Tuesday 12 October 2010

Ammanford AFC (Wales)

Ammanford AFC are the result of a merger between two much older clubs from the village back in 1992. Ammanford Town were established in 1945 when a chap called Vic Grove donated a chicken as a prize for a raffle, the proceeds of which went on to help form the club. However, in the early days they were known as Betws, taking on the mantle but not directly succeeding the earlier local club the Ammandford Corinthians.

After a few years playing in a collection of small local leagues, they started to outgrow their bowl and in 1949 were elected to the Welsh League - helped in part by the goodwill afforded to their illustrious Corinthian cousins. By the sixties, however, there were a number of Welsh clubs playing under the Betws banner, and so the Welsh FA asked them if they could change their name, which they did to the aformentioned Ammanford Town. They would change it once more, when things began to get financially tough in the 1980s, and by 1992, they merged with Ammanford Athletic to form the AFC that they are still known as today.

These days they play in the Welsh League Division Two, the third level of Welsh Football. They call the Manor Ground Home, which Betws bought with considerable foresight back in the early days of their foundation. Perhaps their most famous son is the former Everton, Wrexham and Wales international keeper Dai Davies, widely accepted to be one of the best Welsh keepers of all time, who played for the club when he was just 15. He was discovered by the former Liverpool and Swansea wing-half Roy Saunders, who managed them during the club's most successful days in the mid-60s.

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1 comment:

  1. I've just read this and as an Ammanford supporter K really enjoyed it!

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