Cefn Druids A.F.C. - History

History

The team take their prolific history from the famous old Welsh team Druids F.C. who were founded in the early 1860s. They had won the Welsh Cup on no less than 8 occasions and have finished runners-up five times but fell on hard times with the advent of professional football. Druids were ancient mystic men throughout Celtic civilisation and were closely associated with Wales.

Druids can claim to originate from the oldest existing team located in Wales, thus making it also the oldest football club in the world outside of England. This is reflected in club's nickname, 'The Ancients'. However, Oswestry Town does predate Druids but is geographically in England, though the team has always participated in the Welsh system and were early members of the Welsh FA, and would thus consider themselves a Welsh side (see The New Saints).

In 1992 after many years of discussion the inevitable amalgamation of Druids United and Cefn Albion F.C. took place to end the internal village soccer rivalry in the village of Cefn Mawr. The new look club took the bold step of applying to join the new Cymru Alliance. The joint resources of the clubs could be focused on a revival of football fortunes in the village of Cefn Mawr. In 1999 Cefn Druids became Champions of the Cymru Alliance and were promoted into the League of Wales, finishing a respectable 13th in its first season in the national league.

After the appointment of ex-Rochdale midfielder Steve O'Shaughnessy in the summer of 2001, the Ancients experienced their best results since the halcyon Welsh Cup days of the late 19th century and early 20th century.

The 2001–02 season was a season of consolidation in the Welsh Premier League finishing in 14th place. However in the Welsh Cup after victories over Llangefni-Glantraeth, Ruthin Town, Halkyn United and Welshpool Town, Cefn found themselves in the semi-finals of the Welsh Cup for the first time in 98 years. It was not to be, as a Marc Lloyd-Williams inspired Bangor City won 5–0 at Belle Vue, Rhyl on 6 April 2002.

The 2002–03 season was a financially difficult one with the playing and management staff going weeks without payment at one point in the season. This even forced O'Shaughnessy to resign out of principle during this time. Fortunately, he returned after reassurances were given. On the pitch, Cefn finished in a highly respectable 12th place.

The 2003–04 season, saw an array of young players join the club like Gareth Evans, who eventually left to join Football League Two club Wrexham. The average age of the team for one match against Caersws on 12 December 2003 was just 21.

As the 2003–04 season came to a conclusion with players and management looking ahead to the future with excitement with a young squad at their disposal.

However, on the evening of 18 April 2004, Steve O'Shaughnessy was sacked by the club's board. Since then the club has been severely struggling on the pitch with the squad that O'Shaughnessy put together leaving en masse. Amongst the players who left were Aden Shannon, Brett Jefferies, Dave Cunnah and First Team Coach, Jimmy Hunter all to Welshpool Town, who have qualified for the FAW Premier Cup in the last two seasons.

The Ancients should have been relegated from the Welsh Premier League in April 2005 after finishing in the bottom two, but were given a last minute reprieve by Cymru Alliance winners Buckley Town, who declined promotion.

Under the stewardship of former Wrexham manager, Dixie McNeil, The Ancients recorded slightly more respectable league positions for the following 2 seasons, namely 14th in 2005–06 and 13th in 2006–07. However, partly due to his media work as a pundit for BBC Wales, McNeil stepped down during this pre season.

The club were quick to appoint a new management duo of former Wrexham team-mates, Wayne Phillips and Lee Jones. Both continued to play, with Phillips benefiting from previous managerial experience at Caernarfon Town. The partnership got off to the best possible start with a shock 1–0 opening day home win against Champions Total Network Solutions.

Phillips and Jones kept the club in the Welsh Premier League by finishing 12th and 13th in seasons 2007-08 and 2008-09 respectively. However, with delays to the construction of the new stadium and the overhaul of the Welsh Premier League the 2009-10 season, a reduced playing budget saw the club field a mainly young squad for the entire season and finished bottom of the table and be relegated to the Cymru Alliance. In addition Phillips and Jones departed the club with former player and Technogroup Welshpool manager Huw Griffiths appointed as the new manager. The club went on to finish 3rd place in their first season back in the 2nd tier of Welsh football since 98/99, Andrew Swarbrick being the clubs top scorer of the season getting an impressive 18 in all competitions.

Cefn Druids now have a Ladies team, formed in summer 2011. The Ladies will be playing in the North Wales Women's Football League along with teams such as Wrexham Ladies, Caenarfon and Llandudno Junction, for the first time in 2011/12.

Cefn Druids reached the semi finals of the Welsh Cup during the 2011/2012 season. They claimed big scalps on the way to the semis by defeating teams away from home such as Connahs Quay Nomads and Welsh Premier League teams Prestatyn Town and Aberystwyth Town. On Monday 28th Feb Welsh team manager Chris Coleman and assistant Kit Symons made the draw at the Wales team hotel which saw Welsh Premier League side Airbus UK Broughton drawn against Cefn Druids for a place in the Welsh Cup final.

On Saturday 31 March 2012 Cefn Druids defeated Airbus at Rhyl's Belle Vue 4-1 to reach their first Welsh cup final in 108 years. Andrew Swarbrick got a hatrick and Tony Cann netted once to complete the rout. Druids were defeated 2-0 by The New Saints in the final, but qualified for the Uefa Europa League as a result.