Promoted Merthyr to compete in National League North
They are the football club proud to come from the south Wales valleys – but have been told they will be a 'northern' team next season.There were huge celebrations when community-owned Merthyr Town won the Southern Premier League South title.But it has been confirmed they will now play in the National League North next term – with 300-mile away trips to Darlington and South Shields among their away days in a regionalised division.In front of more than 3,000 fans at Penydarren Park last month, the part-time outfit sealed promotion to English football's sixth tier, their highest level in 30 years.
The Martyrs had played in the Western and Southern Leagues since being reformed after Merthyr Tydfil's liquidation in 2010.And the club had been aware the potential make-up of the teams next season at sixth tier level – and the large contingent of teams from the south of England - could see them having to plan to head north.Three south of England sides, Dagenham & Redbridge, Ebbsfleet and Maidenhead, dropping out of the fifth-tier National League would have given organisers a headache in how to split clubs.The National League confirmed its allocations for the 2025-26 season on Thursday, although says those are subject to appeal.A Football Association spokesperson said: "We make every effort each season to allocate National League System [NLS] clubs to the most geographically suitable league possible. "The clubs are allocated to a league based on the step in the NLS that they will be playing in, and their location in the country. These allocations are subject to appeals. "Geographical suitability continues to play an important part in NLS allocations, and we always try to balance this against the number of teams in each division to ensure sporting integrity is maintained."
Merthyr are not alone in the anomaly: Oxford City, Hereford United and Bedford Town have also been placed in National League North, whose other new clubs include Robbie Savage's Macclesfield Town.The game at Hereford's Edgar Street will be Merthyr's shortest away day, with a 43-mile, one-way trip taking around an hour.But it will take fans – and players – as much as 12 hours on the road in a round-trip for their game at South Shields.At the time of their promotion, chairman Les Barlow said their placing would make "no difference" as they revelled in a season in which they enjoyed a 32-game unbeaten run.Merthyr won the Welsh Cup in 1987 and went on to upset Italian giants Atalanta in the following season's European Cup Winners' Cup.Last season, they turned down a lucrative offer from the Football Association of Wales to join the Welsh league system, a decision manager Paul Michael says was vindicated by their promotion.
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