Istorie
Holywell Town Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Pêl-droed Treffynnon) is a Welsh semi-professional association football club based in Holywell, Flintshire. They play in the Cymru Premier, the highest tier in the Welsh football league system, having achieved promotion from the Cymru North in the 2025-26 season. The club plays its home matches at Halkyn Road, which is known as the Bartons North Wales Stadium for sponsorship purposes, and its nickname is "The Wellmen". The club's traditional home shirt design is red and white vertical stripes.
Holywell Town were a founding member of the Cymru Alliance and the League of Wales (now the Cymru Premier), and recorded their highest top-flight finish of fifth position in the 1993-94 League of Wales. Their promotion for the 2026-27 season marks their return to the Welsh top flight following relegation in 1999. Since 2010, the club has won the FAW Trophy twice, in 2011 and 2015, the Welsh Alliance League Division One title in 2015, the Welsh National League Premier Division in 2019-20, and the Cymru North in 2023-24. In 2013-14, they reached the semi-finals of the Welsh Cup, becoming the first third-tier club to reach that stage.
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In 1946, former soldiers who had been demobilised and returned home from fighting in World War II established the club at Halkyn Road, where it has played its home games ever since. It was also around this period that the moniker of The Wellmen was adopted by the club, a nickname which the club still uses to this day.
Success in the League and Cups
In 1947 Holywell Town won both The Alves Cup and the Waterfall Cup, and the North Wales Coast FA Amateur Cup. The Wellmen beat Barmouth 2–0 in the 1949 final held at Llandudno.
Further achievements came to Holywell when they joined the Welsh League (North) in the 1949–50 season. They finished in fifth place in their debut season and achieved a further two top-half placements in the following seasons. In the 1952–53 season when Holywell Town became the Welsh League (North) champions for the first and only time. They won by a margin of three points against Flint Town United whilst scoring 119 goals in 34 league games. Two years later Holywell Town finished six points behind the Silkmen, although the club was awarded the Alves Cup by virtue of their final league position.
Holywell Town triumphed in the North Wales Coast Amateur Cup once more in the 1957–58 campaign, nine years after their post-war cup victory, by heavily defeating Gwalchmai 6–0 at Bangor City's Farrar Road ground. Twelve months later, they would return to the NWC Amateur Cup final, for the ninth time, to defend their trophy against a strong Porthmadoc side at Bangor. The match finished 1–1 with Holywell, who had missed an 11th-minute penalty, equalising in the 83rd minute through George Davies. This led to a replay being played a week later, and it was to become a dramatic affair. Twice Holywell led the replay only for Portmadoc to come back strongly and take a 3–2 advantage in the game, and despite having centre-forward Owen Davies injured, Holywell snatched an equaliser with the last kick of normal time. Although Holywell dramatically came back into the match and forced extra time, it proved too much for Holywell's ten men, however, and Port ran in five more goals to eventually lift the cup. The two sides met again in the 1963 final, although Holywell fielded an under-strength team in the final, with goalkeeper Reg Banton playing with a broken finger. Unsurprisingly, Portmadoc won the second cup final again by a 3–0 scoreline.
Record Attendance, Yet Trophyless 1960s
Success at senior level continued to elude the club throughout the 1960s. Holywell Town managed to reach the final of the Welsh Amateur Cup in the 1961–62 season, the first final appearance in the tournament since Holywell United's loss to Lovell's Athletic in 1927. The final was a repeat of the 1914 final when they took on Cardiff Corinthians, and sadly lightning struck twice for the Holywell side as the Corries won the fixture played at Newtown 3–2. It was also during the same season that the record attendance for a Holywell game was set in 1962 when 3000 spectators packed into Halkyn Road for a 1961-62 Welsh Cup sixth-round tie with Swansea Town. Despite the record attendance, the home failed to win the tie, with the professional English Football League side winning 2–1.
The club reached another cup final two seasons later when they got to the 1963 North Wales Coast Challenge Cup final, but fell to the legendary Borough United, who also won the Welsh League (North) title, the Cookson Cup, and famously the 1962-63 Welsh Cup in a quadruple-winning season for the Llandudno Junction side. Alas, success continued to elude the Wellmen during the first half of the 1960s.
Holywell Town maintained their membership of the Welsh League (North) for 17 consecutive seasons from the 1949–50 season until the 1965–66 season, when they finished bottom of the league and just one point behind 14th-placed side Blaenau Ffestiniog. Thereafter, Holywell Town left the Welsh League (North) and played in the local football leagues.
Between the two North Wales Amateur Cup finals with Porthmadoc, the record attendance for a Holywell game was set in 1962 when 3000 spectators packed into Halkyn Road for a Welsh Cup sixth-round tie with Swansea Town. Despite the record attendance, the home failed to win the tie, with the Swans winning 2–1.
Success at senior level continued to elude the club, despite reaching both the Welsh Amateur Cup Final in 1961–62, losing 3–2 to Cardiff Corinthians and the North Wales Coast Challenge Cup Final two seasons later, losing there to Borough United.
Holywell Town maintained their membership of the Welsh League (North) for 17 seasons from the 1949–50 season until the 1965–66 season, when they finished bottom of the league just one point behind Blaenau Ffestiniog. Thereafter, Holywell Town left the Welsh League (North) and played in the local football leagues.
The Clwyd League
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Holywell played in the local football league system, most notably in the Clwyd League system which, as its name suggests, had teams from the old northeastern county of Clwyd. In the 1975–76 season, the club was competing towards the bottom end of the Welsh pyramid but managed to win that season's Welsh League (North) Division 5, before clinching the Clwyd League Division 3 title in the following season (as well as the North Wales Coast Junior Challenge Cup) and somehow got themselves immediately promoted to Division 1 for the start of the 1977-78 campaign.
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| # | Portari | Meciuri | Goluri |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. Swindell | ||
| 31 | Elliot Collins |
| # | Fundași | Meciuri | Goluri |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Casey Bedford | ||
| 3 | M. Davies | ||
| 5 | I. Hewitt | ||
| 6 | D. Sullivan | ||
| 12 | Jack Tierney | ||
| 28 | H. Morris |
| # | Mijlocași | Meciuri | Goluri |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | A. Mudimu | ||
| 7 | T. Bibby | ||
| 8 | T. Dogan | ||
| 15 | Thuso Nyoni | ||
| 16 | D. McGiveron | ||
| 21 | Lewys Williams | ||
| 22 | Alfie Edwards | ||
| 34 | R. Edwards |
| # | Atacanți | Meciuri | Goluri |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | O. Davies | ||
| 10 | M. Winslade | ||
| 14 | F. Murtas | ||
| 17 | J. Reed | ||
| 18 | Caio Hughes | ||
| 19 | J. Sconce | ||
| 20 | Sam Baker | ||
| 27 | M. Yonsian |