The 1992–93 League of Wales was the inaugural season of the

League of Wales The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

, the top division of

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. The League was made up of 20 member clubs that joined from leagues within both the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

and

Welsh football league system The Welsh football league system (or pyramid) is a series of football leagues with regular promotion and relegation between them. While most Welsh clubs play in the Welsh pyramid and most clubs in that pyramid are Welsh, five Welsh clubs play ...

Overview

Background

The new league was formed for the 1992–93 season. At the time, Wales was unusual in world football in that despite the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, Welsh national foo ...

(FAW) being a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

member and, along with the other three

home nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...

(

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

), holding a permanent seat on the

International Football Association Board The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB was founded in 1886 to agree standardised Laws for international competition, and has since acted as the "guardia ...

(IFAB), it did not organise a national league. With

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

and

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

nations feeling that the FAW were taking advantage of this fact, FAW

Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

Alun Evans Alun William Evans (born 30 April 1949) is an English former footballer who made his name as a centre forward in the Liverpool side rebuilt by Bill Shankly at the start of the 1970s. He was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire. Career Evans b ...

announced in October 1991 that the new league would start at the beginning of the next season.League History
welsh-premier.com 18 June 2010The Exiles
welsh-premier.com Retrieved 18 June 2010 There were cross-regional leagues, such as the

Cymru Alliance The Cymru Alliance League (known for sponsorship reasons as Huws Gray Alliance) was a football league in north and central Wales which formed the second level of the Welsh football league system. From the 2019/20 season onwards, it was replaced ...

and the

Welsh Football League The Welsh Football League (also known as the Nathaniel Car Sales Welsh Football League for sponsorship reasons) was a club football league in Wales. For its final season in 2019–20 season it operated at levels 3 and 4 of the Welsh football leagu ...

along with the long established National competition, in the form of the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most ...

. However it was always felt that organising a national league would prove too difficult, due to the poor transport links between the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

, combined with the fact that the larger clubs tended to ply their trade in the

. At the time,

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

and

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

were playing in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, with Newport County having been relegated at the end of the 1987–88 season. The FAW decided to allow the remaining Football League teams to continue to play in the English system. Of the non-league clubs:

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

, Barry Town,

Caernarfon Town Caernarfon Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl Droed Tref Caernarfon) is a semi-professional Welsh football club based in Caernarfon, Gwynedd. The club is nicknamed "the Canaries" because of its yellow and green strip, a nickname that dates from ...

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

, Newport, Newtown and

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Flintshire (historic), Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at ...

, the FAW gave them the ultimatum of joining the

or continue to play in the English system and be forced to play home games on English soil. The 'Irate Eight', as they were dubbed by the Welsh press, appealed against this decision arguing that they should continue to play where they wished. However, with the exception of Merthyr Tydfil who were playing in the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

, they were all told that they must join the new league. Of the eight only Bangor City, Newtown and Rhyl decided to join the new league, although Rhyl's application was late meaning they were forced to play in the

, with the remaining five, dubbed 'The Exiles', would continue to play in the English System. Barry Town, who changed their name to Barri while ground-sharing with

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

St George's Lane Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

, continued to play in the Southern Football League Midland Division along with Newport who were ground-sharing with Gloucester City. Caernarfon Town and Colwyn Bay continued to play in the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

, with Caernarfon Town ground-sharing with

Curzon Ashton Curzon Ashton Football Club is an association football club based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. Founded in 1963 and nicknamed "The Nash", the club is affiliated to the Manchester Football Association and currently compete ...

at their Tameside Stadium and Colwyn Bay doing the same with

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

at the

Drill Field The Drill Field was a football stadium in Northwich, Cheshire, which was the home ground of Northwich Victoria Football Club between 1875 and 3 May 2002. At the time it was closed, it was believed to have been the oldest football ground in ...

.Club History
clubwebsite.co.uk/caernarfontown Retrieved 18 June 2010 As the new league was to top the

, the FAW sought re-organise the

Welsh football pyramid The Welsh football league system (or pyramid) is a series of football leagues with regular promotion and relegation between them. While most Welsh clubs play in the Welsh pyramid and most clubs in that pyramid are Welsh, five Welsh clubs play ...

, by placing the League of Wales at the top of the pyramid with the largest regional divisions, the

and the

, being placed below this as feeder leagues. With this in mind the FAW sought to invite clubs from these leagues to become members of the League of Wales. Of the two leagues eight clubs left the

with ten clubs leaving the

League members

League table

Results

Top goalscorers

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1992-93 League of Wales Cymru Premier seasons 1992–93 in Welsh football leagues

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...