Merthyr Town’s year of inactivity
Welsh club Merthyr caused controversy when they pulled out of the Southern League for the entire 2020- 21 season – as it turns out, they didn’t miss much...
Every club is unique. Each has its individual DNA within football’s unifying organism. To be different is divine… unless it destroys you.
Merthyr Town are different. They’re in a) England’s seventh tier, and b) Merthyr Tydfil, not England. When 82 of the Southern League’s 83 clubs could welcome in fans but Senedd COVID- 19 restrictions meant their lone Welsh representatives couldn’t, the appropriately named Martyrs were unique in an unfortunate way. No fans equals no matchday income – the lifeblood of non- league clubs.
Merthyr’s solution? To hibernate. Suspending their season was unusual, unexpected and initially unpopular, but it saved the club.
“I said, ‘ If we start the season, we’ll be trading insolvently before we get to Christmas’,” says board member Rob Davies. “Everyone was shocked.”
That was Wednesday, September 16, three days before the season’s start date; only on the Monday had he learned Wales may lift restrictions slower than England. Rob asked the league if Merthyr could mothball the club and come back in 2021- 22. “The following day they said, ‘ You need to do it tomorrow’,” he recalls.
Merthyr are run by supporters: one member, one vote. Mobilising 150 within a few hours is hard enough when large gatherings aren’t illegal. A telephone straw poll had to suffice, says Rob, “to assess opinions and explain the facts”. Three- quarters reluctantly agreed. On Saturday, the players were informed so they could find new clubs; on Sunday the rumour mill churned; Monday brought the official confirmation.
“A lot were against it,” says Mark Evans, FAW Head of International Affairs, Plaid Cymru candidate and, importantly, creator of 32- year- old fanzine Dial M For Merthyr. “It came from absolutely nowhere, and we’re all professional moaners. But if you want to moan, somebody will say,
‘ Go on the board, then – you do it’. I’m vice- chairman now.”
Six weeks after the withdrawal, the league was suspended anyway – it never resumed, declared null and void in late February. Merthyr’s choice was justified then, although it hasn’t made the year any easier.
“I don’t miss the football – I miss what’s around it,” says Mark. “Meeting my mates; a pre- match pint; cob and chips with curry sauce.”
So, what does a football club do without football? Loads, apparently. Rob Davies relays an astonishing list of projects, including the installation of Brentford’s old Griffin Park seats in the grandstand. Amid their own fundraising, Merthyr also received some money provided to the English system’s other clubs, after a delay as Sport England interpreted their own name very literally.
Merthyr, whose 1987 Welsh Cup win allowed them to beat Atalanta in the Cup Winners’ Cup ( the first leg, anyway), have been in the English pyramid for 112 years. “My head says the Welsh system offers financial stability and European football,” muses Mark. “My heart remembers our history. And the FA Cup’s a big pull. We’re rubbish at the FA Cup, but when the preliminary round draw comes up, it’s that feeling again…”
They’ll be in it next term. Merthyr’s motto ‘ Progress Through Stability’ is steering them through this crisis, and they may have players soon.
“The tough thing now is restarting,” confesses Mark, of a club in its third incarnation. “But we’ve done it before and we’ll do it again.”