Will the forming of merthyr town rescue barry

The FAW Council’s rejection is of interest to the whole of Wales.
"The FAW Council’s rejection is of interest to the whole of Wales," says Cairns.  
"Barry is Wales’ largest town and the Football Club has recently celebrated its centenary.  
"It plays a vital part in encouraging young people to be active and to play football in the interests of the game in Wales.  
"This matter is of importance to the game, to Wales and to the integrity of both. 
"I understand that members of the Welsh League took part in the vote, without appropriate declarations: 

• the vote considered the merits of two clubs in one ballot rather than each being considered individually
  
• that a meeting had been organised the evening before, which undermined the integrity of the Council meeting
  
• that no just cause was offered to reject the recommendation of the Domestic Committee that Barry Town United AFC should be admitted, following the precedent set by Merthyr Tydfil as a reformed club some years previously.
  

"I hope that the FAW Full Member Clubs will support my request to help the reformed club, Barry Town United AFC, by challenging the interpretation of Rule 11.2.  
"I am personally appealing to the Council members to reconsider and reverse their decision in be interests of football in Wales, particularly following the precedent set by Merthyr Tydfil as a reformed club some years previously," Cairns concluded.

We are unable to be used as a precedent by Barry Town. FAW gave us permission to remain in the FA's National League system. The reforming of our club and our demotion by 3 leagues was decided by the FA, not the FAW. There is a distinction between us & Barry & Llanelli.

A politician possibly getting it wrong! lets hope both clubs will be allowed to play at a higher level than parks football. Most of the fans of both clubs are geniune supporters and it would be easy for them to support the Bluebirds or the Swans but they have supported their local teams which form a focus in the local community. I know the Reds are constantly  in the shadows of the scarlets so it is important that they are allowed to play at the highest level or football in that locality will be lost to the oval ball.


There was only one Peter Jones!

I see that the FAW have refused both Barry and Llanelli the right of appeal against the decision to relegate them to parks football; they refused even to hear their cases'. It remains to be seen if they come back in some form while playing parks football next season?! Good luck to them if they do survive and find a way back via promotion in to the Welsh league.

Barry Town United are taking legal action against the FAW. Case is possibly being heard next week?

A Court appeal against the Welsh FA on behalf of Barry, is to be heard at Cardiff Court on Wednesday August 7th. Good luck to them and I hope that they are successful and are allowed a place at some level within in the Welsh league.

Llanelli have given up their battle with the WFA, and have been accepted into the Camarthenshire league, it will be a long way back for them, and even if they do gain year on year promotion, it will be many years before they return to the elite of Welsh league football. It seems a shame that the two football clubs with the best football grounds in the Welsh Premier have been dumped in such a way by the WFA, (at least Jenner Park, and Stebonheath looked like football grounds when shown on S4C's Scorio, while most of the others look like local parks grounds with their Grass banks and small stands).

Llanelli have been accepted in the Carmarthenshire League Premier Division for this season, so COULD be only 1 year away from the Welsh League 3rd division.
Barry on the other hand don't have a plan B.
If the appeal fails, then they have nowhere to go, unless the SW Carroll or SW Amateur League let them in.
But as these 2 leagues are merging next season, clubs may not be so keen to let them in this late.

Wandering wrote:Barry Town United are taking legal action against the FAW. Case is possibly being heard next week?

After today's Court hearing the Judge will announce his decision on Friday.

Well done barry on winning their court case.It was reported that the FAW acted unlawfully.If this is the case then heads should roll.What about llanelli they just accepted defeat to the FAW,Bet they are sorry now that they did not fight their corner like barry

A JUDGE has ruled that the FAW's decision to deny Barry Town United membership was "unlawful".

Seys Llewellyn QC gave his judgement in Cardiff's High Court on Friday afternoon and the governing body, who say they accept the ruling, are now likely to recommend that the club plays in Division 3 of the Macwhirter Welsh League next season.

Lawyers for Barry Town United (formerly Barry Town FC) told the High Court in Cardiff earlier this week that previous owner Stuart Lovering had withdrawn the club from the league.

But they said he had not been involved in running the team for two seasons.

The FAW said it wanted the club to rejoin its leagues but at a lower level.

Barry Town FC was withdrawn from Welsh League football by Mr Lovering at the end of last season and Barry Town United was subsequently formed by supporters but the club was denied full FAW membership meaning it could play in the Welsh League.

The club said it was entitled to be part of the league because it fulfilled the FAW's criterion to be one its member clubs.

Its barrister Jonathan Crystal told the court that Mr Lovering had had no involvement in running the football team for two seasons before he decided to withdraw the club from the Welsh League in May.

Therefore the FAW should not have accepted the resignation as Mr Lovering's limited company, Barry Town AFC Ltd, did not in reality constitute the football club, he argued.

Mr Crystal also said that in the coming season, Barry Town United would be playing at the same ground, under the same lease, with the same manager and the same players, in front of the same supporters, with the bills and fees being paid by the same people.

He said Barry Town United was actually the member club of the FAW not Mr Lovering's company.

He said that the club had been in reality treated as members by the FAW for the previous two seasons, the governing body having gladly taken its money during that period.

FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford and former president Phil Pritchard were in court as the governing body defended the action.

Their barrister Nick de Marco said the FAW wanted Barry Town United to rejoin the system of leagues, known as the Welsh pyramid, but at a lower level.

He said they would support any application for Barry Town United to join the top division of the local South Wales league, one tier below the Welsh League.

