The 1992–93 League of Wales was the inaugural season of the League of Wales, the top division of Welsh

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. 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 ...

and

Welsh football league system The Welsh football league system (or League system, pyramid) is a series of association football, football leagues with regular promotion and relegation between them. It consists of four main tiers, as well as lower local leagues. While most W ...

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; ) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, its Wales women's national football team, correspo ...

(FAW) being a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

member and, along with the other three home nations (

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

), holding a permanent seat on the

International Football Association Board The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is an international self-regulatory body of association football that is known for determining the Laws of the Game, the regulations for the gameplay of football. It was founded in 1886 in or ...

(IFAB), it did not organise a national league. With African and Asian 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 (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

, Alun Evans 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 association football, football league in North Wales, north and Mid Wales, central Wales which formed the second level of the Welsh football league system. Fro ...

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 leag ...

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

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), 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 prestigious of the cup competitions ...

. 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 compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

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

. At the time, Cardiff City, Swansea City and

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

, 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, Barry Town, Caernarfon Town,

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay () is a town, Community (Wales), community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (h ...

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () 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 Tydfil, daughter of K ...

, Newport, Newtown and

Rhyl Rhyl (; , ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire in Wales. The town lies on the coast of North Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd. To the west is Kinmel Bay and Towyn, to the east Prestatyn, and to the south-east Rhuddlan ...

, 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 of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

, 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 at St George's Lane, 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 Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

, with Caernarfon Town ground-sharing with Curzon Ashton at their Tameside Stadium and Colwyn Bay doing the same with Northwich Victoria at the Drill Field.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, 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 ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...