Some information about Hawarden Rangers.
INFORMATION
Social Media Accounts
- Website: https://www.hawardenrangersfc.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hawardenrangers
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hawardenrangersfc/
Founded
1974
Home Town / Village
Hawarden / Penarlâg
Home colours
Navy blue shirt with blue sleeves and white trim, navy blue shorts and socks.
Nicknames
Rangers
Ground
Gladstone Playing Fields
GROUND ACCESS
The Gladstone Playing Fields are located in between Hawarden and Ewloe, opposite Hawarden High School, and not far away from Buckley/Ewloe junction on the A494 road. Car parking is readily available at the fields, with the football field a short walk away from the car park. Note that they are public fields, so the facilities can be basic with snacks and hot drinks not always available there.
The fields are just a ten-minute walk away from Hawarden railway station, which is located on the Borderlands Line, whilst there is also the Groomscroft bus stop very near to the entrance of the playing fields. The 4/4S (Chester to Mold) Arriva bus routes will take you directly from Chester train station to Hawarden’s Groomscroft bus stop, and the journey will take about 45 minutes. The nearest pub to the Gladstone Playing Fields is the Crown & Liver Inn, which is a ten-minute walk in the direction of Ewloe, whilst the Fox & Grapes and the Glynne Arms are located on the main street in the middle of the village, roughly a fifteen-minute walk away from the ground but just five minutes from the train station.
BRIEF HISTORY
Hawarden Rangers are a famous team within Flintshire football, as they are renowned for their excellent youth teams which have produced professional players, such as Barry Horne, Ian Rush, and Michael Owen. Their senior side was founded in 1974 by Elwyn Owen as a natural progression for the many players who progressed through the youth teams in the village. For the vast majority of their history, they competed within the Clwyd League system, and were considered one of the stronger teams within Clwyd throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
From 2005, Hawarden competed in the Welsh National League (Wrexham Area), and in the Premier Division, in particular, having finished as high as second position in the third-tier league in the 2013-14 season. Sadly they experienced relegation at the end of the 2018-19 season which saw them compete in the WNL Division One for the first time, but Rangers managed to securely claim the Division One title in their first season at the fourth tier, winning the final season of the league’s history.
After the reorganisation of Welsh football in 2020, Hawarden found themselves in the fourth-tier North East Wales League Premier Division. However, at the end of the 2021-22 season, they were successful in their application to fill one of the vacancies in the 2022-23 Ardal North West league and gained promotion back to the third tier despite finishing in fourth position in the NEWFL Premier Division the previous season. They subsequently finished the season in thirteenth position, avoiding relegation by just three points.
FIVE-YEAR LEAGUE HISTORY
Season | League | Position | Info |
2018-19 | Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Premier Division | 15th | RELEGATED |
2019-20 | Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Division One | 1st* | * – Decided on points per game |
2020-21 | North East Wales League Premier Division | n/a | Season Abandoned |
2021-22 | North East Wales League Premier Division | 4th | PROMOTED |
2022-23 | Ardal North West | 13th |
HONOURS
Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Division One
1 [2019-20]
Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Division Three
1 [1972-73]
94th MINUTE BLOGLIST
OTHER BLOGS
- The Groundhog – 23rd May 2018: Hawarden Rangers vs. Penycae