The History of Colwyn Bay FC

A team representing Colwyn Bay played its first match in January 1881, so the season 2005/06 marked the 125th anniversary.  An event marked by the publication of a booklet “Come on the Bay”.  Little is known of Bay’s early history apart from the fact that they competed in the North Wales Coast Football League from 1901 until that competition folded in 1921 when the majority of clubs joined the Welsh National League.

The Bay enjoyed some success in this, winning the League Cup in 1928 and finishing as league runners-up in both 1928 and 1930 - which was to prove the last season for the competition. In July of that year, a meeting was held at the Albion Hotel in Chester with a view to setting up the Cheshire Football Combination in which clubs from Cheshire and North Wales would compete - the eventual title of the competition was the North Wales Football Combination. The Bay became founder members - and can rightly claim to have first played in “English” football - in 1930-1931, and celebrated by taking the title at the end of the season.

In 1931, the club joined the Birmingham & District League. In the Birmingham League were the likes of Worcester City, Cradley Heath, Wrexham Reserves and Kidderminster Harriers. Unfortunately this gave them transport difficulties and results tailed off. Unable to halt a slide down the table, which saw them finish bottom in 1935-1936 and 1936-1937 seasons, it was perhaps not surprising that they left this league to join the Welsh League (North) in 1937.

After the Second World War the club rejoined the competition and proved to be highly successful, starting  off with a runners-up spot at the end of the first season and ending by taking the league title in 19833 and 1984. Bay also finished as runners-up in 1964 and amongst their cup successes were wins in the Alves Cup in 1964 and the Cookson Cup in 1974, 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1984, the Barrit Cup in 1980 and 1984 as well as the North Wales Coast Challenge Cup in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1992 and 1996 and 1998.

In 1984, the club crossed the border with election to the Bass North West Counties League. It was also at this time that the Bay left their Eirias Park ground for their present Llanelian Road base. During their first season in the new league, the club were promoted from the Third Division and following re-organization of the leagues in 1987 the club were promoted to the First Division. The Bay gained further success, finishing fourth in the League and reaching the Final of the Raab Karcher League Cup Final where they lost to Warrington Town at Gigg Lane, Bury. The club also reached the First Round Proper of the FA Cup for the first time in their history that season, losing 1-0 away to Northwich Victoria. The following season the Seagulls again reached the Final of the Raab Karcher Cup and gained revenge on Warrington Town winning 3-0 , again at Bury. In 1990/91 the club finished runners up in the league to Knowsley United, but due to the demise of South Liverpool a vacancy was created in the Northern Premier League, and despite a strong challenge from North Shields to fill the vacancy, the club was duly elected to the NPL.

The 1991/92 campaign started with the club on the crest of a wave, topping the table and enjoying an FA Cup run which saw them fall to Morecambe in the final qualifying round. However in October 1991 news broke that the Football Association of Wales, in readiness for a creation of a new League of Wales, would withdraw a sanction for all non league clubs currently playing in England. The clubs affected included Bangor City, Barry Town, Caernarfon Town, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport AFC, Newtown, Rhyl and Colwyn Bay argued the case for their right to play where they wished. The FA of Wales were challenged by the clubs and an appeal was heard. This appeal was set up by the FAW and consisted of members selected by the FAW. The appeal was turned down, except in the case of Merthyr, who were allowed to continue playing in England. To the credit of the players and management, off the field activities did not affect those on the pitch and the club went on to secure a league and cup double as well as the North Wales Coast Challenge Cup. The Welsh Cup semi-final was also reached including a 3-1 win over Wrexham; only days after the Football League side had beaten Arsenal in the FA Cup.

At the end of a highly successful first season in the Northern Premier League, the club had a big decision to make and gave it’s supporters a choice. Either join the new League of Wales or go into exile whilst the club continued its battle with the Welsh FA for the right to play in the English pyramid. The latter option was decided and a new home base was chosen in Northwich where the club played all its home games, some 60 miles from Colwyn Bay. This inevitably affected the support and for a following season a base nearer home at Ellesmere Port was chosen. Financially the clubs choice was not easy, but was supported by the local council, townspeople and supporters alike. The fight was eventually finalized during April 1995 in the High Court in London, where the three remaining clubs in exile; Newport, Caernarfon and the Bay won the case against the Welsh FA. Without doubt the period in exile affected the club both on and off the field and it is to the credit of everyone involved that they maintained their position in the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League. In the later part of the nineties the club have had some great runs in the cup competitions, reaching the First Round Proper of the FA Cup on three occasions and reaching the Second Round of the competition for the first time in their history before bowing out 2-0 away to Blackpool. In 1997 the club achieved its best ever performance in the FA Trophy, when they reached the Quarter Finals of the competition before losing to then Conference Champions Stevenage Borough.

At the end of the season 2000/2001 manager Bryn Jones stepped down as manager after eighteen years at the helm to be replaced by long serving centre half Colin Caton as player/manager. In his first season at the helm, the Bay maintained their Northern Premier League status. But the following season 2002/2003, the Bay were relegated for the first in their history and Colin Caton stepped down as manager.  The club was now struggling financially and had lost its sense of direction.
A new group of directors made up of supporters took over running the club part way through 2004 and set about overhauling the club’s operations.  A new clubhouse was opened at the ground in Easter 2005 and after stabilizing off the field, the club appointed Peter Davenport as manager for the 2006-07 season but left half way through the season to be replaced by ex Witton Albion manager Gary Finley. A fanststic end of season run saw the club into the play-offs where they were eventually defeated 3-2 by Camel Laird courtesy of an injury time winner. Chairman Bob Patron stepped down at the end of the season and as a result a new board was appointed with the ambition of reaching Conference level football within 5 years, developing the stadium and a community affairs programme.