Tomorrow our senior team take a break from league action and welcome Gadlys Rovers to the Maritime for a South Wales FA Intermediate Cup first round match.
The Intermediate Cup involves teams that play South Wales FA district league football at tier 9 and below in the FAW National Pyramid. This season’s competition is comprised of 26 teams from across seven district leagues. Last season the competition was won by Holton Road of the Vale of Glamorgan League. This is our second campaign in the competition, last season we advanced to the quarter-finals where our run was ended away to Holton Road.
What about our opponents tomorrow?
Gadlys Rovers play in the Aberdare Valley League division one and are based in the village Abernant, north-east of Aberdare town centre. Like many urban areas in the valleys, Abernant owes its history to heavy industry with both ironworks and coal mines prominent in the past.
If you look at the history of the Intermediate Cup you will see Gadlys Rovers were winners in 1901 (when it was known as the South Wales FA Amateur Cup). However, the current club does not share a continuous history with that outfit, which folded at some point. The modern club traces its origins to the Gadlys Rovers junior football club established in 1981. The current senior set-up was established in 2004 when the junior club merged with successful and well-established local senior side Bee Hive.
Last season Gadlys Rovers finished 4th in Aberdare Valley League division one and exited the Intermediate Cup in the quarter-finals, losing to eventual finalists Tynewydd (Vale of Glamorgan League). They began their 2019/20 league campaign on Wednesday night with 6-3 home win against Gwawr FC.
[Featured image: Gadlys Rovers – South Wales FA Intermediate Cup winners 1901 – courtesy of Rhondda Cynon Taf Library Services Online]
