Neath Football Club were a Welsh

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 ...

team based in village of

Llandarcy Llandarcy is a village near Neath in the Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales, and was the site of the Llandarcy Oil Refinery, first oil refinery in the United Kingdom. It was originally designed as a Planned community, garden village to house ...

near

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

. Neath Port Talbot, in

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 ...

. The team played in the Welsh Football League. In 2005 the team merged with Skewen Athletic to form Neath Athletic.

History

The club was founded in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

as ''National Oil Refineries F.C.'' as a

works team A works team (sometimes factory team, company team) is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business. Sometimes, works teams contain or are entirely made up of employees of the supporting company. Association footb ...

for the local new

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...

. The team played in the Gwalia League before becoming a founder member of the Neath League in 1931. They also appeared in the first two West Wales Amateur Cup finals losing on both occasions. They did however triumph in 1951 by beating Plasmarl and again won the trophy four years later. By the late 1940s, NOR were also playing in Welsh League Division 2 (West). In 1954, National Oil Refineries changed their name to ''BP Llandarcy F.C.'' following the British Petroleum Company's acquisition of

Llandarcy Oil Refinery The Llandarcy Oil Refinery, also known as the National Oil Refinery, BP Llandarcy and Skewen refinery, was the United Kingdom's first oil refinery, initially opened by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company from 193 ...

. They played their games at Llandarcy Park, Llandarcy, Neath. In 1958 they left the Welsh League. They rejoined the

Neath & District League The Neath & District League is a football league in South Wales. The league consists of four divisions, named The Premier Division, Division One, Two and Three. The Premier League is a feeder to the West Wales Premier League, and therefore sits a ...

seeing success as league champions in 1961–62, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1968–69 and 1969–70. They returned to the Welsh Football League for the 1971–72 season. The 1977–78 season saw the club finish in third position in Division Two, gaining promotion to Division One. At the end of the 1997–98 season the club finished third (missing out on second spot on goal difference) and were promoted to Division One for the 1998–99 season. The club changed its name in 2000 to ''Neath''. and were

Welsh Football League Division One The Welsh Football League Division One, known as the Nathanielcars.co.uk Welsh League First Division for sponsorship reasons, was a football league in South Wales. It formed the top division of the Welsh Football League and the second level of ...

runners-up in 2002–03. At the end of the 2004–05 season, the club merged with Skewen Athletic to form Neath Athletic.

Honours

– Champions: 1986–87 (Tier 3) *

– Runners-up: 2002–03 (Tier 2) *

– Champions (6): 1961–62, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70. * West Wales Amateur Cup – Winners: 1950–51; 1955–56 * West Wales Amateur Cup – Winners: 1923–24; 1924–25

References

Association football clubs established in 1922 Association football clubs disestablished in 2005 Welsh Football League clubs Defunct football clubs in Wales Neath & District League clubs 1922 establishments in Wales 2005 disestablishments in Wales Sport in Neath Port Talbot Works association football teams in Wales {{wales-footyclub-stub