What on earth is going on with the North Wales Coast FA Junior Challenge Cup?
So, the North Wales Coast FA listed some of the dates, venues and kick-off times for its end of season finals on their website this week.
On the NWCFA Junior Challenge Cup page, the final is shown as being Bow or CPD Y Glannau versus CPD Llanfairpwll.
Hang on? Bow OR Y Glannau?
Didn’t Y Glannau blitz Bow 8-1 in the semi-finals on February 17?
Certainly did, but after the tie Bow lodged a protest with the NWCFA claiming that Y Glannau had fielded an ineligible player.
That player was Thomas Ryan Anthony Jones, who came on in the 81st minute as a substitute when his team Y Glannau were 8-1 up against Bow.
However, Jones also played 90 minutes for Prestatyn Wanderers in an 8-1 defeat at Llangoed and District in round one of the Junior Cup earlier this season back on September 23, 2023.
Rules state a player cannot represent two clubs in the same competition in the same season.
After Jones played for Wanderers, he was cup-tied in that competition for the rest of the 2023-24 campaign.
It is believed – not confirmed by the NWCFA – that Bow’s protest was successful and they were given the go ahead to contest the final against Llanfairpwll at Colwyn Bay on May 11.
However, it is also believed that Y Glannau have appealed against the decision, hence the either/or reference regarding the final on the NWCFA website.
This week, Grassroots North Wales approached the NWCFA about the situation and we were told ‘no comment’.
So this is where we are….
This saga may (or may not) come down to common sense, but since when have the football authorities in Wales shown any of that?
Is it simply a case that Y Glannau have inadvertently broken the rules and therefore are expelled from the competition for that reason – end of story?
Or, is there a case for allowing Y Glannau to advance to the final given the player in question was on the field for little more than 10 minutes (9 plus stoppages) and had no effect on the semi-final against Bow whatsoever with his team 8-1 up? Has there been a precedent that can help Y Glannau?
With some of the decision-making emerging from the FAW this season, heaven knows what will be decided (we take it the FAW will hear the appeal?).
But yet again, we have an end-of-season farce surrounding a major North Wales Coast final similar to 2021-22, when the NWCFA Intermediate Cup Final between CPD Y Rhyl 1879 and Bangor 1876 never took place because organisers ran out of time to find a suitable venue.
Let’s hope that whatever happens, we do actually get a 2023-24 NWCFA Junior Cup Final.
There’s a team called Llanfairpwll who want to play in it, for one very special reason in particular.
As they so often do, the North Wales Coast FA have closed ranks on this, which goes hand-in-hand with the FAW’s pursuit of a fully-compliant media who they only want to know about and report the good news.
Sadly, our national and some area associations involved in North Wales football don’t make it easy for themselves with the constant poor and inconsistent decision making.
We’d love to report all good news – such as the big investment announced by the FAW recently in the Cymru Premier and grassroots (proof of the pudding etc though).
We give our grassroots football unparalleled coverage, but the administrators are just not doing it right.
Being cancelled by football associations is not going to stop Grassroots North Wales doing its best for the clubs and letting people know what is going on.