Association football club in Wales
Football club
Haverfordwest County Association Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Pêl-droed Sir Hwlffordd) is a Welsh professional football team based in Haverfordwest, Wales. They currently play in the Cymru Premier, the top flight of Welsh football.
The club was founded in 1899 and was variously known as Haverfordwest FC, Haverfordwest Town, and Haverfordwest Athletic before adopting the current name, and plays at the Ogi Bridge Meadow Stadium, Haverfordwest, which accommodates 2,100 spectators.[1]
History
Haverfordwest Football Club was formed in 1899 and was quickly renamed Haverfordwest Town in 1901. In 1936, the name of Haverfordwest Athletic was adopted and the first team switched to the Welsh Football League, leaving a reserve side in the Pembrokeshire League. In 1956 they gained promotion to the Welsh League Premier Division, having won the First Division title. The present name of Haverfordwest County was adopted and the club embarked on a long stay in the top flight. Disaster struck in 1975–76 when the club won only four league matches and was relegated to the First Division. Promotion eluded them until 1980 and they went on to take the championship in their first season back, losing only five games.
In 1983, the Welsh League was reorganised to create a form of "premiership" for the leading clubs and Haverfordwest's facilities, administration and playing record secured their admittance. In the nine years of existence of this National Division, Haverfordwest were out of the top six only once, but their way to the title was blocked by the powerful Barry Town side. Their opportunity to take the championship came in 1990, once Barry had decided to move to English non-league football.
Haverfordwest County were founder members of the League of Wales in 1992–93 but their stay was brief. Having accepted an offer which involved the redevelopment of their Bridge Meadow ground, and unable to find a suitable alternative ground of League of Wales standard, they resigned from the League in 1994. The decision to take a long-term view was fully vindicated by their return to the League of Wales three years later. The league has since changed its name to the Welsh Premier League.
In 2004, Haverfordwest County qualified for Europe via league position in the League of Wales and played in the UEFA cup losing over two legs 4–1 to Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar of Iceland.
In the 2010–11 season, Haverfordwest County were involuntarily relegated from the Welsh Premier League for the first time. On 5 May 2015, they were promoted back to the Welsh Premier League following an unlikely 5–0 victory against Aberdare Town.[2] They were immediately relegated the following season.
The COVID-19 pandemic saw all domestic football in Wales ended before the end of the 2019-20 season. Haverfordwest County had finished in second place, a point behind Swansea University F.C. in the Cymru South, but achieved promotion to the Cymru Premier for the 2020-21 season due to Swansea University failing to obtain a Tier One license. On the 27th of May 2020, Rob Edwards became chairman of the club, and declared his ambition to see the club gain qualification for European Competition within three years. The 2020-21 season saw mixed fortunes for the club, recording a famous 2-1 home win over TNS, but narrowly missing out on a top 6 finish. There was also excitement when in March 2021, the club announced the signing of former Swansea City and Cardiff City player, and Wales international, Jazz Richards.
The 2021-22 season began with a poor run of form that saw manager Wayne Jones step down in December after a 4-1 away defeat to Flint Town United, with Jazz Richards and former club captain Sean Pemberton taking charge temporarily until a new manager was found. On the 31st of December, the club announced Belgian Nicky Hayen as their new manager and technical director, the first Belgian to manage in the Cymru Premier. Under Hayen, form improved significantly in the latter half of the season, recording three of the biggest victories in the clubs history, with two 6-1 wins over Cefn Druids and a 6-0 victory over Aberystwyth Town. The success under Hayen was short lived, however, with the Belgian leaving in June 2022 after an approach from Club Brugge to manage their U23's side, Club NXT.
In July 2022, former Swansea City and Hull City coach Tony Pennock was announced as Hayen's replacement. After a promising start to the 2022-23 season, a poor run of form due to a number of injuries to key players saw the team near the bottom of the Cymru Premier table, however a memorable 2-1 home win over high flying Connah's Quay in the final game of Phase One gave the team reason for optimism ahead of Phase Two. During Phase Two, an upturn in form saw an end of season seven game unbeaten run lead the team to finishing in a Europa Conference League play off spot. Haverfordwest met Cardiff Met at Cyncoed Campus in the play off semi final, a tight and cagey affair saw Haverfordwest as the eventual winners on penalties, with goalkeeper Zac Jones the hero, saving a penalty during regular time, and two in the shootout. The play off final against Newtown A.F.C saw the league's highest attendance for the season, with 1,826 fans there to witness another penalty shootout. Corey Shephard scored the winner for the second successive 4-3 penalty win for Haverfordwest, sending them into the first round of qualification for the Europa Conference League. It was the first time since 2004 the club had qualified for Europe, and only the second time in their history.
In June 2023 the club pulled off another impressive transfer coup, announcing the signing of former Chelsea and Fulham academy player, and England youth international Martell Taylor-Crossdale. July 2023 saw another major coup, when the club managed to secure the signing of Maltese international Luke Tabone for an undisclosed fee from Gżira United.
Rivalries
Haverfordwest County's main rivals are Carmarthen Town A.F.C. with the rivalry described as among the most hostile in Welsh League football. Known as 'The A40 Derby', which is the principal dual carriageway between the 2 towns, it is a match that always sticks out of the fixture list for the bluebirds. Haverfordwest County supporters often like to remind their neighbours about their 4-0 win away at Carmarthen on 8 December 2000, being Carmarthen's biggest home loss against any club since they were founded in 1950.
