This is a re-write of one of the most popular and regularly recurring questions brought up on social media and elsewhere regarding independence:
“Would Welsh clubs playing in the English pyramid (Cardiff City etc.) be forced into the Welsh football pyramid?”
When the Football League (now EFL) was founded in the mid 19th Century, it wasn’t done so with the aim of becoming an exclusively English league from the outset.
Players from Scotland often crossed into England to earn money due to the Scottish football establishment’s preference for amateurism. Meanwhile, Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh clubs took part in the early seasons of the (English) FA Cup; Glasgow-based Queen’s Park reached the FA Cup final twice in the 1880s.
Given the early success of the Football League, the Scottish Football League was established in 1890 and within three or four years nearly all major Scottish clubs at the time had joined it.
The (All-Ireland) Irish League was established around the same time. It included teams from what is now the Republic of Ireland until partition in the 1920s.
What about Wales?
Even as the Football League was taking off and expanding, Wales had its own football association – the third oldest in the world – and one of the oldest knockout cup competitions.
Welsh clubs played in (or were founding members of) leagues that would become the English pyramid – such as The Combination, North West Counties League and Southern League.
Regional leagues in Wales – such as the Welsh Football League (mainly focused on the south) and the Welsh Alliance/National League (mainly focused on the north) – were set up for smaller clubs or to be used by reserve teams.
Welsh clubs playing in the English pyramid are largely accepted as doing so on merit. For the last century or more, they’ve built up rivalries and off-the-field expectations based on being fully integrated “English clubs”.
The issue of why they’re still there only gets raised for a few select reasons: “4 THA BANTZ”; Welsh clubs enjoying any measure of success in club competitions; an attempt to find a “gotcha” argument against Welsh independence.
The League of Wales & “The Exiles”
Wales’ status as an independent footballing nation was threatened when some FIFA members, reportedly from Africa and Asia, complained that Wales had a place at the top tables – such as football’s rule-making body, IFAB – whilst not having a national league. This was interpreted as Wales receiving preferential treatment compared to emerging football nations.
To stave off these concerns, the League of Wales (now called the Cymru Premier League) – the first top-tier all-Wales football league – was launched by the FAW for the 1992-93 season.
All Welsh clubs playing in the English pyramid below Division Three (now League Two) were ordered to join the Welsh pyramid or face the prospect of being banned from playing games in Wales.
Cardiff City, Swansea City and Wrexham swerved the edict by virtue of their league positions at the time.
However, eight clubs – nicknamed “The Irate Eight” (Bangor City, Barry Town, Caernarfon Town, Colwyn Bay, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport County, Newtown and Rhyl) – refused. The FAW followed through on their threat with some clubs having to play home games in Gloucester, Worcester and Cheshire.
Despite winning a court challenge to remain in the English pyramid, by the 1993-94 season half of the rebel clubs had opted to join the Welsh pyramid and, as of 2022-23, only one of the original “Irate Eight” remains in the English pyramid: Newport County.
Merthyr Tydfil was wound up in 2010 and the phoenix club – Merthyr Town – opted to stay in the English pyramid. Colwyn Bay rejoined the Welsh pyramid (having left in 1984) for the 2019-20 season.