The FAW also argued that it was normal at that level for supporters to fund the liabilities of a club, and it did not give them the right to assume the legal identity of the football club.




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Barristers and high court....I bet that cost a pretty penny....that's probably why Llanelli didn't proceed.....but good luck to our former rivals...boz

Brilliant news! Personally I think the entire Welsh FA Hierarchy should resign en-masse. However expect you'd need some honour, class and backbone to do this...

scamp wrote:Well done barry on winning their court case.It was reported that the FAW acted unlawfully.If this is the case then heads should roll.What about llanelli they just accepted defeat to the FAW,Bet they are sorry now that they did not fight their corner like barry

Heads should roll ? I doubt it very much at the FAW !!!

THE FAW Council has voted to allow both Barry Town and Llanelli to play in the Macwhirter Welsh League next season.

In addition, Bettws - who would have been relegated - will be allowed to remain in Division 3.

A statement from the FAW says: "Following Friday’s decision at the High Court the Football Association of Wales Council held an emergency meeting in Cardiff this afternoon, Wednesday 14th August, ahead of the Wales v Republic of Ireland friendly international.

"At today’s meeting, the decision was made to admit Barry Town United AFC into the Third Division of the Welsh League.

"Following that decision, the FAW Council further debated the decision regarding Llanelli Town AFC and agreed to permit the club into the Third Division of the Welsh League.

"The FAW Council also debated and decided to allow Bettws AFC to remain in the Third Division of the Welsh League.

"As a consequence of these decisions, the FAW Council granted dispensation to the Welsh League to play with 19 teams at league three.

"The FAW wishes Barry Town United AFC, Llanelli Town AFC and Bettws AFC, along with all other clubs in Welsh Football, the best of luck for the coming season."

scamp wrote:THE FAW Council has voted to allow both Barry Town and Llanelli to play in the Macwhirter Welsh League next season.

In addition, Bettws - who would have been relegated - will be allowed to remain in Division 3.

A statement from the FAW says: "Following Friday’s decision at the High Court the Football Association of Wales Council held an emergency meeting in Cardiff this afternoon, Wednesday 14th August, ahead of the Wales v Republic of Ireland friendly international.

"At today’s meeting, the decision was made to admit Barry Town United AFC into the Third Division of the Welsh League.

"Following that decision, the FAW Council further debated the decision regarding Llanelli Town AFC and agreed to permit the club into the Third Division of the Welsh League.

"The FAW Council also debated and decided to allow Bettws AFC to remain in the Third Division of the Welsh League.

"As a consequence of these decisions, the FAW Council granted dispensation to the Welsh League to play with 19 teams at league three.

"The FAW wishes Barry Town United AFC, Llanelli Town AFC and Bettws AFC, along with all other clubs in Welsh Football, the best of luck for the coming season."

Well its certainly a much better proposition than their initial decision. The fall out over this was very interesting with certain Welsh FA members even voicing their own concerns about the organisation. I remember back to the Alan Evans days when they got a lot of stick and sadly the Welsh FA don't really get much praise. But I must say some of the grounds in the Welsh premier know are looking very good for that level. Port Talbot for example last week was very well done and a great club house and bar to boot.

The decision on Barry and Llanelli being allowed to continue in the Welsh league can only be a good thing for Welsh football, both teams have good grounds by any level in the Welsh league Pyramid, It's true that there has been a considerable improvement to the standard of the Welsh premier grounds over the past ten years, but those grounds are still way behind the level that would be acceptable in the Football Conference, those grass banks at Portalbot would not be allowed in the Conference because of Health and Safety, and from my experience of watching Scorio, it would seem that a number of other Welsh Premier clubs have Grass banking. The Welsh FA should set a five year improvement plan, with the intention of getting the grounds of the Welsh Premier up to at least the same level as the Football Conference. It would also be worth considering a five year experiment in having a second division or Championship level to Welsh football, which would possibly improve attendances due to the extra publicity it would generate; obviously sponsorship would be the main issue; but it seems that the English pyramid manages to get sponsorship at almost any level, (maybe its the WFA negotiators who are not up to the job!), they certainly need to get some younger, and more ambitious members on the WFA.

Slightly strange secisions all round here, but (and I can't really believe I'm typing this) but you have to give some credit to the FAW.

Firstly, I suspect that there is a bit more to it than that short report on Barry Town, but if I'm reading between the lines correctly, the judgement seems basically to be saying "well, this might be a different club to the Barry Town we had, say 3 years ago, but it's the same one that we had in the league last year, so it's inequitable to boot them out." I imagine that the FAW made the decision based on what they believed to be correct - but it turned out to be just a couple of years too late, so they've been caught out.

However, at that point, given that the grounds for the decision are very much a one-off based on the somewhat unique circumstances of Barry Town (United), it doesn't follow at all that Llanelli would have had a case at all, let alone a good one. However, someone seems to have used a bit of common sense at the FAW and kept all 3 clubs that would/could have been affected in the higher league.

Please note this English FA Leagues committee.........

The FAW created the mess but thankfully they seem to have bowed to some pressure and a great deal of poor publicity and have done the right thing. Both Barry and Llanelli have a long history and a decent fan base, Best of luck to both clubs. Attendances will be up in Welsh League Div 3 this season.

There will be more court cases and the end of the season, as there will be between 3-6 teams going out of the league, depending on how many apply to enter the WL from the feeder leagues.