In this blog, we have ventured beyond our home county’s borders of Flintshire once again to look at other clubs competing in the Welsh football pyramid and see how they have performed during their respective 2023-24 season. Therefore, our focus has switched westwards to Denbighshire once again and we interviewed Dean Martin, chairman of the third-tier club, Saint Asaph City.
Club Information
- City: Saint Asaph, Denbighshire / Llanelwy, Sir Ddinbych
- Founded: c.1880s
- Ground: Roe Plas Meadows, St Asaph
- Nicknames: The Saints
- Colours: Yellow and black vertical striped shirts, black shorts, and black socks.
- 2023-24 League: Ardal North West
- Club Website: https://www.stasaphcityfc.co.uk/
- Club Twitter: @StAsaphFC
- Club Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stasaphcityfc/
- Club Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stasaphfc/
- Club YouTube: n/a
Introduction
Saint Asaph City Football Club / Clwb Pêl-Droed Dinas Llanelwy is a North East Welsh club that represents the cathedral city of Saint Asaph / Llanelwy situated in the north of Denbighshire. Historically within the old borders of Flintshire, the city of approximately 3,400 inhabitants is located on the Afon Elwy, a main tributary of the Afon Clwyd, and provides the Cymraeg name to the settlement, Llanelwy (“The enclosed church or parish on the Elwy“). It is positioned in the northern corridor of Denbighshire, 3 miles and 5,5 miles upstream of the castle town of Rhuddlan and the seaside town of Rhyl respectively, 5,5 miles north of Denbigh / Dinbych, and 11 miles west of the religious town of Holywell / Treffynnon. Although the city does not have its own train station (it was closed in the 1960s as part of the Beeching Cuts), it is just south of junction 27 of the main A55 Expressway meaning it still has great infrastructural links with North Wales. In addition, there are regular bus services going up and down the A525 road connecting the city with Rhyl and its train station, as well as the market town of Denbigh.
The settlement originally developed around a sixth-century Celtic monastery which was initially founded by Saint Kentigern (also known as St Mungo who is the patron saint of Glasgow) and later developed into a cathedral with Saint Asaph being its second bishop after Kentigern. The 13th-century-built cathedral is the city’s most famous landmark and is the episcopal seat of the Church of Wales diocese of the same name that covers northeastern Wales, and is one of six dioceses in Wales. The building has huge cultural importance in Cymru as it is where the first bible which was translated into Cymraeg, by its former bishop William Morgan, is kept and displayed to the public. Although the settlement of Saint Asaph was traditionally defined as a city due to its cathedral, it wouldn’t be until 2012 when it was formally granted city status as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. As a result, it became the second-smallest city in terms of population in the United Kingdom (Saint David’s being a smaller settlement) and Wales’ seventh city at the time.
There is evidence of football being played in St Asaph since the 1880s though sadly there is little documentation for the majority of the club’s history until the mid-1970s when it became a member of the newly created Clwyd League. They started in Division 5 before reaching Division 1 of the system in 1979-80 but would fold after just one season in the top tier of the Clwyd League following a ninth-place finish. It wouldn’t be until ten years later when St Asaph City returned back to Welsh football by playing in the 1990-91 Clwyd League Premier Division (possibly coming from Pilkington’s St. Asaph’s reserve side) and finishing as runners-up in their debut season, as well as winning that season’s (and the following season’s) President’s Cup and League Cup. They eventually won the Clwyd League Premier Division title in the 1992-93 season finishing six points ahead of runners-up Prestatyn Town. This enabled them a promotion to the Welsh Alliance League where they achieved a fourteenth-place finish from the eighteen-team league. Alas, their tenure in the league ended that season as an arson attack destroyed the club’s changing rooms leaving them without the required facilities and forcing the club to fold once again.
It wouldn’t be until the start of the new millennium when St Asaph City reappeared once again in Welsh football with a junior team being established in 2000. Following the construction of a pavilion in 2006 on the Roe Plas Meadows, a senior football team was soon established and joined the Clwyd League Division 2 for the 2006-07 season. The team quickly rose through the Clwyd League structure, getting promoted to Division 1 as runners-up in 2008-09 before a second promotion in the following season as Division 1 champions. Following the demise of the Clwyd League system in 2011, St Asaph City soon experienced another promotion after clinching the 2012-13 Vale of Clwyd & Conwy League Premier Division title and returned back to the Welsh Alliance after nineteen years away. They played in the WAL Division 2 for just two seasons before winning the 2014-15 league championship and achieving promotion to Division 1, just pipping Llangefni Town to the title on goal difference. The Saints played the next five seasons in the then third tier league achieving their best league placement of ninth position in the 2018-19 season.
