Conwy Borough vs West Didsbury & Chorlton. 01/07/23

Joe Marshall- @joemarshall_

At around quarter past six on May 29th 2023, I departed a jubilant Wembley Stadium after Sheffield Wednesday sealed promotion to the Championship, signalling the end of my football-watching season. 32 days later, and after a month that still contained a variety of sport including cricket, and a superb weekend at the Spanish F1 Grand Prix, I was back inside a football ground, albeit a slightly smaller one than the 90,000 capacity home of English football.

My first game of 2023/24 involved crossing the border to North Wales, landing in the idyllic seaside town of Conwy, located about 70 miles from Manchester and on the final stretch of the approach to the island of Anglesey. The picturesque town is famous for its castle and charming coastline, as well as the “smallest house in Great Britain,” which lies by the traditional quayside. Although now serving now as a museum, the house was inhabited right up until 1990!

We travelled across to Conwy in the car, which took around 90 minutes from Manchester, but the town is also served by a rail station which receives regular trains from Manchester and Chester.

Y Morfa Stadium

As lovely as all of this is, the main purpose of my visit was the football match taking place between Conwy Borough and West Didsbury & Chorlton.

Conwy play their home games at Y Morfa Stadium, a small, traditional venue which boasts the magnificent backdrop of Mynydd y Dref (Conwy mountain); its 244 metre high summit dominating the scenery behind the stand on the south side of the ground.

Y Morfa has a total capacity of 2500, with the majority of this figure as standing space. There are two areas (three on a sunny day) that provide seating, one being a stand of around 100 seats in the shadow of the mountain, and the 200 seater east stand, which was renovated back in 2019. The additional seating comes in the form of some conveniently placed picnic tables just outside the clubhouse, giving supporters space to eat, drink and watch the game without venturing too far from the bar.

The rest of the ground is all standing, with a couple of four-row-deep uncovered terraces flanking the south stand. Opposite those, there is more standing space, half of which is covered, either side of the dugouts. On this particular visit, only half of the ground was available for spectators to occupy, which wasn’t an issue as the total turnout was hardly going to challenge any attendance records.

Besides the stunning views, one of Y Morfa’s greatest features is the spacious clubhouse, which is handily placed behind the goal nearest the turnstile as you enter.

Magnificently decorated, the clubhouse oozes history and charm, with the walls adorned with memorabilia from clubs and opponents of days gone by, as well as commemorative Conwy shirts for some fantastic causes.

Y Morfa Experience

Admission for this pre season fixture was just £3 for adults, meaning that for £5 I was able to enter the ground and pick up a programme which covered the home side’s pre season schedule, with information about each opponent they will be facing before the season kicks off on August 5th.

Food and Drink

The clubhouse is well stocked with a variety of drinks. I took a ‘When in Rome’ approach to my day in North Wales, and elected for a couple of pints of “Bootlegger 1974” Pilsner, brewed by the Wrexham Lager company. To quote the man himself, it was tasty baby! I hate myself for that.

The food options were of a high quality. With local burger company Smashed in charge of the catering, I was spoilt for choice in terms of which type of burger to choose. In the end, I elected for none of them, instead going for a tray of cheeseburger loaded fries. Despite their outstanding taste, purists would say that this ventures a little too far from traditional “football food,” but its 2023, lets move with the times (I’d still bite your hand off for a pie though).

The Teams

Conwy Borough

To trace the origins of Conwy Borough, we go back to the 1960s and the heyday of another side. Before the formation of the club now known as Conwy Borough, the local area had footballing representation through Borough United, who were based in Llandudno Junction, and were famous for punching well above their weight, winning the Welsh Cup in 1963, leading to a remarkable story in the European Cup Winners’ Cup. They became the first Welsh club to win a round in a major European competition when they defeated Maltese side Sliema Wanderers 2-0 over two legs. Their run came to an end at the hands of SK Slovan Bratislava, but they did not embarrass themselves in a 4-0 aggregate defeat. Unfortuntately, in 1967, they were evicted from their ground and folded two years later, a mere 6 years after making history.

Due to the absence of football in the area, a side called Conwy United were established, and placed in the Welsh Alliance League. Success was easy to come by for United, with a cup win 1982, and league titles in 1985 and 1986. When the League of Wales was founded (now the Welsh Premier) in 1992, Conwy were founder members. They achieved a third place finish in 1996, meaning they qualified for the Intertoto Cup, granting more European football to the area. They failed to make it out of the group, but nevertheless, it was a sign of progress.

The 2000s were a difficult period for Conwy United, with the new millennium starting with relegation, and due to financial reasons, they slipped into the third tier Welsh Alliance rather than into the second tier. Continued financial difficulties meant that relegation was a constant threat, however in 2004-05, they looked on course for promotion, however the tragic death of then manager Nigel Roberts scuppered their chances.

The club’s fortunes changed in 2010-11, when they achieved promotion to the Cymru Alliance (second tier) by winning the league title. This season also saw a brilliant run to the final of the FAW Trophy. In addition to their new league, Conwy United were also to get a new name, as ‘United’ was dropped in favour of ‘Borough’ ahead of the 2012-13 season.

