🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Druids FC (Wales)

Druids FC (Wales)

David and George Thomson founded Ruabon Rovers FC in October 1872. Based in the village of Ruabon, near Wrexham, they underwent numerous name changes in their early years, with the club being renamed in 1874 as, Plasmadoc FC and then again, two years later in 1876 as Druids FC.

The clubs first game was played at Plasmadoc Park on the 6^th October, 1872, and two weeks later the club held its first official meeting at the Wynnstay Arms. At it, George Hampden Whalley was announced as the President of the club, adding to his accolade of being made captain in their first game. Another interesting fact about George H. Whalley was the fact he was an elected Liberal MP for Peterborough inn 1880. However, only a couple of years later he was declared bankrupt, leading him into a life of crime and theft. One theft in particular saw Mr Whalley steal up to £200 in goods from a house. He was caught and convicted, given nine months of hard labour. He changed his name from Whalley to White.

One of the first games that Ruabon Rovers played was recorded to have happened in February 1873, when they played another local side, Ruabon Volunteers, a military team. The early years of the club are quite complex as some have said that Ruabon Rovers, Ruabon Volunteers and Plasmadoc FC all merged, however this has been disputed as the timeline of this merger doesn’t match up with the meetings that were held with various boards of each club and their members.

What is clear is the club did change name to Plasmadoc FC in 1874, with the name Druids FC not appearing in the press until 1876, when they were referred to as Druids Football Club. It was that same year that the Football Association of Wales was formed. It was also the year that Druids FC became the first Welsh club to enter the English FA Cup. They were drawn against Shropshire Wanderers in the first round. Unfortunately, the game was never played as Druids pulled out before the fixture.

It didn’t stop Druids from entering the competition again, and they did so in the 1977-78 edition of the FA Cup. Once again, they were paired with Shropshire Wanderers, and on November 12^th, 1877, they won their first ever FA Cup game, 1-0. The second round was an even easier affair, as they were awarded a walkover when Scottish club, Queens Park pulled out of the game. And so, the third round beckoned for the Welsh side, who were drawn to play Royal Engineers. This was the end of the road for Druids FC in the competition, and the gulf in class showed as they were hammered, 8-0, by the eventual finalists.

1877 saw the club turn its attention to matters closer to home, when the FA of Wales Challenge Cup was created. Their first opponents in the cup were Newtown. The game took place on October 13^th,  1877 and ended in a 1-1 at the Racecourse Ground. Dr Daniel grey scored an 87^th minute equaliser to keep Druid’s cup dream alive. The replay was a much more straightforward affair, with Druids winning 4-0 on the 27^th October, 1877.

The second-round match against Llanerchrugog didn’t take place until January 5^th, 1878. Druids won the game, 3-0. It set up a third-round match against Newtown White Star (They would eventually merge with Newtown). The game was played on 2^nd February 1878 and ended 1-1. The replay also ended as a 1-1 draw, and in a time when penalty shoot-outs were not created yet, another replay was to be played. This time, on February 23^rd, 1878, Druids won the game 3-0. It set-up a semi-final against Bangor on March 2^nd, 1878. The first game ended 0-0 and so Druids had to go through the process of another replay. That was held a week later on March 9^th and the game once again ended 0-0. But instead of playing another replay, the game went into extra time. Daniel Grey was once again the man to score the all important goal in the 115^th minute to send Druids into the final to face Wrexham AFC.

The first FA Welsh Cup final was held at Acton Park, on March 30^th, 1878. It was attended by 1,500 people who saw Wrexham win the game, 1-0, thanks to a 90^th minute goal by James Davies.

A year later, the club would fold for the first time in their history, due to the fact they had no home ground to play on. However, just a year later, in 1879, the club were allowed use Wynnstay Park and did so for the next forty years. It was to be the start of one of the most successful eras in the club’s history.

From the 1979-80 edition of the cup to the 1886-87 edition, the club played in each final, winning it five times out of the seven. The 1880 final saw them beat Ruthin, 2-1, in front of 4,000 people at the Racecourse Ground on March 13^th, 1880. John Vaughan and John Jones both scored the goals for Druids.

John Vaughan would be the hero in the 1881 cup final, when he scored both goals in Druids win against Newtown White Stars, which ended 2-0 in front of 4,000 people at the Racecourse Ground on March 26^th, 1881.

The 1882 Final saw Druids win the cup three times in a row, with a straightforward win against Northwich Victoria. The game was played on April 8^th, 1882, in front of 2,000 at the Racecourse Ground. Druids won the game 5-0, with goals from Charles Ketley, and Edward Bowen.

