Pontyclun FC
Pontyclun Football Club has been part of the South Wales football scene for over a century having been founded in 1896.
It is not certain where the Club played its earliest home games – it may have been at Talygarn – but there is documentary evidence that Ivor Park became the home ground in 1920 when Wyndham Damer Clark, formerly of Talygarn House, gave the Club preferential use of the land as a football field.
In 1922 the Club was admitted to the Football Association of Wales, one of the few amateur clubs to achieve such status. In 1968 the Club joined the Welsh Football League.
In 1968, the composition of the Welsh Football League was much different to that of today. Some 54 teams competed in three divisions and the “Premier League” included the reserve teams of Cardiff City, Swansea Town and Newport County. Of these 54 teams in the league that season less than 15 remain today.
He also had a part in the FAW adopting Pontyclun Football Club’s motto on the national crest – Gorau Chwarae Cyd Chwarae (Best Play is Team Play).
This first appeared on a Welsh shirt in 1951 during the FAWs 75th anniversary celebration against a Great Britain XI and remains to this day – yma o hyd. Its significance has gone from strength to strength, inspiring the FAW’s Together Stronger campaign, which made a significant contribution to Welsh culture and the men’s team’s success in reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2016 – a significant moment in our country’s history.
Pontyclun-born Keith Pontin (1956-2020) had his first taste of football as a junior at the Club before moving on to play for Cardiff City, Merthyr Tydful and Barry Town. He also made a contribution at senior level when he played out his “twilight” years at Ivor Park.
Keith won two full international caps for Wales, making his senior debut in a 4-1 win against England in May 1980.
More information about the club can be found at the club’s website here
For more information about the history of the community of Pontyclun please visit our online museum