite refereeing before England's Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup and before the Scottish hand of Joe Jordan broke Welsh hearts during World Cup qualifying.
“You can’t have football without referees,” Ken said. “As long as I am capable and fit enough to carry on doing it, I will. I feel almost as good now as I did 30 years ago but obviously, I am not physically. I will just keep going until the body tells me I can’t.”
The full article and TV interview may be accessed via https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2025-02-25/could-this-be-the-worldslongest-serving-referee
If you are interested in becoming a referee, the FAW website may be accessed via https://faw.cymru/becomearef/
League Champions
2012 / 2013 ~ Tumble United
2013 / 2014 ~ Cimla
2014 / 2015 ~ Garden Village
2015 / 2016 ~ Johnstown
2016 / 2017 ~ Garden Village
2017 / 2018 ~ Briton Ferry Llansawel
2018 / 2019 ~ Pontardawe Town
2019 / 2020 ~ Garden Village
2021 / 2022 ~ Ynystawe Athletic
2022 / 2023 ~ Dunvant & Three Crosses Green
2023 / 2024 ~ Ynysygerwn
Cup Winners
2012 / 2013 ~ Pontardawe Town
2013 / 2014 ~ Cimla
2014 / 2015 ~ Garden Village
2015 / 2016 ~ Pontlliw
2016 / 2017 ~ Pontardawe Town
2017 / 2018 ~ Dafen Welfare
2018 / 2019 ~ Sandfields (Swansea)
2021 / 2022 ~ Ynystawe Athletic
2022 / 2023 ~ Dunvant & Three Crosses Yellow
2023 / 2024 ~ Clase Social
2024 / 2025 ~ Garden Village
Plate Winners
2014 / 2015 ~ Pontlliw
2016 / 2017 ~ Dunvant & Three Crosses
2021 / 2022 ~ Merlins Bridge
2022 / 2023 ~ Baglan BGC
2024 / 2025 ~ Mumbles Rangers
LEAGUE PLATE FINAL SQUADS
PONTARDAWE TOWN
KAI BAKER
CAI BOWDEN
JACK CLARKE
ALFIE DAVIES
LUCCA LICIO DI BATTISTA
MAX EVANS
ZAC GOTZE
RHODRI HUNTER
CHARLIE JOHNSON
MATTHAIOS JOHNSON
SAMUEL JACK JONES
MARCO LEE
STEFFAN LEWIS
BLAKE LYNE-BRINDLEY
JADEN MORGAN
COREY REES
SCOTT ROSSER
ETHAN SCHITO
MAX J THOMAS
SIDNEY J TRAINOR
COACHES:
RICHARD BEALE
ANTHONY MORGAN
MARK ROSSER
PONTARDDULAIS TOWN A
JACKSON BALL
TOMOS DAVIES
TOBIAS GRIFFITHS
SAM JACKSON
RHYS LEWIS
SAMUEL LEWIS
THOMAS LUCAS
EDWARD MAHONEY
AARON MATHIAS
BREYDON MORRIS-CARLYON
TALAL FAZAE OBAED
FREDDIE POINER
JOSEPH PYKE
DYLAN REES
ELLIS RICHARDS
DANNY ROSS
NATHAN ROWE
DYLAN SEWELL
ZAGROS SMITH
IOAN THOMAS
JAMAL WILLIAMS
COACHES:
WAYNE CARLYON
DARREN GRIFFITHS
GARY MAHONEY
IEUAN ALAN PETTY
GRANT POINER
OWEN (GAFFA) THOMAS
Although the present club was founded in 1947, football in Pontardawe stretches back over 100 years, into the closing years of the 19th Century, when a Pontardawe club, run by industrialist CF Gilbertson, was among the members of the earliest Swansea League, and won the championship in 1899 1900. The club went on to join the Swansea & District League in the early 1900s, playing familiar names like Swansea Town, Morriston, Skewen and Clydach, as well as long forgotten ones such as Mond Nickel, York Place and Sketty. But honours were not forthcoming, and the club disbanded at the outbreak of the Second World War.
Reformed as Pontardawe Athletic in 1947, the club entered the Welsh League in 1948 49, playing in Division 2 (West). The first few years brought reasonable success at this level and in 1960 61 the club won the championship with 28 wins from 32 league games. However, relegation came swiftly from Division 1 in 1961 62, finishing 19 out of 20 to go back down with Milford United to Division 2 (West). The club failed to bounce back the next season with Milford pipping Ponty by 4 points. For 1964-65 the Welsh League was restructured and Ponty spent several seasons in Division 1 until relegation to Division 2 in 1978-79.
The club relocated to Parc Ynysderw in 2015 which is a ground dedicated to the club and the committee has invested time, money and effort to bring the ground to Tier 2 standard. Pontardawe Town has the foundation to further develop with both our Junior and Academy sections doing outstanding work. In addition, we have a thriving Ladies Section, our Autism Academy and are developing links with Walking Football in the community.
The Senior Team has recently spent two seasons at Tier 2 in the JD Cymru South but were relegated last season by goal difference and now play in the Ardal Southern West Division.
