Main Menu

Brief History

Llangennech AFC - The Beginning

The idea of forming a village club was thought up in the bar of the Bridgend Inn on a wet winters Sunday morning.

Our former Chairman Barrie Williams was entertaining Wyndam Evans and his wife Janet to Sunday lunch at his home.  A break in the weather meant that Wyndam and Barrie could escape to the pub for a pre meal drink.

For those of you that don't know, Wyndam was then a Swansea City player and had gone through the divisions firstly with Harry Griffiths and then to the First Division under the legendary John Toshack (also in that team was John Mahoney who went on to become Manager of Llangennech).

When  enquired about how the village side had faired the previous day he was gob smacked when Barrie informed him that there was no village side.

Mike Davies, a Trallwm player and Huw Johns, an ex Llanelli player happened to be in the pub at the same time and were quickly in on the debate.  Wyndam was adamant that a village the size of Llangennech should have it's own football team.

By 2 o'clock and a stewed lunch waiting the idea of "Llangennech A.F.C." had been formed.

Wyndam was obviously unable to participate any further because of his commitments at Swansea, but had a lasting message for Barrie that the first kit should be in the same colours of Llangennech R.F.C. of red and black.

Our first game was a friendly away at Bwlch Rangers, where the side played in an all grey strip.  The game itself was a quite forgettable affair, but Huw Johns is convinced that we won.  He also swears that Barrie Williams played a blinder!

Following the game the first club kit was purchased - red and black of course!

The Early Years 198#-1990

Although the club kept very little records during this period...

Famous Names and Champions

The club has been honoured to have some big names associated with it over the years.  As has been mentioned, former Swansea City player Wyndham Evans had a part to play in the founding of the club, but two more former Swans players have had spells in the managerial hotseat.  Former Leeds goalkeeper Glan Letheran was first to arrive in the mid nineties and also played a number of games for the club.  Then in 2002 the club shocked the local football community when it appointed 51 cap Wales international John Mahoney as its' new Manager. John, whose Bangor City side beat Athletico Madrid in 1992 spent two years with Llangennech.

Despite big name managers, it was a relative unknown who guided the club to its' first league championship.  Weston's side delivered the Carmarthenshire League Division Three title in 1997.

2004/2005

Llangennech started the season with high hopes of promotion from Division Two after a promising Star Cup performance.  However the first game of the season (a 5-2 defeat to Llandeilo after leading 2-0) optimised the season that followed with inconsistency being the main theme.  John Mahoney resigned as Manager and left the club in October with Richard 'Jack' Thomas agreeing to take over until the end of the season.  The First Team finally finished in 7th position.

2005/2006

This season is best remembered for the amount of debuts handed to youngsters from the previous season's under 16's.  Former player Ray Thomas was appointed to the vacant position of Manager but unfortunately the club struggled against relegation for most of the campaign, eventually securing their safety with an emphatic 5-1 victory away to Llanelli Radicals in the penultimate game of the season.

2006/2007

The season started brightly for Ray Thomas' side with back to back wins from their first two games, an achievement they could not replicate as they fell into Division Three after a miserable season. Simon Davies was appointed Manager in February but despite a remarkable effort could not halt the team's decline.

2007/2008

With Simon Davies resigning as Manager due to family reasons, Richard Coslett was given the chance to move into the Managerial hot seat at the club at the beginning of the season.  Five wins from the first six league games had everybody at the club believing promotion at the first attempt was a real possibility but the form was not maintained and key players departed.   However these departures paved the way for the youngsters to stake their claim with Michael O'Mara and Paul Thomas particularly impressive as they helped steer the club to a 6th position finish. This season also saw the creation of a new Junior Committee which helped start 3 new mini-football teams in the village and earned the FAW Bronze Accreditation.