TRIO ON ALERT WITH A MARCH DATE ON TABLE
THE three West Wales clubs in JD Cymru South are on alert for a return to action.
Llanelli Town, Carmarthen Town and AFC Ammanford could all be back playing competitive football towards the end of March.
The teams playing in the JD Cymru North and South divisions have been given a proposed start date of March 20, with the season set to end on May
29. The Nathaniel MG Cup ties will also be fitted into the same threemonth period.
A statement issued by the Football Association of Wales read: “The JD Cymru Leagues and the Orchard Welsh Premier Women’s League will return when the country either returns to Alert Level 3 in accordance with the Welsh Government Covid-19 Control Plan or when the ‘Elite Status’ as defined by Sport Wales is redesignated to that competition, whichever is the sooner.”
Should coronavirus cases in Wales continue falling, it is hoped the JD Cymru Premier will restart on March
5. The JD Welsh Cup will be restricted to the 44 teams playing in Tiers 1 and 2 and will be played between April 20 and June 5.
The Welsh Premier Women’s League Cup will be played between March 23 and May 23.
It had been hoped that Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford could have started their league seasons back in December.
Llanelli and Ammanford both played Nathaniel Cup ties, but their league campaigns were halted just before they were due to start because of a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases.
It remains to be seen how the fixtures pan out, though it seems highly unlikely matches will be played home and away.
All three Carmarthenshire will have reshaped squads.
Llanelli, now under the stewardship of former boss Any Legg, have re-signed former striker Jordan Follows, while ex-ipswich Town academy product Lewis Reed is another to have switched to Stebonheath.
Carmarthen have brought in the likes of Matthew Delaney and Cameron Berry as they begin the process of regaining their place in the JD Cymru Premier.
But it is Ammanford who have made the headline signing of the winter. They have captured Swansea City legend Leon Britton. He will join up with former Liberty team-mates Lee Trundle and Andy Robinson. clubs
DESPITE winning the World Cup for Wales and enjoying his biggest individual career win so far, Pontyberem darts player Jonny Clayton says he plans to hold on to his full-time job for the time being.
Having lifted the World Cup of Darts alongside fellow Welshman Gerwyn Price last year, Clayton continued his remarkable rise by winning his first televised PDC event – the Ladbrokes Masters – last month.
The victory saw Clayton pocket the £60,000 top prize and gain entry into the 2021 Premier League – a competition pitching him in with 10 of the world’s best players.
Following his most recent success, questions were raised as to whether the world number 18 ranked player would give up his day job as a plasterer with Carmarthenshire County Council to commit to darts on a fulltime basis.
However, speaking with friend Nigel Owens, Jonathan Davies and Sarra Elgan on S4C’S Jonathan programme, Clayton said he was staying put.
The 46-year-old said: “At the moment, I will stay on, that’s what I’m thinking.
“They say ‘if it’s not broken, don’t mend it’, so I’m just going to carry on for now. I do enjoy my work.
“With Covid, the Premier League won’t be played like usual, when it’s 16 weeks away if you get into the finals.
“There’s going to be blocks of Premier
League games, so I wouldn’t need to take the 16 weeks off.
“So I’m going to keep things they are at the moment.
“In the top 32, only two of us have jobs. The other one is Dirk van Duijvenbode, who is an aubergine farmer.” as
Despite the difficulties posed to the sport by Covid-19, Clayton has enjoyed a whirlwind six months.
“This last year has been great for me, to be honest,” he added.
“It was brilliant to win the World Cup of Darts. Gezzy (Gerwyn Price) has been the best player in the world over the last year and a half, so to be part of the same team as him, and to win it for Wales for the first time, was brilliant.”
Clayton defeated England’s Mervyn King in the final of the Masters in January, but admits it took him a while to get going in the competition after going to the deciding leg in every round bar the final.
“The first game is always the hardest,” he said. “You’re nervous, you don’t know what to expect.
“But as the rounds went on and the games went to the deciding legs, I was just hoping for something to click in this weekend – and it did.
“I was in the semis against Peter Wright and I thought, ‘there’s a chance here’ and then things clicked for me.”
Watch the conversation in full on Jonathan on demand at S4C Clic or iplayer. English subtitles available.