The Youth section has a successful history and in 1997 proudly lifted the Welsh Youth Cup beating Wrexham in the final. There have also been numerous successes over the years with Youth titles won at Welsh League level, South Wales FA level and in the West Wales Youth league the club has won 1 League title and 2 Cups.
The current crop of youngsters, led by Anthony Morgan, had won back -to-back titles at West Glamorgan League level (Under 15s and Under 16s) and have acquitted themselves well in their first season at Under 18 level. Many of the players have also represented the club’s Development side in the National Academi League.
Football in Pontarddulais has been going strong ever since the 1950s when the town had 3 teams, Pontarddulais Athletic, United and Talybont Rovers. From the ashes of these three teams, Pontarddulais Town was born. Gerald Evans and Donald Williams took charge of the club in its inaugural season in 1970/71. The first season saw success straight away, with the club winning the championship.
The second season saw the club undefeated, and from there the club had a topsy turvy time in the 1970s, winning the Challenge Cup in 1974/75, but also seeing relegation and promotion to the Carmarthenshire Premier League on a few occasions. There was further success in the Challenge Cup in 1992/93, and in the TG Davies Cup final in 2002/03, when the First Team beat the all-conquering Seaside 1-0 with a goal from James Jones. Current Junior Chair Geraint Thomas and Senior Chair Gary Mahoney both played in that game!
Family has always been important to the history of the Men’s teams. 1971/72 Captain Alan Rees remained involved for many years, and eventually Alan’s son, and his two grandsons played senior men’s football. Iestyn Rees has been a mainstay of the first team this year in the West Wales Premier League. The Downing family is also steeped in club history, with brothers Phil and Clive playing and running the club for many years. Both players’ sons went on to play First Team
football, and Phil’s grandson has also made an appearance.
Our junior section dates back to 1948 when Brynley Thomas, Tom Williams and Albie Williams started a side. There were then some years with no junior football at all, until current Junior Chairman Geraint Thomas and Dylan Richards formed the latest incarnation around 2003. Since then, we have gone from strength to strength, with sides represented at every age group for both boys’ and girls’ football. In 2018/19 the under 15s side won the league and cup double to bring silverware back to the club.
The club’s most recent section is our Ladies team, who have been in existence for almost ten seasons now. The Development Team went undefeated in 2023/24 and won the WWWGL Ladies B Division, and the First Team won the SWWGL Trophy 2-0 in the same season. They currently play in the third tier of Women’s football in Wales, and our Men’s in the fourth tier of Men’s football in Wales.
This year has seen us put out two youth sides alongside 2 ladies’ senior teams and three men’s senior teams, which has been great to see, and many of the youth have played in all three of our men’s sides this year!
West Wales Youth League Champions 2023-24
With a traditional league format, Ynysygerwn FC were crowned Champions for the 2023-24 season. They had come close in the previous season, but had pushed on and were deserving winners this time around.
Managed by Terence Powell, Stephen Thomas and Lee Morgan, the team only lost 2 league matches all season and had an unbeaten run of 19 matches, scoring 126 goals along the way!
Ynysygerwn Football Club was founded in 1981 by members of the town's cricket club as a way for the players to stay fit when the cricket season ended. They are based in Aberdulais, just outside Neath. Their men’s senior team presently plays in the Ardal South West League.
West Wales Youth Cup Final 2024-25
This year’s final was contested between Garden Village and Clase Social. An afternoon in the sunshine at Pontardawe AFC saw two well matched teams compete for
Even with a red card for Rhos midway through the first half, Clase weren't able to capitalise on their advantage and the first half finished level at 0 mained all square, until the 73rd minute, when Lewys Evans scored for Clase.
Then in the 84th minute, Clase scored their second with a goal from
With the clock running down and into injury time, Rhos did not give up and struck back in the 94th minute with a goal from Liam Thomas leading to a tense final few minutes of injury time to play.
The match ended 2-1 to Clase Social, winning the Cup for the first time!
