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WELSH CUP |
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 Football
has been played in the border town of Oswestry for as long as the
game itself. Indeed there is some evidence that the Oswestry club
might have been formed as long ago as 1860, which would make it one
of the oldest clubs in the world.When the game was beginning to be organised, Oswestry United arranged to play friendly matches at the local cricket ground - many being against near neighbours Chirk, the Druids from Ruabon and Wrexham. All of these joined Oswestry competitively when the Combination - based on clubs in the north west of England and north Wales- was formed. With Rugby being the dominant code in south Wales, it was left to the industrial area of the north Wales coalfield (which included much of north west Shropshire) to lay the foundations of Association Football in the country. Oswestry were among the leading clubs in the formation of the Football Association of Wales in 1876 and took part in the first ever Welsh Cup competition in 1877 - a competition which they entered regularly up to 2003. The club's Welsh connections also saw it provide many international players including no fewer than nine when Wales played their first international against England at Kennington Oval in 1879. Among them was Thomas Owen, who some football historians believe to be the father of Oswestry's famous First World War poet, Wilfred. It could not have been recognised at the time, but all this had great significance to the club's destiny well over a century later . United won the Welsh Cup in 1883 (becoming the first team to take the trophy over Offa's Dyke), and again in 1901 and 1907. They continued playing in the, by then, Lancashire Combination until the 1914/15 season - which started with some promise until the majority of the team left with the "Oswestry Pals" to serve in the trenches of the First World War. The club tried to continue but gave up the unequal struggle until peace returned. In fact it wasn't until the 1920/21 season that the club returned to active service when the renamed Oswestry Town joined the North Wales Alliance. During this period they obtained the services of local lad, Herbert Roberts, who caught the eye of Herbert Chapman, manager of the all conquering Arsenal team. Herbie was converted to become the first "stopper" centre half and won many league and cup honours whilst playing for the Gunners. He also won an England cap, despite coming from a Welsh speaking family who regularly attended Chapel.
After the war, Town had some success winning the league championship in 1953 with several near misses and visits to the first round of the F.A. Cup. Among the managers in this period was Alan Ball Snr whose son was, of course, to become an England 1966 World Cup hero. He went to school in the town and learned many of his skills at the old Victoria Road ground (renamed when the Cricket Club moved to its new home shortly after the war). In 1960 Oswestry moved into the Cheshire League where they regularly played the likes of Macclesfield, Wigan and Northwich, plus older rivals in Rhyl, Bangor and Wrexham's reserves. The restructuring of the non-league system saw a couple of changes in the 70's, with spells in both the Southern and Northern Premier Leagues. The 1980's brought bleak times. There had been several financial crises over the years but with debts mounting, and things came to a head in 1988 when the Victoria Road ground had to be sold to developers to pay off the debts. Various attempts to find a new home - including several ground share schemes - failed and so, for the third time in its history, Oswestry faced a period of inactivity.
Oswestry United's early work in helping to form the F.A. of Wales, and the club's unbroken full membership, qualified them to enter. So it was on 28 August 1993 that Oswestry returned to competitive action with a goalless draw at home to New Brighton Villa in the Welsh National League 1st Division (the third tier of the pyramid). A couple of weeks earlier over 1000 had crammed into Park Hall to see the club's first game there against Football League neighbours, Shrewsbury Town. After a flying start, it looked as if Town might move up the pyramid at the first time of asking, but a loss of form late in the season saw them finish a creditable third. The following season Town cruised through to the League Championship and League Cup double without defeat, and promotion to the Cymru Alliance. Even more amazingly the League and League Cup double was repeated the following season in the higher grade which should have resulted in promotion to the League of Wales, the top flight of Welsh Soccer. Unfortunately, the club was caught out by its own success as Park Hall Stadium was not up to the strict criteria laid down by the LoW. In particular the lack of floodlights was a major stumbling block. With the financial lessons of the past well and truly learned, the club decided against going deeply into debt to get the work done, preferring to improve the stadium through its own resources and passed over the chance of promotion. An appeal was made for money to provide and erect floodlights on pylons that were still held from the old Victoria Road ground and, after three years' hard work by volunteers, they were switched on for a League Cup game with Flint Town United on 13 November 1998. With this hurdle cleared a successful assault was made on the Cymru Alliance championship in 1999/2000 to earn promotion to the top level of Welsh football. Once more the club's willing band of helpers turned out in force and, working almost round the clock, met the deadline to get the ground up to League of Wales standards. This included the provision of new dressing rooms, better toilets, a hospitality area, increasing the number of seats and the provision of hard standing all around the ground - no mean task with a stadium the size of Park Hall! After years of inactivity and rebuilding, Oswestry was ready to develop its unique role in Welsh Football history. Unfortunately, financial problems again reared their head and, for the time being at least, it seems that the name of Oswestry Town will no longer appear on the football map, albeit senior football is due to continue in a new stadium in the town under the TNS banner. |
