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| Borough
United, Welsh League winners 1958/9: Skipper
Eric Williams, others include Tommy Roberts, Jackie
Walters, Joe McLoughlin, Bob McAdam, Chris Murphy, Johnny
Roberts, Derek Owen, Don Ludlam, Harry Hodges, Keith
Pritchard [www.soccerscrapbook.co.uk] |
BOROUGH United was only in existence for 15 years, but
the name will always hold a special place in Welsh football
history.
In particular, the club's European adventures in 1963 became
a cause celebre in British football.
With both clubs struggling financially, facing increasing costs
at their respective Morfa Conwy and Nant-y-Coed grounds, Llandudno
Junction and Conwy Borough held merger talks.
The two neighbouring clubs had finished as champions and runners-up
only five years earlier but by the time of the talks, they
were both in the bottom three.
The merger was approved at a public meeting in
the Llandudno Junction Memorial Institute and
it was decided the new club
would play at Nant-y-Coed and wear the Junction's maroon and
white shirts.
The new club soon began to establish
itself as one of the Welsh League North's better sides
and brought the championship back to Nant-y-Coed in 1958-59,
exactly 10
years after the Junction's previous title. Some 146 goals
represented an average in excess of four per game – and
no doubt the fact that Llandudno FC were beaten into runners-up
spot
added to the sweet taste of success.
The next few seasons
brought near misses (second, third and sixth), but in the
1962-3 season, one ravaged and prolonged by the worst winter
in the second half of the century, everything really came
good for United.
With another avalanche of goals (led by
prolific brothers Keith and Mike Pritchard and former Oldham
striker Gerry Duffy), they swept to another Welsh League North title ahead of Holyhead Town and Colwyn Bay, picking
up a trio of cups along the way.
International fame
In addition to the local
Cookson Cup, they won the North Wales Coast Challenge Cup
(defeating Porthmadog 2-1 in the final) but it was the Welsh
Cup run that propelled the club to international fame. Victories
over coast rivals Rhyl (4-1), Denbigh (4-2) and cup-holders
Bangor City (4-1) were followed by a 1-0 win over Hereford
United in the semi-final, thanks to a Mike Pritchard goal.
The two-legged final pitted United against Football League
opposition in the shape of Newport County and, in front of
3,500 fans, Borough came back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 (a Billy
Russell
penalty
and a Joe Bebb header).
Three days later at Somerton Park
it was keeper Dave Walker who was the Borough hero in a 0-0
draw which clinched their chance of European glory in the
European Cup-Winners’ Cup.
The club’s four trophies were paraded through Conwy
and Llandudno Junction and Borough enjoyed a civic reception,
but the summer was spent fund-raising for the European adventure
- despite the 1962-3 season’s successes, Borough had
made a £73 loss.
A lottery was held – first prize
a bungalow being built by Borough supporter Cifford Ogle.
The First Round pairing with fellow minnows Sliema Wanderers
of Malta was a kind one, but the logistics of the journey
were less straightforward 40 years ago than they would be
today. The United part took 31 hours to reach the Med – their
plane diverting to Marseilles because of engine trouble – and
they took to the pitch just four hours after arriving, a
request for postponement having been refused.
The match took
place at the National Stadium in Gzira before 15,000 spectators and, in the circumstances, Borough did well to hold out for
a 0-0 draw on an unfamiliar sandy surface.
Back home, the
second leg was played at Wrexham on 3rd October 1963, with 17,613
fans in attendance. The Maltese visitors
found playing on grass as alien as sand had been to the Borough
party and a goal in each half, from Gerry Duffy and 19-year-old
Mike Pritchard, sent United through. Slovan Bratislava
The Second Round didn’t
take place until December, with Borough drawn against Czech
cup-winners
Slovan Bratislava,
who had reached the previous season’s quarter-final
and fielded five internationals. Strangely, only 10,196 turned
out on 11 December 1963 for the first leg at Wrexham, but
they saw a close and fiercely contested game, Molnar’s
goal early in the second half giving the visitors a 1-0 lead
to take into the return, played only four days later.
This
time the Borough part-timers had to contend with an icy,
snow-covered pitch and despite a brave attempt to contain
the home side, Borough conceded three goals to Molnar (2)
and Moravcik and went out 4-0 on aggregate.
Though the Cup-Winners’ Cup adventure was the highlight
of Borough United’s short history, the good times didn’t
end immediately. The first four months of the 1963-4 season
were dominated by the European ties, but United enjoyed another
good season in the league, finally finishing third behind
Holyhead and Colwyn Bay, but top scoring with 134 goals from
32 matches.
They relinquished the Welsh Cup in a 5-1 Fifth
Round defeat at Chester but retained the North Wales Challenge
Cup, beating Holywell 2-0 in the final, Gerry Duffy and Reg
Hunter the scorers.
Emboldened by the previous season’s
cup successes, they also entered the English FA Cup, going
out to New Brighton in Qualifying Round 2.
The following season of
1964/5 brought
runners-up spot in the league, behind Colwyn Bay, but Welsh
Cup glory eluded United again as they lost to Chester in
a twice-replayed quarter-final, and the FA Cup dream ended
again, with a 4-0 defeat by Ellesmere Port in Qualifying
Round 3.
Season
1965/6 was fairly successful but brought no trophies,
only fifth position in the league, another quarter-final
exit in the Welsh Cup (5-1 v Bangor City), another Qualifying
Round 3 exit from the FA Cup (to Colwyn Bay) and a 4-1 defeat
to Caernarfon Town in the North Wales Challenge Cup final.
1966-7 was even less outstanding - fourth place finish in
the league, a 5-2 home defeat by Chester in the Welsh Cup
and an early home FA Cup defeat by Oswestry.
Demise
But 1967 was
to be a momentous year for Borough United for other reasons.
Nant-y-Coed’s owners, an Irish Catholic
order, evicted the club, leaving them without a ground of
Welsh League standard. Relocating to Conwy Morfa was ruled
out as unfeasible, mergers with Llandudno
or Colwyn Bay mooted but ultimately scuppered by the FAW’s
refusal to sanction an application to the Cheshire League.
In July 1967 the club resigned from the Welsh League (North)
and though they soldiered on for two seasons in the Vale
of Conwy League, they folded in 1969.
Borough United’s
sudden demise is made all the more poignant by the fact that
Nant-y-Coed
remained, intact but
decaying, for over a quarter of a century.
However, their name will
not be forgotten for in their short history they
placed it indelibly in the annals of Welsh and European football
history.
[www.welsh-football.net]
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