Wales national amateur football team

The Wales national amateur football team was the amateur representative team for Wales at football. It was formed in 1908 and continued until 1974.

Wales Amateurs
AssociationFootball Association of Wales
Most capsGilbert Lloyd (32)
Top scorerGraham Davies, Idwal Davies, Jack Nicholls (5)
FIFA codeWAL
First colours
Second colours
First international
England Amateurs 1–0 Wales Amateurs
(Edgeley Park, Stockport; 22 February 1908)
Biggest win
Scotland Amateurs 1–5 Wales Amateurs
(Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh; 2 April 1932)
Biggest defeat
Wales Amateurs 0–9 England Amateurs
(Penydarren Park, Merthyr Tydfil; 24 January 1920)

History

The Wales amateur national team played the majority of its fixtures versus the amateur representative teams of the other four Home Nations – England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.[1] It had a losing record against each nation and won the British Amateur Championship on two occasions (one joint), in the 1967–68[2](p279) and 1973–74[2](p326) seasons. The team fared better in its matches against overseas opposition, winning its three matches versus Norwegian and South African representative teams, but losing on both occasions to the Netherlands.[1] The squad was predominantly composed of players from Welsh non-league clubs Lovell's Athletic, Cardiff Corinthians, Bridgend Town, Bangor City, Llanelli and Porthmadog.[3]

The team's first fixture was a friendly match played versus England at Edgeley Park on 22 February 1908, with England's Vivian Woodward scoring the only goal of the game.[4] Thereafter the entirety of the team's fixtures took place against England until a friendly match versus South Africa in October 1924.[5] The team failed to register its first win until 22 January 1921, when the Welsh beat England 2–0 at Molineux.[5] The team was disbanded in 1974, when the FA abolished the distinction between amateurism and professionalism in domestic football.[1]

Venues

The team predominantly played its home matches at Farrar Road Stadium (Bangor), Vetch Field (Swansea) and Smithfield Athletic Ground (Aberystwyth).[1]

Records

Most appearances
# Name Position Years Appearances Goals
1 Gilbert Lloyd WH/FW 1962–1973 32 3
2 Arthur Evans WH 1950–1959 26 0
3 George Renton WH 1965–1972 26 0
4 Glyn Owen WH 1953–1961 20 1
5 Alan Phillips WH 1967–1973 19 0
6 Trefor Owen CH 1952–1958 17 0
7 Brinley Powell FB 1960–1967 16 0
8 Peter Rees OF 1952–1958 16 3
9 David McCarter FW 1962–1967 15 1
10 Phil Woosnam FW 1952–1957 16 4

Most goals
# Name Position Years Goals[lower-alpha 1] Appearances
1 Graham Davies FW 1960–1962 5 4
2 Idwal Davies CF 1921–1926 5 7
3 Jack Nicholls IR 1923–1930 5 10
4 K. E. Fitzgerald FW 1960–1964 4 5
5 Graham Reynolds CF 1958–1965 4 12
6 Geoff Anthony OF 1966–1974 4 13
7 Phil Woosnam FW 1952–1957 4 16
  1. 9 players finished their amateur international careers with 3 goals – G. Davies, K. Davies, L.O. Davies, M. Griffiths, Phil Holme, Sam Jones, Gilbert Lloyd, Peter Rees and T. Reynolds.

Honours
  • British Amateur Championship winners: 1967–68 (shared on one occasion)[1]

References
  1. McColl, Brian; Gorman, Douglas; Campbell, George. "FORGOTTEN GLORIES – British Amateur Internationals 1901–1974" (PDF). pp. 10–22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  2. McColl, Brian; Gorman, Douglas; Campbell, George (2017). UK Amateur International Football: The Complete Record 1901-1974 (2nd ed.). ISBN 978-1-326-35601-9.
  3. McColl, Gorman & Campbell 2017, p. 342.
  4. McColl, Gorman & Campbell 2017, p. 31.
  5. McColl, Gorman & Campbell 2017, p. 64.
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