Buckley Town F.C.
Buckley Town Football Club is a Welsh football team based in Buckley, Flintshire, Wales and playing in the Cymru North.
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| Full name | Buckley Town Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Bucks, Trotters or The Claymen | ||
| Founded | 1977 | ||
| Ground | The Globe Buckley | ||
| Capacity | 1,700 | ||
| Chairman | Pete Gunson | ||
| Manager | Dan Moore Alan Edwards (Assistant Manager) | ||
| League | Cymru North | ||
| 2019–20 | Cymru North, 10th | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
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History
Buckley is regarded as an established football centre in North Wales with the game was first introduced in the area around 1860. With the new ball, they regarded themselves as a real team, and established themselves as a football club, playing under the name of Belmont Swifts Football Club. This formed the basis of what would later become Buckley Victoria Football Club, the first organised team in the town.[1] The team had their own pitch at Mill Lane, and soon played home and away matches against teams such as Mold Athletic, Wrexham Victoria and Rhyl Athletic.
Buckley Victoria were superseded by the Buckley Engineers, who carried on the 'Vics' winning ways. The amateurs' most famous team consisted of ten colliers, and a plumber. They picked up a huge amount of silverware in their playing days, including the Welsh Amateur Cup which they won on three occasions. In 1887 Buckley Town football club was formed, and it wasn't long before they had a taste of success. They went on to win the Wirral & District League in 1898, and picked up the Pike Challenge Cup in the same year. Buckley Town continued to play right up to the 1920s, and in 1925 joined the Welsh League, North Division. In 1937 they went on to win the North Wales amateur cup.
During the 1930s it seemed that Buckley Town Football Club and other organised football teams in Buckley fell apart and no longer continued to be successful in competitions. Then, in 1937 Buckley Town A.F.C won the North Wales Amateur Cup. In 1949 Buckley Wanderers and Buckley Rovers were the only two teams playing competitive football in Buckley. Buckley Rovers struggled in the lower division of the Welsh Leagues, while Buckley Wanderers joined the Welsh National League Division One. In their first season, Buckley Wanderers finished runners-up behind Chirk AAA, and again in the 1953–54 season finished runners-up to Overton St Mary's. Then in the 1955–56 season Buckley Wanderers scored over one hundred goals to clinch the League title.
During the 1960–61 season Buckley Rovers joined Buckley Wanderers in the Welsh Football League First Division. With two teams firmly established in top-flight Welsh football, Buckley once again was revelling in the 'glory days'. Buckley Wanderers finished runners-up for the third time in their history, with Chirk AAA finishing just two points ahead of them. Rovers struggled in their first season in top-flight football, finishing ninth in the league. Then in the 1963–64 season Buckley Rovers were relegated, only to come straight back up the following season.
From 1974 Buckley Rovers then became the better of the two sides, with a runners-up finish and a third-place finish. The 1976–77 season saw both teams finish in the bottom half of the table. This was the end of both teams, and in 1977 an agreement was made for both teams to join and play under the name of Buckley Town Football Club, which is the club known to this day.
Since the millennium, the club has had its most successful period to date. It has won the NEW Challenge Cup six times, the Cymru Alliance League Cup once in 2003–04 and in the League the club finished 3rd in 2002–03, 2nd in 2003–04, finally becoming Champions in 2004–05. In 2009–10 Buckley Town returned to the Racecourse to win the NEW Challenge Cup and were 4th in the Cymru Alliance League.
From the phoenix of the previous season the club became 2017–18 Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) league champions, claiming their spot in the 2018–19 Cymru Alliance. The honour was achieved with thanks to Dan Moore as manager and the crop of local talent sourced from Buckley, local villages and towns within a 5-mile radius of the club.
2016 Onwards
After the 2015/16 season, Buckley Town faced turmoil and financial troubles. Thanks to community support and voluntary involvement the club survived and is now going from strength to strength. With the success of the £10 season ticket scheme the club has firmly established itself as a community football club whilst gaining more support during this period. Sourcing local players the clubs strength has been its community involvement.
2017–18 season sees Buckley Town return to winning ways lifting the Welsh National league title along the way. With locally sourced talent and links to its historic youth team, the clubs restructure has been firmly based upon its commitment from the towns love for football.
Globe Way Stadium
Since moving from the old pitch at the Hawksbury, in front of the Elfed High School, to a purpose-built facility on the outskirts of town, at The Globe off Liverpool Road, the club has gone from strength to strength. The club aims to develop the Globe every year and it has seen much improvement.
Ground drains have been laid around and under the playing surface to aid drainage away from what was sometimes a boggy pitch. A stand provides both covered seating and standing areas down one side. Floodlights were added in 2004–05 and the ground has now been boarded out completely with a concrete path laid around the circumference of the pitch. With a lot of tender loving care and time spent on it by the committee, especially by former club Treasurer Eric Davies, the club have one of the finest playing surfaces in North Wales. So much so, that Wrexham often play their Reserve Team League matches at The Globe.
In recent years the club has built another stand, a standing area with a disabled access area behind the Clubhouse goal bringing the number of seats up to the 370. The aim is to ultimately comply with the full UEFA criteria of 500 seats, by developing the stand behind the current dugout area to provide a much larger seated area than currently exists. A medical treatment room has recently been completed and the club will now look to build a Gatehouse with turnstiles and to extend the entertainment facilities at the ground.
Attendances
Through the sale of the £20 season ticket scheme Buckley Town FC have noticed a significant increase with attendances. The fan base have risen gradually attracting groundhoppers and football fans alike, on the last game of the 2017–18 season the club smashed its all-time attendance record with a bumper crowd of 604. Many Welsh Premier League clubs have an estimated 200/300 fans, but Buckley Town FC competing in the third tier of Welsh football can hold their head high and place its fan base with the big guns of Welsh football. Fans often do make the away trips making for a red colouring of fans, supporting the Bucks to victory.
Honours
2003–04: Cymru Alliance League Cup Winners
2004–05: Cymru Alliance League Champions
2017–18: Welsh National League Premier Division Champions
2018: Welsh National League Presidents Cup Champions
Former players
A notable former player is Danny Collins (Chester City, Sunderland, Stoke City and Wales International) and Ryan Shawcross (Manchester United and Stoke City) grew up in the town attending the Elfed High School
Mickey Thomas appeared for Buckley Town FC during the mid 1990s.
Michael Owen also played for local junior side Buckley & Bistre Junior Football Club.
Ryan Hedges – Buckley Town Junior football Club. .[2]
References
- "History". Buckley Town F.C. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
- North east Wales soccer stars paired at Stoke Ryan Hedges played locally for Buckley Town Juniors and went on to play for Swansea City and currently on load to Barnsley.