Looking back to the early days of the Summer League
Summer league football is well established in this part of North Wales. Formed in 1927, the Llandyrnog and District Village Clubs Summer Football League have played every year since with the exception of the dark years of the Second World War. It is certainly not an unique league – there have been other summer leagues in North Wales – Ruthin, Holyhead and Llangernyw, and I believe that there is at present a summer league in Lancashire and Derbyshire, but to the best of my knowledge, none have survived as long as Llandyrnog.
The main reason for forming the league was to give the many farm workers in the area the opportunity to play competitive football. Remember that in 1927, most jobs on a farm were done by hand and the farm workers were expected to work at weekends and so therefore could not play on Saturday afternoons during the winter months, but were usually able to play during the long summer evenings.
The league was formed in the Cocoa Rooms on 14th March 1927, and five founder members played in that first season – Llandyrnog, Llanrhaeadr, Tremeirchion, Trefnant and Bodfari. The following season they were joined by Rhewl and Bodelwyddan, and a year later by Cefn. In 1933 Bodelwyddan dropped out and were replaced by Henllan.
In the early days, membership of the league was 2/- (10p) per team which rose to 17/6 (88p) by 1934. The referees were all unpaid volunteers, and it is amazing that so many came forward to offer their services as there were many cases reported of referees being assaulted and having to flee from the ground after a match following the making of unpopular decisions.
The major rule of the Summer League and the one which has probably caused more friction and abuse is the one concerning residential status of the players. The rule states that all players must be bona fide residents of the parish they play for, but over the years there have been numerous cases where players have tried to manipulate this rule by moving in with friends or returning to their parents home for the duration of the season to qualify as being ‘bona fide’.
In the very early days, not every club possessed goal nets, and it was quite common for such a club to ask their opponents to ‘bring their own nets with them’.
A rule made in 1929, stated that any club which was late in taking to the field would be fined 5/- (25p), and a year later it was decided that clubs discovered to be playing an ineligible player would be fined 10/- (50p).
Llandyrnog had their share of ‘bad boys’, and in 1934 a referee had cause to complain about the conduct of the Llandyrnog linesman, and the club were instructed to replace him for the remainder of the season. Also in that year a referee complained that a Llandyrnog player had seized him by the throat at the end of a match against Henllan, causing his shirt to be torn to shreds. Compensation of 4/6 was claimed and the bill was handed to the offending player. (There is no record of it having been paid!).
In 1938 it was decided that referees should be paid for their services and the home team were asked to give them 2/6 (13p) per game. In the league’s AGM of 1940 it was reported that the majority of clubs were having difficulty in raising teams and it was decided that the league should suspend operations for the duration of the war.
When the league re-commenced, the referee’s fees were increased to 5/- (25p) with clubs paying a membership fee of £1 with a request that each club should contribute to a ‘Benevolent Fund’. In those post war years, sports equipment was not easy to come by and the rules were relaxed to enable players to wear ‘ordinary’ boots at the discretion of the referee.
In 1948, it was decided to wind up the ‘Injured Players Fund’ (There was £29 in it) and a system of block insurance was agreed upon. A year later, Henllan were given permission to display numbers on the back of the players’ shirts, and when an inter-league match was arranged against the Ruthin league, an application was made to the Ministry of Food for a special catering licence to provide refreshments for the two sides.
By 1950 the referees were slowly establishing themselves, but there was still some hostility against them, and they seem to have been regarded as a ‘necessary evil’. One official attended a league meeting before the commencement of the season and suggested that clubs should erect fences around the pitches to prevent the large crowds from encroaching on to the field of play. At this time, not many supporters had cars, and most clubs organised a bus to take players and supporters to away matches. The referees sometimes took advantage of this and travelled with the away team but risked being accused of favouring the team they had travelled with. If they had to use a service bus, they were expected to produce the punched ticket when claiming their expenses, and in a league meeting, it was entered in the minutes that ‘under no circumstances were referees to travel to matches by taxi’.
Other highlights of 1950 include a joint approach with the Ruthin Summer League to the Welsh FA for official recognition which was turned down, and the anonymous donation of a silver cup to the league to be awarded to the goalkeeper who conceded the fewest goals in the season. (Rumour had it at the time that the cup was donated by a lady whose son was a particularly good ‘keeper).
In 1951, just six years after the war had ended, there were still strong feelings about our former enemies, and a proposition was carried in a league meeting that ‘no foreigners should be allowed to participate in the league’. A little later, it was decided that clubs should ensure that before attempting to register former Prisoners-of-War, they should satisfy themselves that they had become naturalised Britons.
As mentioned previously, the ‘Bona Fide’ resident rule caused a lot of dispute and ill feeling, and none more that the case of two brothers who lived on a farm which was right on the border between Bodfari and Trefnant. Both clubs apparently produced maps which ‘proved’ the farm to be in their parish! At a league meeting it was decided that the brothers should play for Bodfari, but Trefnant attended the following meeting and supported by Henllan, questioned the legality of that decision, and proposed that the minutes of the previous meeting should not be signed because there was no mention of a resolution rescinding the previous ruling regarding the location of the farm. By a majority vote it was ruled that the farm was in Trefnant.
In spite of that ruling, it appears that the two brothers turned out for Bodfari, because Llandyrnog made a complaint about them. When the protest was considered by the league, it was reported that the two brothers actually slept for five nights a week in Bodfari, and so the league than adjudged that they were residents of that parish!
An incident in 1959 which clearly illustrates the depth of feeling in the summer league was when during a Tremeirchion v Bodfari game, the match had to be abandoned when the Tremeirchion linesman disagreed with a decision made by the referee, and refused to continue running the line, and no other person was willing to take over the duties!
In the early 1960s, some clubs were struggling to find enough players, and various concessions were made. Cefn were allowed to register a number of players from housing estates in St Asaph; both Henllan and Trefnant applied for ‘The Green’ to be included in their area; and Tremeirchion were allowed, for one season only, to register five players from outside their civil parish. Later in the 60s, both Tremeirchion and Llanfair dropped out of the league, and Caerwys was accepted in. In their first season, Caerwys enquired about the use of substitutes, but had very little backing from other clubs. Also in the 1960s, two ‘non-village’ clubs applied to join the league – Egatube, St Asaph and The White Lion, Denbigh. Egatube were accepted but lasted for just two seasons, whilst the White Lion’s application was unsuccessful.
Much information for this article has been gleaned from three books written by Robert Emlyn Jones:
The Golden Years 1927 – 1977
Summer Football in the Vale of Clwyd (1995)
The History of the Llandyrnog and District Summer League 1927 – 2006
Peter Wilson