Latest news with #Merthyr
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
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 can go as far as people want' Merthyr Town owners vote against Cymru Premier move 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.
The Sun
11-05-2025
- The Sun
Fury as trains ‘upgraded' at cost of £1billion have NO toilets on board in move slammed as ‘absolute madness'
COMMUTERS fear being caught short in a £1billion rail upgrade which includes trains with no toilets. The electric tram-trains will be brought in as part of 'improvements' in South Wales. 1 But one passenger said it was 'absolute madness' that the carriages will be without loos. Rail staff admitted they were 'dreading' the likely problems with the elderly, children, disabled people and drunks. The Welsh Labour government says the new South Wales Metro project will 'provide better transport options'. Passengers needing the loo will have to get off at a station. One commuter said it was 'absolute madness', adding: 'We certainly are going backwards in Wales!' Another added: 'No public toilets at the vast majority of stations either. 'I regularly travel from Cardiff to Merthyr and also Aberdare. Both big towns and not a toilet in sight.' One shocked commenter added: 'I have a funny feeling there's going to be lots of urine on the floor on a Friday and Saturday night.' Transport for Wales said on-board toilets would 'significantly reduce capacity' and that passengers would always be within a 20-minute journey of a loo.
Powys County Times
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Powys County Times
Pam helps husband dream of Wales walking football trip
A POWYS man's dream of playing football on the world stage – at the age of 75 – is being aided by his wife, who is helping him fundraise for the trip. Pam Barlow swam 70 lengths of her local swimming pool, to mark her looming 70th birthday, in Builth Wells last week, while also raising money for husband Dave, who is heading to Sweden later this year to play for Wales in the International Walking Football Federation World Championships. Dave, a keen sportsman in his youth and who was once an apprentice at Blackpool, was first introduced to walking football by Mandy Gornicki, his neighbour in the tiny Powys village of Cefn Gorwydd, near Llanwrtyd Wells, in 2023. Mandy, a former Welsh women's player, who featured in the first-ever Wales international in 1993, helped Dave earn his first cap for Wales Over 70s; and they both represented Wales at the European Championships in Marseille that June. Now, Dave is hopefully off to the world stage, with a little help from Pam. 'Walking football has given my husband a new lease of life,' she said. 'After playing competitive sport for most of his life, he never dreamed he would be putting on his boots again to play international football at the age of 75. 'So, I just wanted to give a bit of help to the team as they represent Wales this July. 'The trip is completely self-funded and the team is trying to raise funds for some smart travel and warm-up gear to give them a sense of national pride and promote walking football. 'This is an amazing activity, which can help with all kinds of mental and physical well-being for older men and women. 'With this in mind, I decided to do a sponsored swim at my local pool in Builth Wells. I completed 70 lengths in 70 minutes in my 70th year. 'My daughter set up a GoFundMe page and we are well on our way of reaching our target of £700.' Pam completed her 70 lengths in an impressive time of 52 minutes, 41 seconds, on Friday, May 2, and thanked the swimming pool staff who were so supportive. Dave praised his wife's 'phenomenal' effort and said all of his team-mates are doing similar things to raise money for the trip. 'Unfortunately, everything is about self-funding these days, especially in amateur sports,' said the retired PE teacher. 'Every little helps and everyone in the group has been brilliant in fundraising for themselves.' Dave will travel with the Wales Over 70s squad to Sweden for the tournament, taking place from July 3-6, and featuring the likes of the hosts, as well as Italy, France, England, Peru, Australia, Norway, and even a team from the Scottish isles. 'I train at Merthyr and it's a wonderful bunch of boys, there's a terrific camaraderie,' added Dave, who moved with Pam to Powys over a decade ago. 'It was my debut in 2023 and now I'm probably one of the more senior members, in terms of age and experience. 'I'm enjoying the experience. I played sport all my life, including football, rugby, basketball and cricket, but football's always been my first love. 'I quit playing rugby at 46 and thought it was time to give the body a rest. But after a chance meeting with Mandy down the road, it's opened a lot of doors. 'It's tough to give up playing sport, at any level, but I would encourage people to pursue any opportunity that's out there. 'You're a long time retired so take every opportunity. My doctors say keeping active is the best thing you can do.'
