Holyhead Town pull first team out of Welsh Alliance League – but club is not folding

Holyhead Town have pulled their first team out of the Welsh Alliance League – but insist the club is not folding.

The Harbourmen will continue operating solely through their reserve side in the Anglesey League.

After reforming in 2016-17 and winning back-to-back Anglesey and Gwynedd League titles, Town rose to tier-four Welsh Alliance Division Two last term, finishing a modest 12th.

This season had started well for the team. They briefly led the Division Two table, but recent results had taken a downturn and the Millbank outfit had slipped to seventh spot.

The biggest problem in the current campaign had been a lack of player commitment to training and poor availability on match-days.

Rumours had been circulating about the first team’s demise for a few days, but tonight it was confirmed Town had stepped down from the Welsh Alliance.

Club secretary Nick Murphy said: “Tonight we have made the hardest decision as a club in the four years we’ve been running. We have resigned from the Welsh Alliance Football League.

“This decision has been made with a heavy heart and I truly believe that this has been made with the next 10 years in mind.

“Our club has not folded. Holyhead Town is still very much alive. However, we will be carrying on with the reserves in the Anglesey League until the end of the season and then assessing the situation again.

“With a new league structure forming next season anyway, we believe this is the right time to build for the future.

“Letter Lotto will still be carrying on as normal and we will still be going back to the Chester after games.

“Sometimes you have to move back to move forward.”

On a short statement on Twitter, the Welsh Alliance League, which discussed the matter in tonight’s management meeting, stated: “Sad news tonight as Holyhead Town offer their resignation to the Welsh Alliance League committee which is reluctantly accepted.

“Their league record will be expunged and we wish them well for the future.”

Holyhead Town FC first emerged in the 1920s, competing in the Welsh National League, North Wales Football Combination and North Wales Coast League before beginning a long stay in the Welsh League North in 1935/36.

They were champions of that league (which later became the Welsh Alliance) four-times in a close-on 40-year membership before dropping into the Anglesey League in 1975-76.

Since then they have flitted between the Anglesey, Gwynedd and Welsh Alliance leagues and also went out of existence between 1998 and 2009, and then from 2012/13 to 2015/16.

They reformed in 2016 and this season introduced a reserve side, but this team now becomes its sole representative.