Articles

Cemaes Bay F.C. is a football team playing in the Anglesey League (part of the Welsh football league system). Between 1995 and 1998 the club played in the League of Wales.

HISTORY

Football on Anglesey goes back a long way. Indeed during the mid-1990s, the Anglesey League celebrated its centenary. Unfortunately, soccer statistics covering the island are far from complete as recent research has proved. Records show the existence of a football team in Cemaes Bay as far back as 1870 and, between the years 1948 and 1955, a team bearing that name featured in the Anglesey League. The present club, however, was not formed until 1976, joining the Anglesey League for the start of the 1976/77 season. Cemaes Bay Football Club used the sports and recreational facilities at the nearby Wylfa Power Station before moving to a ground adjacent to the Gadlys Hotel in 1980, staying there for just one season prior to returning to Wylfa. The purchase of the club’s present School Lane ground was negotiated in 1988 and an ambitious plan to develop the site was completed in time for the club to gain entry into the League of Wales in 1995. During its membership of the Anglesey League, Cemaes Bay FC built patiently towards the future, operating a very successful youth policy that catered for all age groups. At the end of the 1990/91 season, the club gained election to the Welsh Alliance, the former Welsh League (North). Having achieved that foothold in senior football, the team was quick to take advantage, finishing the 1991/92 season in fourth place in the league table. That same season, Cemaes Bay won the Cookson Cup, defeating Welsh Alliance league champions Llangefni Town 1-0 in the final played at Farrar Road, Bangor in front of more than 1,000 spectators. In addition, the television cameras were at School Lane for the first time, filming the club’s Welsh Cup tie against Haverfordwest County. Cemaes Bay retained the Cookson Cup in 1992/93, thumping Bangor City’s reserve side 5-0 in the final, played on the Bangor ground once again. More importantly, however, promotion up to another level of the Welsh non-league soccer ‘pyramid’ was achieved, courtesy of the team’s Welsh Alliance championship success. Cemaes Bay won the title by five points, finishing ahead of Llanfairpwll and scoring 113 goals in their 32 league fixtures.

Cemaes Bay played as Cemaes Ynys Mon for a couple of seasons before reverting to their previous name. Having achieved promotion to the Cymru Alliance, Cemaes Bay settled for a season of consolidation in 1993/94. Their final league placing was 7th, notching up fifteen league victories despite a poor start to the campaign. The following season, however, saw another remarkable transformation in the annals of soccer in the town. After being removed from the 1994/95 Welsh Cup competition by Rhyl, a change of management led to a run of 25 league matches without defeat which took Cemaes Bay to the Cymru Alliance league title and subsequent promotion to the League of Wales. In this season of success, Bay won 29 of their 34 league games and lost just two. Their points tally of 90 was ten more than their nearest challengers Brymbo and a goal difference of 117 against 24 spoke volumes for the side’s attacking ability allied to defensive strength. Promotion to the national competition was not guaranteed, however, as the School Lane facilities were not considered to be satisfactory. Fans of the team and even local villagers lent a hand to ensure Cemaes Bay FC would gain the promotion the team deserved. New floodlighting was installed, a new stand erected and other facilities upgraded enabling the club to take its place in the League of Wales in August 1995.

Cemaes Bay play at School Lane. The first season was not without its stressful moments, but the team performed creditably enough to finish 15th with 13 victories and seven draws. Another 13 successes in 1996/97 took Bay up to a comfortable finishing position of 12th and, having adopted the island’s Welsh name to increase identity Cemaes Ynys Mon FC had high hopes of retaining their status within the national league. Towards the end of 1997, however, the club’s main financial backer resigned and several players also left for pastures new. Relying on local players, Cemaes Ynys Mon found the remainder of the 1997/98 season hard going and it soon became clear that, despite their efforts, the players available for selection were not likely to help the club avoid relegation. Instead of falling apart at the seams, Cemaes Bay (the title to which the club reverted in 1998) has recovered from that disastrous 1997/98 season to become a force in the Cymru Alliance. The next four seasons saw the team regularly challenging at the top of the table, although form dipped in 2002/3 and 2004/5 brought just one victory in a difficult campaign on and off the pitch, which saw Bay drop another rung down the pyramid. Cemaes stayed in the Welsh Alliance 05/06, but dropped another rung to the Gwynedd League. When Cemaes Bay dropped to the Gwynedd League a new manager took over and brought in local young talent to build for the future. They stayed there for two seasons 06/07, 07/08 and dropped to the Anglesey League 08/09 and are currently in the Anglesey League. The team consisting mainly local young players are improving every year and the facilities are as well.