Wales Online
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Wales Online
Iconic Welsh rugby club thrashed 104-0 by rivals but fans proud of team
Iconic Welsh rugby club thrashed 104-0 by rivals but fans proud of team It came a huge shock with Neath third place in the league. Merthyr celebrate winning the Welsh Premiership (Image: Merthyr RFC ) Neath lost 104-0 to Merthyr in a shocking result that has made Welsh rugby fans check the scores twice. The Ironmen bagged 16 tries in the top of the table clash, with the huge victory coming one week after they secured the Welsh Premiership title. Merthyr were presented with the league trophy at The Wern, and marked the occasion with a relentless barrage of tries against a severely fatigued outfit who had played three games in a seven-day window and changed half their team from the previous match. The home side did not pull any punches though, and were 66-0 up at half time. They would go on to score another six tries in the second half to make matters worse for Neath. Adam Hoskins got himself four tries with teammate Dafydd Thomas securing a hat-trick with Ben Jones kicking 11 conversions. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here. This game came just 72 hours after Neath had played Pontypridd in a 34-33 thriller at Sardis Road, which they narrowly lost. It officially confirmed Pontypridd would finish second, not Neath, who ended the season third. Article continues below While there are still five games to play this week, that devastating result against Merthyr marked the end of Neath's season. Despite this, there's no chance of Bargoed pipping them to third when they Pontypridd this weekend, with the Welsh All Blacks 10 points clear in third place. Fans on social media were shocked by the result but understood the wider context of a difficult week that ended with the freak scoreline, with one of the best teams in the division being thrashed by over a century of points. Neath Supporters Club said: "This is one game out of a very long hard season. Please don't judge on just one scoreline. This came after very physical games against Bonymaen and Pontypridd. Three games in seven days. Don't forget we don't get any support from our region. So it's a very tough ask for our squad." Article continues below One Merthyr supporter said: "You nearly beat Pontypridd on their home pitch, you came third in a league where there are no easy games. "Yesterday was one match too many given the time it takes to recover from playing a hard, physical game like rugby. You did your best and played until the end trying to score and you didn't resort to old school rugby - putting in cheap shots - all the best next season." Another wrote: "Not a scoreline Neath will be proud of one bit, but credit to all the players, staff, supporters, who must be hurting at the moment. But third in a very tough league is a great achievement, congratulations on a great season to all involved at Neath RFC."
BBC News
23-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Merthyr can go as far as people want'
Manager Paul Michael says Merthyr Town are ready to compete at a higher level next season as the Martyrs build towards achieving their long-term dream of reaching the English Football League (EFL).Merthyr will play in the sixth tier of the English pyramid – either the National League North of South – in 2025-26 having clinched the Southern Premier League South title on success comes just three months after the fan-owned club turned down a lucrative offer to join Wales' Cymru believes promotion will make Merthyr's "supporters and owners feel vindicated" following the decision to remain in the English non-league system."It was no slur on the Welsh domestic game, it's just that you have the hope - how high can we go in this pyramid?" Michael said. "You have the hope and the dream that one day you could be in the Football League or even higher and, once you make the decision to switch, you can never reverse it. I think that's the main factor that was on the owners' minds."More than 3,000 fans were at Penydarren Park to see Merthyr seal promotion with a 3-0 victory over Hungerford have lost only four of their 41 league games this season, registering 27 wins and scoring 105 says Merthyr "have the support base" to make further progress. "I looked at the average attendances at the bottom of League Two and some clubs are getting just over 2,000 - Newport County's average is 4,000," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast."I honestly think a club in the [Welsh] valleys could bring that kind of crowd in, so who knows? But we need investment and we need sponsorship to continue. We are fan-owned and we don't have an investor pumping in millions to take us [forward] like Wrexham have had over the last few years."We can go as far as people in the community want us to go I guess, by getting behind us."As Merthyr wait to discover which division they will go into next season, Michael says his side can expect significant challenges in either National League North or he added: "We have a fantastic group of players and hopefully, next season, we don't think we are going to be daunted by the challenge."We are looking forward to going and having a go at the next tier up."Merthyr battled back to regain their Southern League status following liquidation in Merthyr Tydfil FC they competed in the fifth tier of the English system as recently as the 1990s, but their only spell as a Football League club came prior to World War Two.
