Cymru Premier Golden Boot
A footballer wearing a black football kit with white horizontal stripes
Chris Venables has won the Golden Boot five times and is the only midfielder to do so.
Awarded forThe leading goalscorer in a given Cymru Premier season
CountryWales
Presented byCymru Premier
Formerly calledLeague of Wales Golden Boot
Welsh Premier League Golden Boot
First awarded1993
Currently held byBrad Young
Most awardsRhys Griffiths (7)

The Cymru Premier Golden Boot is an annual association football award presented to the leading goalscorer in the Cymru Premier at the end of each season. The award was created in 1993 for the inaugural season of the competition, which was originally named the League of Wales before being rebranded as the Welsh Premier League in 2002.[1] In 2019, the league was rebranded for a second time, being named the Cymru Premier.[2] Steve Woods of Ebbw Vale, was the first player to win the Golden Boot after scoring 29 times during the first season.

Since then, the award has been handed out at the end of each of the Welsh Premier League's 30 seasons of competition and has been won by 15 individuals as of June 2022. Rhys Griffiths has won the Golden Boot on more occasions than any other player, winning the award in seven consecutive seasons between 2006 and 2012. Chris Venables has won the award on five occasions, Graham Evans on three occasions while Eifion Williams, Marc Lloyd Williams and Greg Draper have two awards each. Marc Lloyd Williams holds the record for the most goals in a single season, scoring 47 during the 2001–02 campaign. The lowest tally of goals to win the award is 19, scored by Griffiths in the 2011–12 season. Declan McManus is the current holder of the Golden Boot having scored 26 times during the 2022–23 season to claim the award for the second consecutive time.

Winners

History

The League of Wales was founded in 1992, becoming the top tier of Welsh domestic football.[3] The Golden Boot award began alongside the first season of the new division.[4] Steve Woods claimed the award in the inaugural season, scoring 29 times for Ebbw Vale. His tally included six of his side's goals in a 10–0 victory over Briton Ferry Athletic on 6 January 1993,[5] which remained the league's record victory until 1998.[6] In the following season, Porthmadog player David Taylor won the award after scoring 43 goals in 38 appearances. His tally saw him named as the top goalscorer in Europe and he was awarded the European Golden Shoe, outscoring his nearest competitor, Andy Cole in the English Premier League, by nine goals.[7] Two years later, Conwy United's Ken McKenna fell two goals short of the award after scoring 38 goals in a single season; he lost out to Zviad Endeladze of Georgia.[7]

Tony Bird was denied the European Golden Shoe in the 1996–97 season after a new points scoring system was introduced based on UEFA coefficient league rankings. Players in higher rated leagues were awarded more points than those in lower ranked leagues meaning Bird missed out on the award to Ronaldo, who played in Spain's La Liga, despite scoring eight more goals than the Brazilian.[7] Eifion Williams won the Golden Boot in 1997 as he helped Barry Town win the league title without losing a game. The following season, he became the first player to win the award for both a second time and in consecutive years, despite being sold to English Football League side Torquay United with two months of the campaign remaining.[8] Eifion Williams' goals-per-game ratio remains the highest of all time in the competition.[9]

Marc Lloyd Williams set the league record for the most goals scored in a single season during the 2001–02 campaign by scoring 47 goals in 33 appearances. His tally was the highest in Europe;[10] he scored five more goals than European Golden Shoe winner Mário Jardel.[7] Williams repeated the feat three years later with 34 goals during the 2004–05 season.[7] In 2004, the award was won by Andy Moran of Rhyl, however he was stripped of his title and suspended from playing for seven and a half months after he tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.[11] The award was subsequently given to the second-highest scorer Graham Evans of Caersws, who became the first player to win the award three times.[4]

