SOUTH WALES ALLIANCE FOOTBALL LEAGUE www.southwalesallianceleague.co.uk SWAL NEWSLETTER - AUGUST 2021 SW ALLIANCE LEAGUE NEWS 2021-22 Season Finally the season has got underway despite all the concerns that the FAW Cup and Trophy conference dates may have had to be rescheduled and already after just a few matches the tables show that each of the 3 Divisions are going to be extremely competitive. Early leaders in the Premier Division are Cern Cribw and Cardiff Corinthians however there are at least another 7 or 8 teams that could all be in the mix for the top 2 promotion places for the Ardal League This last weekend saw a Top Vs Third game in Division One between Clwb Cymric and Ely Rangers and a win for Ely Rangers has put them above their local rivals however wins - in their games in hand - for Cardiff Airport (who have been in a lot of cup and trophy games already), Tonyrefail BGC and Caerphilly Athletic will bring them right into a tight top six. AFC Penrhiwceiber, AFC Whitchurch and Maesteg Park just below will all be looking to join them. Division Two also has early leaders with Treherbert Boys & Girls FC winning 4 of their first 5 games but with Tata Steel Utd and AFC Butetown just below not to mention Bettws and AFC Wattstown who both have a 100% record at this stage. But all this is early days and as the season progresses theres no doubt going to be more exciting and very competitive football - there has already been 181 goals in the opening 5 rounds! ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽ Facilities This weekend (7 August) finally saw things moving back to some normality when the Welsh Government and the FAW announced that changing rooms can now be used. There may well be some delays as local authorities have to go through the safety testing of the facilities and clubs having to complete their risk assessments but within a couple of weeks, all being well, we should see changing rooms back to full use. ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽ SWAL Fixtures In the 2 month (9 week) period between 10 July to 11 September there will have been a total of 8 FAW Cup and Trophy games (4 of each round) which has included the majority of SWAL clubs in these competitions. At this point with half of those competition games played we still have 4 clubs in the FAW Cup and 7 clubs in the FAW Trophy representing the SWAL and we wish them all good luck. Fixtures for the season have already been put onto the Comet system and clubs will receive monthly schedules however once the early FAW Cup and Trophy rounds are over it is anticipated there will be less rescheduling. Games will be placed onto the SWAL website in blocks and our aim is to keep teams as active as possible should there be any further restrictions put in place as the season progresses. ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽ Round 1 Round 3 PENCOED ATHLETIC V Treharris Western Ath Croesyceiliog v FC CWMAMAN CARDIFF AIRPORT v Trethomas Bluebirds CANTON LIBERAL v CARDIFF CORINTHIANS PORTHCAWL TOWN ATH v ABER VALLEY GRANGE ALBION v Monmouth Town CEFN CRIBWR BC v PORTHCAWL TOWN ATHLETIC Ties are to be played over the period 13-15 August 2021 Ties to be played weekend of Saturday August 21st 2021. ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽ Comet Update Clubs are requested when selecting the club official - who will be acting as linesperson on match days - to select them on Comet under their Comet registered listing (i.e. coach, team helper, 1st aider, etc.) Home clubs also need to ensure they select their ground on the Comet system, particularly if they are playing away from their usual ground, otherwise the Comet app timer will not start. I’ve already had updates that many Groundhoppers in Wales & England are attending games and others viewing scores especially the updates as the games go on. Comet is already proving a huge success. With some large crowds already turning out to watch SWAL games we encourage clubs to do a quick headcount and enter the crowd numbers onto the Comet app. There have been a couple of problems with the new Comet app. If clubs are unable to load players then often you just need to restart the procedure. Worse case scenario clubs are advised to use a SWAL Temporary Team Sheet and place the players names onto Comet at the earliest opportunity. Temporary team sheets are available here: https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.pitchero.com/leagues/9920_1625247652.pdf Another option is to uninstall the app on your phone then reinstall. Both of these have worked but, hopefully, everything is now working fine. ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽ FAW CUP NEWS JD WELSH CUP PLAYER OF QUALIFYING ROUND 1 Chris Bristow (Cwmbach Royal Stars) who normally plays centre half for the second team but with two goalkeepers injured, Chris stepped up and not only did he play really well in the game against Aberdare Town but when the tie went to penalties, he saved two to send his side into the next round. Chris was presented with his award by Huw Jones on Friday 23 July in Cwmbach Royal Stars JD Welsh Cup Qualifying Round 2 tie away at Ynyshir Albions. ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽ SWAL TOP SCORERS League only - up to & including 7 August 2021 PREMIER DIVISION 3 Thomas Davies (Cefn Cribwr BC) Iwan Withers (Cardiff Corinthians FC) 2 Morgan Andrews (Merthyr Saints FC), Jonathan Davies (Baglan Dragons), Jack Delve (Pencoed Athletic BGC), Michael Fellows (Llanrumney United), Thomasl Harris (Cefn Cribwr BC), Charlie Loss (Merthyr Saints FC), Daniel Mais (Bridgend Street ), David Martin-Lavers (Pencoed Athletic BGC), Daniel Noyes (Cardiff Corinthians FC), Connor James Ray (Trebanog FC), Aladje Sani (Grange Albion FC), Arron Weaver (Cefn Cribwr BC), Christopher Worsley (Cardiff Corinthians FC) DIVISION ONE 6 Sonny Lambert (Cardiff Airport) 5 Leon Grant (AFC Penrhiwceiber) 4 Louis Evans (Canton Rangers FC), Darren Townsend (Ely Rangers FC) 3 Jackson Acreman (Tonyrefail BGC), Ethan Conway (AFC Penrhiwceiber) Cameron Dean (Ton & Gelli BGC), Ryan Hughes (Vale United) Morgan Stavert Hawkins (Cardiff Airport) DIVISION TWO 4 Luke Llewellyn (Tata Steel United) 3 Damien Barnard (Bettws FC), Marco Duarte (Cardiff Cosmopolitan FC) Joshua Lee Powell (Aberfan Football Club) Gavin Robins of Cardiff Corinthians became the first goalscorer in the SWAL 2021-22 season with the opening goal, after 4 mins, in Corinthians 4-1 victory away to Aberdare Town on the opening day. FAW News NOEL MOONEY ANNOUNCED AS FAW CHIEF EXECUTIVE 19 July 2021 The Football Association of Wales is pleased to announce that Noel Mooney has been appointed as Chief Executive and will come into the post on 30 August. Mooney will join the FAW from UEFA, where he is Head of Strategic Development working with all 55 European federations on their development including strategy, commercial revenues, participation, public affairs, digital transformation and governance. Mooney hails from Cappamore, Limerick in the Republic of Ireland and is a former League of Ireland goalkeeper who played for Limerick, Cork City and Shamrock Rovers. Following his playing career, he joined the Football Association of Ireland in 2006 where his role was focussed on domestic football, later having the responsibility of marketing the League of Ireland. Mooney has been with the European football governing body since 2011 and was seconded to the FAI for six months in 2019 to lead the association ad interim. At UEFA, he has created a number of leading development programmes which have been adopted right across the European football landscape. FAW President, Kieran O’ Connor welcomed Mooney’s appointment: “The FAW have identified Noel as the right person to manage the FAW into a new era of success and evolution. He has a vast experience of working across all European national associations over the past decade to grow European football and we are delighted that Noel has agreed to focus his experience and skillset to develop football in Wales.” On his appointment, Noel Mooney said: “In this next chapter for Welsh football, we will grow and evolve the game to become more popular and successful. The mission is very clear and I can’t wait to work with everyone in Welsh football to reach our full potential. I have enjoyed collaborating with great people to grow European football at UEFA for the past decade and now the focus will be on ensuring that the FAW becomes one of the best football associations globally at all levels by being strong locally in every village and town across Wales.” https://www.faw.cymru/en/news/noel-mooney-announced-faw-chief-executive/ ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽ CLWB CYMRIC FC OCEAN PARK ARENA Ocean Way, Cardiff The History Clwb Cymric was formed in 1969 by a group of friends, regulars at the New Ely pub in the Cathays area of Cardiff, with the aim of playing football and socialising through the medium of Welsh. Forty years later Clwb Cymric won the Cardiff and District League Premier Division for the first time in their history. After winning the South Wales Intermediate Cup 2009-10 , the decision was made to leave Pontcanna Fields and ground-share with Caerau Ely FC at their Cwrt-yr-Ala ground. Further success in 2010-11 saw Clwb Cymric into the end of season play-offs where the club secured their place in the South Wales Amateur League. Now, eleven years later - for this coming 2021-22 season - Clwb Cymric have found their “adref” at The Ocean Park Arena. The Ground Ocean Park Arena has an impressive 3G pitch