Barry Town F.C.
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Barry Town F.C. is a football team based in Barry. They dominated the League of Wales during the 1990s, but finished bottom in 2003-04 and are expected to be relegated to the Welsh Football League First Division. They normally play at Jenner Park, Barry, where their ground accommodates 3,500 spectators (2,900 seated).
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At a glance
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| Full name | Barry Town Football Club |
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| Nickname | The Dragons | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1912 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Jenner Park, Barry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Stuart Lovering | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Welsh Football League First Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003-04 | League of Wales, 17th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History
The club was formed in November 1912 as Barry A.F.C.. The club won the Southern Football League Welsh Section in 1921 and two years adopted their current name. Their sixty year membership of the Southern League ended only in 1982 when the club resigned to join the Welsh League. They dominated the league, winning five successive championships between 1982-83 and 1986-87, with a sixth in 1988-89. This lack of challenge led to the club returning to the Southern League in 1989 but following the creation of the League of Wales in 1992, Barry Town were exiled for their decision not to join the new organisation. In exile, they went under the name Barri F.C. and shared the ground of Worcester City F.C. for one season, before deciding to return to Wales. They spent the 1993-94 season in the Welsh Football League First Division, but it was a memorable one - they won the championship, the League Cup, the Welsh Cup for the first time since 1955 and were promoted to the League of Wales. Barry's reward for winning the Welsh Cup was a European Cup Winners Cup tie against FK Žalgiris Vilnius of Lithuania, but they crashed out 7-0 on aggregate. Greater glory was on the horizon.
Barry won their first League of Wales title in 1996, the first of 7 championship wins in 8 seasons. In the 1996-97 UEFA Cup they beat the Latvian representatives Dineburg, then Hungarian side Budapesti Vasutas on penalties in the preliminary rounds to earn a plum First Round tie against Scotland's Aberdeen F.C. Although they were defeated on aggregate after losing 1-3 in the first leg, they had progressed the furthest in European competition than any other League of Wales club and the club was strengthened by the money brought in by their cup run. In the 1996-97 season, they won the League, the Welsh Cup and the League Cup to set a historic treble.
In the 1997-98 season Barry were unfortunate to be drawn against the first-class Ukrainian team Dinamo Kiev. After a superb away performance losing only 2-0, they lost the home leg 0-4. The following season their bad luck continued and they were drawn against Dinamo again! This time Kiev gained revenge for struggling in the home leg by crushing Barry 8-0. Barry's home performance was better and they narrowly failed to gain a draw, going down 1-2.
In the 2000-01 season Barry became the first League of Wales team to win a European Champions League tie, when they defeated the Azerbaijan champions FC Shamkir in both the home and away legs. They then met the Portuguese champions FC Porto, the 11th favourites to win the Champions League, and although losing the leg in Portugal, Barry won the home leg 3-1.
The club has been professional since 1995, but in the summer of 2003 the club went into administration (a form of bankruptcy) with debts of £1 million. Chairman John Fashanu, who had taken over less than a year earlier promising to broadcast Barry's games live on Nigerian television resigned, and on 25 August 2003 the players and manager were locked out of Jenner Park (having been unpaid since early June), while a new management was appointed together with an amateur team most of whose members had played in the previous season for N & M Construction in the Regal Travel South Wales Amateur League Division 2 (i.e. five levels lower than Barry's Welsh Premiership level). A terrible season followed, with the first league win coming in February 2004 when they beat fellow strugglers Welshpool Town 5-4. They ended up bottom of the league, 4 points clear of safety, and were relegated to the Welsh League for the 2004-05 season.
Ongoing financial crisis
The ongoing financial crisis resulted in the club being excluded from Jenner Park by the grounds' owners, the Vale of Glamorgan Council, over a debt of approximately £35,000 - £40,000 and the club having to play its home matches in the winter of 2004-5 some 20 miles away. Unless the crisis can be resolved, the future of the club looks bleak.
Team Honours
- Welsh Premier Champions: 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03 (7)
- Welsh Premier Runners-up: 1999-2000
- Welsh Cup Winners: 1954-55, 1993-94, 1996-97, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03 (6)
- Welsh Cup Finalists: 1995-96
- League Cup Winners: 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000 (4)
- League Cup Finalists: 2000-01
- FAW Trophy: 1993-94
- FAW Premier Cup: 1998-99
- Welsh League National Division Champions*: 1983-84, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1988-89 (5)
- Welsh League National Division Runners-up*: 1987-88
- Welsh League Premier Division Champions*: 1982-83
- Welsh League Division One Champions: 1993-94
- Southern League (Welsh) Champions: 1920-21
- Welsh League Challenge Cup Winners: 1934-35, 1946-47 (2)
- SA Brain Challenge Cup Winners: 1978-79, 1982-83, 1986-87 (3)
- South Wales & Monmouthshire Senior Cup Winners: 1925-26, 1926-27, 1937-38, 1938-39, 1952-53, 1953-54, 1958-59, 199-60, 1965-66, 1975-76, 1977-78, 1983-84, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1991-92 (15)
* At the time of winning the leagues, the Welsh League Premier Division and National Division were the highest available leagues in South Wales.
Biggest victories and losses
- Biggest League of Wales win: 12-0 v. Cemaes Bay in 1998.
- Biggest League of Wales defeat: 2-5 v. Flint Town United.
External link
Former official Barry Town F.C. website (http://www.barrytownfc.co.uk/)