Rhys Griffiths won his first Golden Boot in 2006 with Port Talbot Town. He joined Llanelli a year later and went on to win the award for a further six consecutive seasons, becoming the first player to win the award more than three times and the second player, after Williams, to score 200 goals in the Welsh Premier League.[12] Griffiths' last win, during the 2011–12 season, remains the lowest scoring total to claim the award with 19 goals.[4] In 2013, Michael Wilde of The New Saints became the first player other than Griffiths to win the award since 2005.[4] A year later, Chris Venables became the first player not recognised as a forward to claim the Golden Boot.[13] The midfielder netted 24 times in 30 appearances and went on to retain the award for a further two seasons.[4]

In 2018, New Zealand international Greg Draper became the first non-British player to win the Golden Boot after scoring 22 goals during the 2017–18 season. He retained the award the following year with a further 27 goals despite spending more time as a substitute than playing.[14][15] Venables claimed his fourth title in the 2019–20 season, scoring 22 times in 25 appearances during a campaign which was ended after 26 matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[16][17] He retained the award the following year with a further 24 goals in 31 appearances.[18] Declan McManus became the fourth TNS player to win the award during the 2021–22 season, also scoring 24 times.[19]

List

Key
Games The number of Cymru Premier games played by the winner that season[A]
Rate The player's goals-to-games ratio for the season
‡ Indicates player also won the European Golden Shoe in the same season
§ Denotes the player's club were Cymru Premier champions in the same season
Cymru Premier Golden Boot winners
Season Player Nationality Club Goals Games Rate Ref(s)
1992–93 Steve Woods  Wales Ebbw Vale 29 28 1.03 [20]
1993–94 David Taylor ‡  Wales Porthmadog 43 38 1.13 [21]
1994–95 Frank Mottram  Wales Bangor City § 31 36 0.86 [22]
1995–96 Ken McKenna  England Conwy United 38 35 1.08 [23]
1996–97 Tony Bird  Wales Barry Town § 42 38 1.10 [24]
1997–98 Eifion Williams  Wales Barry Town § 40 37 1.08 [25]
1998–99 Eifion Williams  Wales Barry Town § 28 22 1.27 [26]
1999–2000 Chris Summers  Wales Cwmbrân Town 28 30 0.93 [27]
2000–01 Graham Evans  Wales Caersws 25 32 0.78 [28]
2001–02 Marc Lloyd Williams  Wales Bangor City 47 33 1.42 [29]
2002–03 Graham Evans  Wales Caersws 24 34 0.70 [30]
2003–04 Graham Evans[B]  Wales Caersws 24 30 0.80 [32][31]
2004–05 Marc Lloyd Williams  Wales Total Network Solutions § 34 27 1.25 [33]
2005–06 Rhys Griffiths  Wales Port Talbot Town 28 32 0.87 [34]
2006–07 Rhys Griffiths  Wales Llanelli 30 32 0.93 [35]
2007–08 Rhys Griffiths  Wales Llanelli § 40 31 1.29 [36]
2008–09 Rhys Griffiths  Wales Llanelli 31 28 1.10 [37]
2009–10 Rhys Griffiths  Wales Llanelli 30 33 0.90 [38]
2010–11 Rhys Griffiths  Wales Llanelli 25 28 0.89 [39]
2011–12 Rhys Griffiths  Wales Llanelli 19 25 0.76 [40]
2012–13 Michael Wilde  England The New Saints § 25 30 0.83 [41][42]
2013–14 Chris Venables  Wales Aberystwyth Town 24 30 0.80 [43]
2014–15 Chris Venables  Wales Aberystwyth Town 28 27 1.03 [43]
2015–16 Chris Venables  Wales Aberystwyth Town 20 30 0.66 [4][43]
2016–17 Jason Oswell  England Newtown 22 31 0.70 [4][44]
2017–18 Greg Draper  New Zealand The New Saints § 22 31 0.70 [4][45]
2018–19 Greg Draper  New Zealand The New Saints § 27 29 0.93 [4][45]
2019–20 Chris Venables  Wales Bala Town 22 25 0.88 [16]
2020–21 Chris Venables  Wales Bala Town 24 31 0.77 [16]
2021–22 Declan McManus  Scotland The New Saints § 24 28 0.86 [19]
2022–23 Declan McManus  Scotland The New Saints § 26 23 1.13 [46]
2023–24 Brad Young  England The New Saints § 22 24 1.12 [47]

