Abergavenny Thursdays F.C.

Abergavenny Thursdays F.C. is a football team, a founder member of the League of Wales, but now playing in the "Gwent County League Division 3".

The club was founded in 1927 in Abergavenny (though several defunct clubs had existed since the mid 19th century) and was highly successful as recently as the early 1990s, but suffered an appalling decline in the following ten years.

History

Successive Welsh League championships in the two seasons leading up to the formation of the League of Wales in 1992, ensured Abergavenny’s participation in the inaugural season of the country’s new national league, but there the problems began. Before a ball was kicked in 1992/93, the FAW requested that the club put up a bond as surety that their floodlights would be erected in time for the commencement of the League Cup competition. Thursdays supplied the bond to the detriment of the club’s resources. Unfortunately, the uncertainty as to whether the club would be competing in the League of Wales led to the loss of many players and the team manager.

Their nickname is either 'The Thursdays', or either 'The Butchers' (due to Abergavenny's famous cattle market and resultant meat markets) or 'The Pennies', as the ground is situated in a part of the town know as Pen-y-pound and cockney rhyming slang for a penny is 'an Abergavenny'. The team's song is "Abergavenny" based on Marty Wilde's 1968 hit song 'Taking a Trip Up to Abergavenny'.

A new manager and assistant were appointed and Abergavenny Thursdays started the new campaign on time, though losing 1-0 at home to Bangor City in their first match. When the first victory of the season arrived, it triggered off a run of eight undefeated matches during which Thursdays accrued eighteen points. Sadly, afterwards only seven further points were gained from 22 matches and relegation began to look increasingly likely, but it only became a certainty after two other teams staged eleventh hour revivals of their own.

The problems encountered in the summer of 1992 put an end to any hopes the club had of establishing itself at the highest level. Losing their best players to other League of Wales sides severely weakened Thursday’s playing resources and, despite the efforts of those who featured in the 1992/93 campaign, relegation back to the Welsh League was confirmed.

The ten succeeding seasons were not kind to Abergavenny as the club slipped downwards through all three divisions of the Welsh League into the "George Ford Gwent County League". A brief respite in 1994/95 saw Thursdays finish as high as fourth in the Welsh League Division One before a further damaging exodus of quality players led to a dreadful season in 1997/98 when they secured only three points and conceded an astonishing 210 goals in thirty six league fixtures. Relegated to Division Three in 2000 things went from bad to worse as Thursdays continued to plummet into the Gwent County League First Division and right through that trap door too, after just one season. In the course of five seasons, Abergavenny Thursdays suffered four relegations and conceded 675 league goals. The final relegation came at the end of the 2003-04 season, when Thursdays finished bottom of the Gwent County League Second Division and slipped into the Third Division.

Abergavenny Thursdays ended the 2004-05 Gwent County League Division Three campaign in fifth place, and finished tenth the following season; although the 2005-06 season was seen as a disappointment as Thursdays had led the table in the autumn, but finished much lower in the final table due to a dismal second half of the season.

2006-07 brought a sixth place finish, and as the end of the 2007-08 season approaches they are still in contention for a long-awaited promotion.

Although success cannot be achieved overnight, the Thursdays directors have a clear ambition to move forward. The initial target is to win promotion from the Gwent County League Division Three. The next challenge will be to win promotion to the Welsh League and the eventual target is promotion back to the League of Wales.

Trivia

Thursday was historically half-day closing in Abergavenny (when shops and businesses closed early) thus permitting the team, comprised of apprentices, shops boys and local workers to leave work and attend games or training.

Biggest victories and losses

*Biggest League of Wales win: 3-1 v. Briton Ferry Athletic, Caersws, Newtown, and Haverfordwest County in 1992.
*Biggest League of Wales defeat: 0-9 v. Porthmadog in 1993.

External links

* [http://www.abergavennythursdays.com/ Abergavenny Thursdays website]