-

Bangor City
in the Welsh Cup Final 1889 onwards

The FOOTBALL ASSOCATION OF WALES The Welsh Cup check the full list of WELSH CUP WINNERS 1877-2017 .

The Welsh Cup

FAW Formation and Brief History

The Welsh FA was formed late one Wednesday night in The Wynnstay Arms Hotel in Ruabon on 2nd February 1876 and ruled Welsh football from North East Wales for a hundred and ten years to come.   The man behind this was Llewellyn Kenrick who wanted a Welsh National team to play the likes of Scotland and England. Ebenezer Cobb Morley is seen as the man behind the formation of the English FA in 1863 but England did not play their first International fixture until 24 February 1872 at The West of Scotland Cricket Ground in Hamilton, Glasgow. It was a goalless draw. The Scottish FA was founded on 13th March 1873, a year after they had played their first fixture!   Wales played their first game a month after the formation of the FAW.   On 25th March 1876 a 4-0 defeat against Scotland also in the Glasgow venue. Kenrick himself played in a team drawn largely from Wrexham, Druids and Oswestry.   Kenrick also thought Wales should have its own FA Cup and to this end the Welsh Cup was launched in 1877 with Bangor one of just nineteen clubs tempted to take part, of which three withdrew at different stages.    The first match to be played was Newtown v Druids. This ended up one all Evans scoring for Newtown and Daniel Gray equalising for a Druids side for whom Llewellyn Kenrick was also prominent.   Bangor beat Caernarfon one nil in their first ever Welsh Cup tie (First Round) and then Corwen 7-0 in the Second Round and received a bye in the Third. City lost 1-0 in the Semi Final replay to Druids of Ruabon who duly lost 1-0 to Wrexham in that inaugural Final played at Acton Park (Wrexham) on 30th March 1878. Jas Davies the scorer before a crowd of around 5000.   And so it was born, a competition for all the clubs in Wales although it was not until 1912 the Cardiff took the cup to South Wales for the first time.   Since that time it was been won by 26 clubs, with Wrexham boasting a record 23 wins, Cardiff 22 and Swansea ten.   Next in fourth place are Bangor City and Cefn Druids with eight wins, two more than Shrewsbury who have six which is the most of any English club. Other English winners include Wellington Town (3) and Crewe Alexandra (2).