Awards won by club

Club Total[4]
Total Network Solutions/The New Saints[C] 7
Llanelli 6
Aberystwyth Town 3
Barry Town 3
Caersws 3
Bala Town 2
Bangor City 2
Conwy United 1
Cwmbrân Town 1
Ebbw Vale 1
Newtown 1
Porthmadog 1
Port Talbot Town 1

Notes

  1. ^ This does not necessarily match the total number of games in a season.
  2. ^ Andy Moran of Rhyl initially won the award after scoring 27 goals but was stripped of his title after testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone.[11][31]
  3. ^ Total Network Solutions were renamed as The New Saints in 2006.[48]

References

  1. ^ Goldblatt, David; Acton, Johnny; Garland, Mike (2009). The Football Book. Dorling Kinnersley Ltd. ISBN 9781409346975.
  2. ^ Jones, Dean (27 July 2019). "Top two tiers of Welsh football rebranded by the FAW". North Wales Chronicle. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  3. ^ Doyle, Paul (29 June 2015). "Welsh football is in weird and wonderful league of its own but game is on the up". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "WPL Golden Boot winner". Welsh Premier League. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  5. ^ Jones, Dave (28 August 2016). "Where does Rhyl's 10–0 caning at TNS stand in list of all-time highest WPL defeats?". Daily Post. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  6. ^ Pritchard, Gary (24 September 2012). "A season In brief: 1992/93". S4C. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d e Arotaritei, Sorin; Di Maggio, Roberto; Stokkermans, Karel. "Golden Boot ("Soulier d'Or") Awards". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Eifion Williams". S4C. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  9. ^ Jones, Dave (19 March 2016). "Welsh Premier League: 10 greatest strikers". Daily Post. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  10. ^ "Marc-Lloyd Williams". S4C. 22 September 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Rhyl striker banned for positive drugs test". WalesOnline. Media Wales. 27 July 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  12. ^ "Rhys Griffiths". S4C. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  13. ^ Nolan, Tomos (17 December 2014). "Venables is Wales' answer to Cristiano Ronaldo". UEFA. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  14. ^ "Greg Draper: The golden-boot winning New Saints striker with two left feet". BBC Sport. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  15. ^ "Champions League: More goals than Messi, but that's not enough for Draper". BBC Sport. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  16. ^ a b c "Chris Venables". Soccerway. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  17. ^ "Coronavirus: Welsh football season ends with Connah's Quay champions". BBC Sport. 19 May 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
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  19. ^ a b Cox, Lewis (28 May 2022). "TNS pair honoured with awards". The Shropshire Star. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
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  27. ^ "Top 25 individual goal scorers 1999/0". welsh-premier.com. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
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  30. ^ "Top 25 individual goal scorers 2002/3". welsh-premier.com. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  31. ^ a b "Andy Moran". welsh-premier.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  32. ^ "Top 25 individual goal scorers 2003/4". welsh-premier.com. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
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  40. ^ "Top 25 individual goal scorers 2011/12". welsh-premier.com. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  41. ^ "Top 25 individual goal scorers 2012/13". welsh-premier.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  42. ^ "Michael Wilde". Soccerway. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  43. ^ a b c "Chris Venables". welsh-premier.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  44. ^ "Jason Oswell". Soccerway. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  45. ^ a b "Greg Draper". Soccerway. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  46. ^ "JD Cymru Leagues award winners 2022/23". Cymru Football. 21 May 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  47. ^ "Cymru Premier Top Scorers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  48. ^ "The New Saints: 10 facts about the record setting club". Shropshire Star. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2019.

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