Carnarvon United (Wales)
Not every club
I cover in this book will be well known. In fact, this next club probably fall
into this category, however, no club should be forgotten, no matter what level
they played at. This next club never reached the heights of the Welsh Premier
League, only ever playing to the level of a district league, albeit being
successful at that level. Carnarvon United had success in their eight history
They were replaced by another club, who also have become a Forgotten Football
Club since. Carnarvon United are a product of a merger themselves. Here is
their story.
Founded on
August 1906, after Caernarvon Celts and Caernarvon RWF (Royal Welsh Fusilliers)
merged. (Not sure why the ‘e’ was dropped from the name). The new club adopted
the nickname ‘The Yellow Ones’ and the ‘Canaries’, due to their home jerseys
being yellow and green, like Norwich City. They played their home matches at
The Oval,
The club played
their first league match in the 1906-07 season when they joined the North Wales
Coast League Division 1. (NWCL). They played twelve games, winning five,
drawing three and losing four, finishing 3rd behind champions,
Holyhead Swifts and runners up Llandudno Amateurs. The 1907-08 season didn’t go
as well as the previous one, as the club finished 8th. They weren’t
helped by the fact they were deducted 2points when they failed to play a match
against Llanrwst Town.
The club seemed
to recover from their previous poor season, finishing runners-up to eventual
champions, Beaumaris. In fact, they finished runners-up in the next two
seasons, first behind U.C.N.W Bangor in 1909-10 and then again in the 1910-11
season when they finished behind Llandudno Amateurs in the 1911-12 season. But
it all seemed worth it when they eventually became champions for the first time
in the 1911-12 season, beating Bangor Reserves to the title. They nearly made
it back-to-back titles but they just missed out, finishing runner-up to Ffestiniog
Town, meaning that they finished In the top two in the last five league
campaigns. But that was the best period in the clubs history and in their final
season in the NWCL, they finished 10th, a season in which they
failed to play some matches, due to not being able to field a team.
The clubs cup
appearances had mixed results, depending on the cup competition they were
playing in. The Welsh Amateur Cup was a competition they did well in, winning
it in 1909 when they beat Oak Alyn Rovers, 5-1, in the final at Colwyn Bay.
They also won the North Wales Amateur Cup in the same season, reaching the
final by beating the likes of Pwllheli 14-0, Beaumaris, 1-0 after two draws,
both ending in 2-2. In the final, they played Conwy, winning the game, 1-0.
The club also
entered the Welsh Cup on five occasions, but the furthest they got in the
competition was the second round, both in 1909 and 1910. It was in 1914 when
the club was officially dissolved due to financial difficulties and the harsh
reality of trying to compete with clubs that had now become professional. It
was in 1919 when the club was replaced by Caernarvon Athletic FC, but they went
defunct in 1930. Seven years later and hoping it would be third time lucky;
Caernarfon Town FC were formed in 1937. They are seen as the predecessor of
Carnarvon United. They still play to this day, as a professional club competing
in the Cymru Premier League. They have even managed to qualify for European
football, playing in the Europa Conference League in the 2024-25 season,
beating Northern Ireland side 2-0 at home in their first match. They lost the
away game 3-1 meaning the needed a penalty-shootout to win and progress to the
next stage. And that’s what they did, winning 8-7 on penalties and setting up a
tie with Polish giants, Legia Warsaw in the second round. The step up in class
proved too much for the Welsh club, losing 5-0 at home and 6-0 away, losing the
tie 11-0 on aggregate.