OSWESTRY TOWN - A PROUD TRADITION

FOOTBALL has been played in Oswestry for as long as the game itself. Indeed there is evidence that the Oswestry club is one of the oldest in the world.
They were founder members of the Football Association of Wales in 1876 and took part in the first ever Welsh Cup competition in 1877. The club's Welsh connections also saw it provide many international players.
After the first war, a renamed Oswestry Town joined the North Wales Alliance.
Having won the championship in 1924, Town moved on to the then powerful Birmingham League where they rubbed shoulders with the likes of Shrewsbury Town, Wellington Town (now Telford United), Hereford and Kidderminster.
After WWII, Town won the league championship in 1953 with several visits to the first round of the F.A. Cup. Among the managers in this period was Alan Ball Senior.
In 1960 Oswestry moved into the Cheshire League. The restructuring of the non-league system saw a couple of changes in the 70s with spells in both the Southern and Northern Premier Leagues. The 1980's saw bleak times. There had been several financial crises over the years but with debts mounting, things came to a head in 1988 when the Victoria Road ground had to be sold to pay off the debts. Various attempts to find a new home - including several ground share schemes - failed. For the third time in its history, Oswestry faced a period of inactivity.
Despite being written off by some as "dead and buried" eventually the club managed to obtain the use of Park Hall Stadium, built as part of an Army barracks in the mid 70s.
Much had changed since a ball had been kicked in anger and the new Welsh pyramid system gave Oswestry Town an unique opportunity.
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.
After gaining admission to the Cymru Alliance, the League and League Cup double was repeated and should have resulted in promotion to the League of Wales.
Unfortunately, Park Hall Stadium did not reach the LoW criteria, lack of floodlights being a major stumbling block.
After an appeal and hard work by volunteers, they were switched on for a League Cup game with Flint Town United in November 1998.
Oswestry finally made it to the Welsh Premier in 2000 and now a new and even more exciting era beckons as part of the new TNS set-up.