[IMAGE: Non-League Matters]
Following the reorganisation of the Welsh football pyramid in the summer of 2020, St Asaph City became a founding member of the Ardal North West league. Unfortunately, their stay in the new third-tier league would end after its first season as they concluded their season in fourteenth position from the sixteen-team league, missing out on safety by just two points, and suffered relegation to the North Wales Coast East League Premier Division (the replacement to the Vale of Clwyd & Conwy League). Fortunately for the Saints, their hiatus was a brief one as they secured the NWCEL Premier title with relative ease, finishing seventeen points ahead of nearest rivals CPD Llannefydd and scoring 100 goals over the thirty-game campaign to return to their third tier as champions. It would be a hugely successful season for St Asaph City as the club also lifted the NWCEL Cookson Cup (defeating Prestatyn Sports 5-0) and the North Wales Coast FA Challenge Cup (beating Menai Strait Tigers 4-0) to complete a treble-winning year.
[IMAGE: Non-League Matters]
For the 2023-24 season, Saint Asaph City played in the Ardal North West League, a third-tier regional league in the Welsh football pyramid that theoretically covers the northwestern region of Wales, although realistically covers the whole of the North Wales coastline. This season was their first season back in the new Ardal Leagues setup after winning the 2022-23 NWCEL Premier Division title and it was a successful one for the newly-promoted side. They concluded their schedule in sixth position having accumulated 47 points from their 30-game campaign after winning thirteen games and drawing a further eight fixtures. St Asaph finished eight points behind fifth-placed team Nantlle Vale and three points ahead of Brickfield Rangers in seventh position.
[IMAGE: Non-League Matters]
The Saints play their home games at Roe Plas Meadows situated roughly in the middle of the city directly adjacent to the Afon Elwy on its eastern bank. The ground can be found down a narrow road that adjoins onto the main A525 road as it spans over the Elwy, with bus stops being found directly next to the entrance to Roe Plas Meadows.
Recent Form
| Date | Competition | Opposition (h/a) | Result |
| 18th May | Ardal North West | CPD Y Felinheli (a) | 0-3 |
| 15th May | Ardal North West | Llay Welfare (a) | 2-4 |
| 11th May | Ardal North West | Saltney Town (a) | 4-1 |
| 4th May | Ardal North West | Llay Welfare (h) | 2-1 |
| 1st May | Ardal North West | CPD Llannefydd (a) | 1-1 |
Saint Asaph City started their league campaign with a narrow single-goal defeat to newly-relegated Holyhead Hotspur at the start of August but followed it up with three wins and a draw from their next four league games to start their return to the third tier brightly. Highlights included a 4-3 home win over Conwy Borough and a surprising 2-0 away victory over future league champions Flint Mountain with Mathew Beach and Ryan Roberts (now at NFA) getting the goals in the latter result. Despite defeat to Pwllheli in late September that halted their initial run, and with commitments in other domestic competitions, St Asaph continued their fine form in the league by winning six of their following eight league games to give the promoted side a surprising early challenge on the Ardal North West title. The best result during this period was a 5-1 away defeat of Conwy Borough in mid-January with Jake Walker grabbing a hat-trick in the game with further strikes from Jackson Brewerton and Tyler Joyce (now at Prestatyn Town) adding to the goal tally. From their first fifteen league fixtures, St Asaph City accumulated an impressive 30 points and moved into second place in the league.
Unfortunately for the Saints, their title challenge faltered in 2024 as a change in management and personnel affected their momentum with the second half of their season not matching the heights of the first half. Matthew Roberts filled the vacant position at Cymru North side Prestatyn Town and was replaced by former Llanrwst United manager Barry Owen. Despite the appointment of the highly-respected coach, the club could only win four more games in the second half of the league schedule and drew a further five to gather an additional 17 points. They did achieve further big results during this period with home wins over title challengers Flint Mountain and Llay Welfare, winning 3-2 over the former (and completing the league double) in early March and 2-1 against the latter side at the start of May. Nonetheless, the fact that Saint Asaph City played only two games at home in their final eleven league matches potentially affected their end-of-season form as they only won away once during that period (4-1 against bottom side Saltney Town) and wrapped up their season with two consecutive defeats against title / playoff-chasing Llay Welfare and relegation-threatened Y Felinheli. However, in conclusion, a sixth-place placement in their return to the Ardal NW can be considered an excellent season for Saint Asaph City and something they can build on for next season although they will have to do it with a new person in charge following Barry Owen’s departure to take up the vacant managerial role at Mold Alexandra at the conclusion of the season.