A couple of promotion near-misses followed before relegation in 2017, but they made an immediate return to the Cymru Alliance, winning promotion as champions of Division One of the Welsh Alliance. They maintained their place in the Cymru Alliance as mid-table regulars before they were relegated back in the third tier last season. Since they were last at this level, the Welsh pyramid has undergone a restructure, and now find themselves in the league now named the Ardal Northwest division.

There is real evidence that Conwy are a club with the community at the forefront of their cause, with special edition shirts recently auctioned off in support of the Football v Homophobia charity. Initiatives like these make Y Morfa feel like an inclusive place to visit.

West Didsbury & Chorlton

Sharing these values are Conwy’s opponents from across the border; West Didsbury & Chorlton.

Founded as Christ Church AFC in 1908, they have been a staple of South Manchester football for over 100 years. Their first foray into league football came in 1920/21, when they debuted in the Lancashire & Cheshire Amateur League, playing their home games at the Christie playing field. Their league bow also came with a name change, as they were rebranded as West Didsbury AFC.

In modern times, the side often shortened to ‘West’ are known for some of the largest crowds in step 5 of the non-league pyramid, but these attendances aren’t a new phenomenon, with players remarking at the scale of the crowds way back in the 1920s. This decade also coincided with a couple of trophy wins in the form of the Aggregate Trophy and the Rhodes Cup.

After the second world war, West Didsbury suffered their first ever relegation, falling out of the top flight of the Lancashire & Cheshire League in 1953. However, they rectified this immediately with a second place finish and promotion back to where they came from. Another relegation would follow in 1960, but it took the side longer to bounce back, with a narrow escape into the third tier thrown in for good measure. Despite another Rhodes Cup victory in 1970, they did find themselves relegated into the third tier in 1975.

Success followed in the next couple of decades in the form of back to back promotions in 1988 and 1989, as well as the Whitehead Cup in 1977 and another Aggregate Trophy in 1988, the first time West got their hands on this piece of silverware since 1928.

In 1996, the club moved into its current Brookburn Road ground in Chorlton, and subsequently changed their name, adding the “& Chorlton” onto the end of the “West Didsbury” they had held since the 1920s. In 2006, their spell in the Lancashire & Cheshire League came to an end, as they moved into the Manchester League for half a dozen years, before taking their place in step 6, in the form of the North West Counties Football League.

Since then, they have grown on and off thre pitch. Immediate promotion to the NWCFL Premier Division in their first season was complimented by a victory in the First Division Cup final. They made their FA Cup debut in 2013, before setting an FA Vase record by beating Dinnington Town 15-1 in the competition two seasons later. The Brookburn Road ground has gone under development, with the Rob Turley Stand erected to commemorate one of the most important figures in the club’s history.

West now have a thriving women’s team, as well as one of the largest junior sections in the area. Things are positive at Brookburn Road, and that was highlighted last season, as they set club record runs in the FA Cup and FA Vase, bowing out to Macclesfield in the former, and eventual winners Ascot United in the quarter finals in the latter. The club carries a strong social conscience, with an inclusive ethos of “West for All.” This is often reflected in the actions of fan groups, with banners and stickers reflecting this strong social awareness. Football at Brookburn Road is a different experience to most other grounds, it is a safe space where everyone feels welcome. Testament to this is the large proportion of young and female supporters who make the pilgrimage down to M21 every other Saturday.

The Game

The game itself was everything that you would expect from an opening pre season match. A field littered with trialists, teams lacking sharpeness and cohesion, and more subs than the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The sides would be meeting in pre-season for the second season in as row, as West travelled to North Wales last year for another friendly meeting, with the away side leaving as winners by three goals to nil.

The team from Manchester immediately struck all in attendance as the stronger side. They dominated the opening period of the game and took a deserved lead through a powerful, low drive from Tom Westall. West made it 2-0 shortly after, Ben Elliott taking an early shot from the edge of the area which could only be parried to a trialist to tap in. It was 3-0 after half an hour, however I was in the clubhouse grabbing a pint of Bootlegger when the trialist struck again.

Last pre season’s score was already equalled and was in jeopardy of being beaten when Elliott had the chance to score from the spot just before half time, however his weak penalty was saved by Conwy’s goalkeeper.

A whirlwind start to the second half secured a comfortable win for West. Their fourth goal came courtesy of Max Lewens. A shot was parried into the air, and the forward rushed in as the ball fell from the sky to tap it over the line.

The remaining two goals of the game came from a trialist, both from neat moves and cut backs, resulting in tidy finishes. The 6-0 scoreline was a fair reflection of the dominance, with Conwy rarely mounting much of a threat.

The game fizzled out after the high-scoring start to the half, with substitutions breaking up the flow of the game. As the temperature increased, what tempo there ever was in the game decreased, and the referee blew his whistle after 90 relaxing and enjoyable minutes in the intermittent North Wales sun.

At the final whistle, we made our way into Conwy town centre, which in a town the size of Conwy, really isn’t far from the ground. After stopping in a couple of pubs and beer gardens to savour the afternoon sun, we decided to refill ourselves after the effects of the cheeseburger fries began to wear off, and no trip to the seaside would have been complete without fish and chips. Therefore, we decided to fully play up to the tourist stereotype and grab a portion to eat by the quay, before heading back to Manchester satisfied with a lovely day out. Why can’t all football be like this?

Final score: Conwy Borough 0-6 West Didsbury & Chorlton

Admission: £3

Programme: £2

Attendance: 150 (estimate)