WEST WALES YOUTH LEAGUE PLAY-OFFS
Garden Village 4 ~v~ 2 CKSV
Mumbles Rangers 2 ~v~ 1 Rhos
Clase Social 3 ~v~ 2 Mumbles Rangers Albion St Josephs 5 ~v~ 1 Cwm Wanderers
Garden Village 2 (5) ~v~ 2 (4) St Josephs
Mumbles Rangers 2 ~v~ 4 Clase Social
~ League Championship ~ ~ League Plate ~
Pontardawe Town 4 ~v~ 1 Clydach
Pontarddulais Town A 2 ~v~ 1 Murton Rovers Ynysygerwn 4 ~v~ 2 Llandarcy
Talycopa 1 ~v~ 0 Mumbles Rangers Colts
Pontardawe Town 2 ~v~ 1 Talycopa
Pontarddulais Town A 4 ~v~ 3 Ynysygerwn Skewen ~v~ Bye Ynystawe ~v~ Bye
League Vase ~
Dafen Welfare 1 ~v~ 4 Bryncoch
Killay 5 ~v~ 1 Pontarddulais Town B
Skewen 4 ~v~ 0 Bryncoch
Ynystawe 2 (5) ~v~ 2 (3) Killay
LEAGUE VASE FINAL SQUADS
SKEWEN
CHARLIE BENNS
IESTYN COONEY
GETHIN S DAVIES
RYLAND DAVIES
SEAN FARRELL
CALEB GOUGH
JOSHUA HICKMAN
HARRISON JONES
OWEN JONES
SAM JONES
ALBERTO JRAITINY
SONNY KNOWLES
DANIEL MANNA
TYLER MORGAN
SAUL OTTESON
WILLIAM OWEN
JOSEPH PERDUE
JACK POWELL
CONNOR ROBERTS
FRANKIE ROBERTSON
SHAY SHEPPARD
COREY THOMAS
THOMAS WILCOX
RYAN WILLIAMS
TOBY WILLIAMS
COACHES:
DAVID EDWARDS
NEIL WILCOX
YNYSTAWE ATHLETIC
ABDULLAH ALDALATI
THEO ANDERSON
NATHAN BUTLER
WILL DAVIES
KADEN DIOUF
JACOB FISHER
KENZIE GROVE
JACOB HEALEY
NURUL HUDA BIJOY
CONNOR-LEE HYETT-MELVILLE
TAIYE AFEEZ IDOWU
JAYKE JOHNSON
ASHTON JONES
SAMUEL JONES
CAMERON LEWIS-CLARKE
MOHAMED MUKHAIBER
LUCA MURNIEKS
OLLY REID
STEFFAN ROBERTS
JACOB RUSSELL
CHARLIE SHUMACK
ALEXANDER TEESDALE
ALFIE WEDLAKE
CARLO WHITELOCK
GEORGE WILLIAMS
HARRY WILLIAMS
COACHES:
CHRIS HEALEY
RICKY SHUMACK
MARK WEBBER
Skewen Football Club was established in collaboration with Skewen Cricket Club in the summer of 2024.
The club is dedicated to fostering development and building partnerships within the Skewen community through a well organised and resourceful framework. Our mission at Skewen Football Club is to instill a lifelong passion for football in every participant by cultivating an inclusive, supportive and enjoyable atmosphere where all participants can excel.
Even as a new club, we already have teams at a number of age groups from under 6s upwards with a view to expanding the club even further as time goes on. We have two senior men’s teams that play in the Neath & District League Divisions 1 and 3. Our first team is in with a real chance of promotion this season back to the Premier Division if results go their way.
Our Ladies’ team plays in the West Wales Women’s & Girls’ League Division A where they are gradually finding their feet alongside some competitive opposition.
With this being our first season of Youth Football, most of our boys have come straight from Under 16s football, having played together in
the West Glamorgan Junior League for a number of seasons. The boys have acquitted themselves well in their first season of youth football with many of them showing their quality by playing Senior football alongside playing for the youth team.
We wish all the best to everyone playing in today’s finals. It has been
Ynystawe Athletic FC was formed in 1951. The club is based at Ynystawe Football and Cricket Club, which was built in 1998 following receipt of Lottery funding.
We play our home matches at Ynystawe Park/ The pitches were originally gifted to the local community by John Player. The club has in the past 4 years invested heavily in improving the facilities on its main pitch, by improving the playing surface, erecting spectator barriers, installing sponsorship boards and constructing dugouts. The changing rooms at Ynystawe Park are due to be refurbished over the next 12 months, with further infrastructure improvements also planned.
The club’s senior section currently has three teams. Our first team gained promotion to Swansea Senior Division 1 in 2016 and established themselves as a settled side in the top division. Our first team are in their second season in the West Wales Premier League – following promotion in May 2023 - and are close to securing a consecutive top half finish this season. Our two reserve teams compete in the Swansea Senior League – Reserve Premier Division and Reserve Division 1.
The club’s junior section currently features two teams – an U13s boys’ team and an U6s boys’ team. The club are currently engaged in trying to expand its junior section.
Our Youth Team features five players who have played together for over 10 seasons, with the majority of our players having played for the Club for over 5 seasons. We have strengthened our squad by signing several players this season, which has seen our results improve during the second half of the season. We have been involved in three penalty shoot-outs this season, winning two and losing one!!
All of our players – with one exception – are in the lower age bracket, so we are looking forward to a strong season in 2025/26. Several of our Youth players have made their debuts playing for the Club’s senior teams this season, with four of our players featuring for the first team. We anticipate many more will make the transition into senior team football over the course of the next 12 months.
All of the Youth Team players and coaches would like to thank Dalling Stores, who have sponsored our kit for this season.
LEAGUE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
CHAIRMAN: MARK WILLIAMS
VICE CHAIRMAN: MATT EVANS
SECRETARY: NEIL JACOBI
FIXTURE
SECRETARY: GARY THOMAS
TREASURER & REFEREE OFFICER: MARTIN DUFFY COMMITTEE OFFICER: DUNCAN THOMAS
