North Wales Football

Words: Mike Bayly

Images: Mike Bayly

Cover image: Llandegfan FC.

The takeover of Wrexham FC by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney catapulted The Red Dragons into a hitherto unimagined stratosphere of global recognition and popularity.

The historic club is frequently namechecked in US media circles and late-night TV and has, by extension, lifted the veil on other aspects of the region: McElhenney’s sterling pronunciation (to my untrained ear, at least) of Anglesey village Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch on the Stephen Colbert show, was one of many incongruous cultural by-products of Wrexham’s celebrity ownership.

While I don’t have strong feelings either way about Wrexham’s new trajectory (other than hoping it benefits the club and wider community in the long run) I do have a long-standing love of North Wales.

As a child in the early 1980s, family holidays were spent in Colwyn Bay and Rhyl. I have happy recollections of Colwyn Bay’s Eirias Park Dinosaur World - a sort of British progenitor to Jurassic park - and Rhyl’s Sun Centre, complete with lagoon, sunbeds and, to really capture the zeitgeist, people smoking by the pool: it was ‘sunshine indoors’ long before Phoenix Nights popularised the phrase.

©Mike Bayly/ Terrace Edition. CPD Mynydd Llandegai.

Once my bag of coins had been exhausted in the adjoining arcade (specifically on Konami’s Track And Field, from which I invariably developed debilitating repetitive strain injury), trips on the narrow gauge Snowdon Mountain Railway acquainted me with the natural beauty of the region. The vista of cloud-capped mountains, cerulean lakes and verdant slopes were endearing memories from my time there.

As an adult, I remain drawn to North Wales, partly for the hiking opportunities but mainly for the cluster of extraordinarily beautiful lower-League and amateur football grounds nestled along the coast or embraced by mountainous backdrops.

From a photography perspective, there is a rich seam to mine. I can’t pretend to be fully acquainted with every nuance of character that constitutes these lands, but my football journeys have offered a brief and rewarding glimpse into their diversity.

©Mike Bayly/ Terrace Edition. CPD Llanberis.

Take Llanberis, formed in the 1890s, and Mynydd Llandygái. Both clubs lie on the outskirts of Snowdonia, separated by a few miles of narrow, undulating road, but are markedly different in nature. Llanberis’ Ffordd Padarn sits in the centre of a busy tourist village overlooked by a church and the peaks of Elidir Fach and Elidir Fawr, while Mynydd Llandygái feels infinitely more remote, huddled one thousand feet above sea level in slate country against the Carneddau and Glyderau mountain ranges.

Given the role quarrying played in North Wales, it is unsurprising that several of the grounds evidence the region’s industrial heritage. Bethesda Athletic’s Parc Meurig and Blaenau Ffestiniog Amateur’s Cae Clyd are set against slate mountains, sculpted through decades of toil and excavation, the latter’s surrounding landscape forged from a time when Blaenau Ffestiniog was known as ‘the town that roofed the world’.

On the north coast, Penmaenmawr Phoenix (based in another former quarrying town) and Conwy Borough are barely five miles apart but couldn’t be more different visually.

Conwy’s Y Morfa well appointed stadium is tucked away down a suburban lane in the shadow of Mynydd y Dref, contrasted with Penmaenmawr’s Cae Sling, a rural idyll towered over by the dominant Foel Lûs.

©Mike Bayly/ Terrace Edition. Blaenau Ffestiniog Amateurs FC.

Further west along the coast and into Anglesey, is the seaside resort of Trearddur Bay, home to Trearddur Bay FC. Located next to the beach, there are magnificent views across the Irish sea if you are prepared to climb a small embankment on the north side of the pitch.

One other Anglesey venue deserves highlighting, even though it is currently out of use. Llandegfan’s elevated Cae Eurfryn on the south of the island affords a dramatic panorama of Snowdonia and the Menai Bridge. It is possibly my favourite of all the North Wales grounds. Unfortunately, the club folded in 2021, citing grading challenges for tier five of the Welsh Pyramid.

Llandegfan were managed by Arron Evans, whose enthusiasm and dedication for local football is infectious.

©Mike Bayly. Penmaenmawr Phoenix FC.

Such passion is the lifeblood of the region’s smaller clubs. Elis James’ superb Football Nation documentary argues Wales has every justification to be regarded as a hotbed of football. It is hard to disagree.

In the towns and villages of North Wales I’ve visited, where football has been played since the nineteenth century, it is clear the game continues to be an important and spectacular presence.

The people who make that possible have my eternal thanks.

©Mike Bayly/ Terrace Edition. Trearddur Bay FC.

©Mike Bayly/ Terrace Edition. Bethesda Athletic FC.

©Mike Bayly/ Terrace Edition. CPD Llanberis.

©Mike Bayly/ Terrace Edition. Conwy Borough FC.

You can follow Mike on Twitter and Instagram: @Mike_Bayly