In addition to their fine form in the league, St Asaph City also had an impressive Welsh Cup run as they reached the second round proper of the national cup competition. They started their season in the first qualifying round with a monumental 18-0 demolishing of NWCEL Division One side Rhyl Dragons, before putting in another seven goals without reply against fellow Llanelwy-based side Y Glannau in the second qualifying round. Braces from James Williams, Alfie Vaughan (who moved to Prestatyn Town in January), and Kieran Garnett-Hughes (as well as an own goal) gave the Saints success in the Llanelwy Derby cup match. They achieved their third consecutive clean sheet in the first round when they defeated Llandudno Junction of the NWCEL Premier Division by a single Tyler Joyce goal before being drawn against Prestatyn Town in the next round. Despite their impressive goal tally and defensive strength, they unfortunately exited the competition by a single goal in the 11th minute to the Cymru North strugglers. It is quite an impressive statistic to read that in their four cup games of the 2023-24 Welsh Cup, St Asaph scored twenty-six goals and only conceded one goal!
[IMAGES: St Asaph City Facebook]
Questions to Dean Martin, Chairman of Saint Asaph City
Q. Firstly, how has this season gone for St Asaph City in the Ardal North West League?
Our initial hope when we first started the season was to stay in the league but, as a team on and off the field, I think we have achieved more than that this season.
Q. What has been the best performance or result from the club this season?
The best performance and result from this year was not on the field of play, it was when we found out that we had floods at the ground again and all players turned up to clean out all the dirt, etc, that came with it – this is evidence of the community at its best!
Q. Who do you think have been the standout players this season, and is there any individual player who you think the readers should keep an eye on for next season?
All the squad members have helped us get to the position that we are in, so it would be unfair to single out any particular players, and we are excited about all the younger players that are coming through the ranks.
[IMAGE: St Asaph City Facebook]
Q. With St Asaph being confirmed as a city nearly 12 years ago, and currently the second smallest city in the UK, has that unique status seen the club gain attention from supporters around the country (and beyond) and further enhanced the standing of the club?
Yes, I see that every week with all the groundhoppers that attend the home matches and who have sponsored six games for us this year, so I think we are doing something right.
Q. How important is it for the club to be a main community hub for the city and the area? What ideas do you have planned to help the club further develop that partnership with the community?
The community is strong in St Asaph whether it is football, cricket, bowls, running, or cycling, I think we all support each other. Also, thank the council for their help in all matters concerning community support.
Q. Recently, you have improved the Roe Plas Meadows ground with the addition of a covered stand and other additions – how did that come about, and what other ground improvements will you be aiming for in the future?
This was done by local businesses which do a fantastic job! Trefor Williams and Gwyn Williams have done a brilliant job in helping the community along with everyone in this lovely city who play their part to make it all happen from the juniors to the seniors.
[IMAGE: St Asaph City Website]
Q. Unfortunately, there was a change in management mid-season – how do you think the club coped during that transitional period, and what did manager Barry Owen bring to the team during the second half of the season?
This is football but we have managed to still compete with all the big teams in tier 3. Barry set the club up for the future by introducing younger players into the first team which makes it all worthwhile when you see these players perform.
Q. Overall, what are the club’s aims for next season, and likewise, what are the long-term aims for the club?
Off the field, it is to make the facilities at the club good enough for tier 2 football – that is our aim and something we will continue to progress with next season.
On the field, next year’s league will be very strong but we hope to give those who visit us a tough and great game. In addition, a good cup run would be nice.
Q. Finally, if someone was considering coming to Llanelwy to watch or follow the team for the first time, what do you think is the club’s greatest asset to encourage them to return?
The beautiful location and setting we have is to die for, even before you even get to watch a game. Additionally, we have a great team at the club who helps out on the day and are very helpful to all visitors.
A massive thank you to Dean Martin, chairman of the Ardal North West side Saint Asaph City for answering our questions on their 2023-24 season, and their future goals. We wish all sections of the club the very best of luck for next season and the seasons ahead! Remember you can find St Asaph City’s social media accounts in the links towards the top of the blogpage.
If you have any comments, suggestions, reactions, or even your own answers to the above questions, please write them in the comments box below. Likewise, you can either email us at the94thmin@gmail.com or send a message at @The94thMin on Twitter/X.
The 94th Minute 