Their dominance in the cup was ended in 1883 when Wrexham beat them in the final, 1-0 The game was played on April 21^st in front of 2,000 people at the Racecourse Ground. The club then lost a consecutive final, when in 1884, they faced Oswestry White Star on April 5^th, 1884. The game ended 0-0 and so a replay was scheduled for April 14^th. This time the game was decided by one goal, when J Evans scored to give Oswestry White Star the trophy. But the 1885 final was to see Druids get their revenge.

The first game on March 7^th ended in a 1-1 draw, meaning a replay was needed once again to decide who would win the trophy. That replay wasn’t played until April 14^th, and this time Druids won it, 3-1, thanks to goals from Edward Bowen, A. Powell and an unknown goal scorer.

The 1886 did not need a replay, when on April 3^rd, 1886, Druids beat Newtown, 4-0. Vaughan (Two goals), Bowen and J Doughly scored the goals that day. The 1886-87 cup saw Druids surprisingly knocked out in the first round by Rhostyllen Victoria, 4-1.

In 1888 the club merged with Ruabon Wanderers, and at the meeting at the Bricklayers Arms, it was decided the club would remain known as Druids FC.

Before 1914, when World War I started, the club was struggling financially, and with no football being played in Wales until 1920, the club rarely played, if any, matches. After the war, the club left their home of Wynnstay Park as it was deemed unfit for purpose. The club joined up and merged with Rhosymedre FC to form Rhosymedre Druis FC, playing in Church Field in Rhosymedre.

The club didn’t have much success in that time, and seven years later, in 1927, they under went another name change when they merged with Acrefair United FC to form Druids United.

The club under their new name of Druids United, had moderate success, mainly in the 1930’s. They won three Wrexham & District Amateur League titles, in 1931-32, 1933-34, and in 1936-37.  Other than a few Youth cup’s the club remained in the lower leagues of Welsh football, not making much noise in the footballing world.

In 1992, the club once again merged with another, this time Cefn Albion FC, forming Cefn Druids FC. They joined the Cymru Alliance in 1992-93, only the third season of the competition. In the first five seasons, the club finished in mid-table positions, 7^th, 8^th, 5^th, 8^th, and 5^th until the 1997-98 season when they finished 3^rd, missing out on promotion the League of Wales, by two points, behind Holywell Town. However, it was the next season they finally achieved promotion when they won the league in 1998-99, by 12 points. At this point the club was under the name Flexsys Cefn Druids.

Their first season in the League of Wales ended in the club finishing in a respectable 13^th place. The following season turned out the same, with another 13^th place finish. The 2001-02 season saw a drop in one place, finishing 14^th. The next season saw a name change for the league, as it was now known as the Welsh Premier League, with the club finishing 12^th. It would be the highest position the club would achieve, (Finishing 12^th again in the 2007-08 season).

Flirting with relegation for a few more seasons, the club finally got relegated in 2009-10 when they finished rock bottom in 18^th place, winning just one game all season. The club didn’t gain promotion back to the Welsh Premier League until 2012-13, when they won the Cymru Alliance. It didn’t last long, however, and they finished 11^th in the 2013-14 season, which saw them relegate again.

The 2015-16 season saw the club promoted straight away, finishing second. They remained in the Welsh Premier League for the next few years, despite finishing bottom of the league in the 2020-21 season. Thankfully for Cefn Druids, there was no relegation that season. However, they weren’t so lucky in the 2021-22 season, when they finished bottom again, winning only two games all season. It meant relegation to the Cymru North for the 2022-23 season. They finished 7^th out of the 16 clubs participating.

However, on June 20^th, 2023, it was announced that that players and staff were leaving the club, meaning the club had to withdraw from the league, which meant that, not for the first time in their history, the club was left idol.

The club has also represented Wales in European competition on two occasions. After making it to the Welsh Cup final in 2012, beaten by The New Saints, the club qualified for the 2012-13 edition of the Europa League. They met Finnish side, MYPA in the first qualifying round. The home leg ended 0-0 with MYPA winning 5-0 in the game played in Finland.

Their second appearance in Europe happened after the club finished 5^th in the Welsh Premier League in the 2017-18 season, which meant they qualified for the Europa League play-off final, which they won, meaning the entered the 2018-19 edition of the Europa League. The played in the Preliminary round against Lithuanian club, Futbolo Klubas Riteriai. The Welsh club drew 1-1 in the home leg, however lost the away leg, 1-0.