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?”
Perhaps eager to avoid what’s happened with men’s domestic football, this is already the case with women’s football.
Almost all Welsh women’s domestic club sides – except for Cardiff City Ladies, IIRC (who are unaffiliated to Cardiff City and play in the English fourth tier) – play in the FAW’s Adran Leagues. A women’s fixture between Wrexham vs Connah’s Quay Nomads recently broke the attendance record for a domestic league game – men or women.
Barring some miracle on the finances side, I don’t think there’s a chance the “Big Four” men’s clubs (Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Wrexham) would ever consider a voluntary switch to the Welsh pyramid. It would only happen – and even then it’s a stretch – if any of those clubs went completely out of business and had to start all over again with nothing.
Merthyr Town is a delicate case. They’re in a similar position as Colwyn Bay were before their switch to the Welsh pyramid which, by all accounts, has been a success. There are advantages and disadvantages but it would be for their supporters and members to decide for themselves.
The closest thing we could get to all-Wales domestic competition in the men’s domestic pyramid is the return of the five English pyramid sides to compete in the Welsh Cup.
Another possibility is the resurrection of a stand alone cross-border competition such as the FAW Premier Cup with guaranteed European football for the winners. The place could be taken from the European playoffs in the Cymru Premier (which would be a tough sell to both UEFA and Cymru Premier clubs) – acting similarly to the Canadian Championship.
The FAW Premier Cup got a lot of media exposure but it would need a big sponsor and big broadcasting cash to turn the heads of the English pyramid clubs and would somehow need to fit around other fixtures.
I doubt the English pyramid sides would be allowed back into the Welsh Cup unless they gave up competing in the English FA Cup (in order to guarantee a European place for the winners). Again, it would need significant prize money and broadcast income, while it’s probable the “Big Four” would field second-string teams until the latter stages anyway which would devalue the competition.
