Short stay but they made a mark – tribute to Bow FC

Bow FC’s double-winning side of 2023-24

They were only around for three seasons but Prestatyn-based Bow FC made quite an impact on the North Wales football scene.

Their best campaign was undoubtedly 2023-24, when they won the North Wales Coast East League Division One title, scoring 106 goals in 20 matches and not losing once, their 19 victories and one draw testament to their invincibility. Bow also lifted the REM Jones Cup that season to make it a dynamic double.

The club entered the North Wales Coast East League for the first time in 2022-23 and finished a more than respectable fourth.

In that season they advanced through a couple of rounds of the NWCFA Junior Challenge Cup before going out to eventual trophy winners Abergele.

The following campaign, they got past Rhos United, Y Glannau, Henllan and Llandudno Amateurs in winning the REM Jones Cup.

They also knocked Y Glannau and Kinmel Bay out of the FAW Amateur Trophy and reached the Junior Cup semi-finals. Bow lost 8-1 to CPD Y Glannau in the last four, but the result later became void in a row over an allegedly ineligible player turning out for the St Asaph side.

The issue was never resolved, the rest of the competition was scrapped and Anglesey side Llanfairpwll were left frustrated after reaching a final they never got to play.

With facilities at Bastion Gardens, which they shared with landlords Prestatyn Town, ideal, ambitious Bow moved on and were promoted to the tier 4 Premier Division.

The 2024-25 season started brilliantly for Bow, with a Welsh Cup victory over tier 3 high-flyers Dolgellau – perhaps the greatest result in the club’s short history.

They also progressed through two rounds of both the FAW Amateur Trophy and NWCFA Intermediate Cup, but late 2024 and the turn of 2025 brought the loss of many key players, including talisman and prolific scorer Rob Parry, and results plummeted.

Bow ended the season third from bottom of the Premier and the future looked uncertain.

Sure enough, it emerged at the North Wales Coast East AGM last week that Bow had resigned and were no more.

This smoothed the path for Cymru North club Flint Mountain to groundshare with Prestatyn Town in 2025-26, as Bow no longer needed to use Bastion Gardens.

Bow FC were short-lived but progresed really well in their first two seasons and would no doubt have remained a Premier Division club had so many of the squad not departed.

Hopefully we might see them back in local football one day.

BOW FC RECORD 2022-23 TO 2024-25

League matches

2022-23: North Wales Coast East Division One
Played 22 Won 15 Drawn 3 Lost 4 Goals For 75 Goals Against 35 Position 4th of 12
2023-24: North Wales Coast East Division One
Played 20 Won 19 Drawn 1 Lost 0 Goals for 106 Goals Against 30 Position 1st of 11
2024-25: North Wales Coast East Premier Division
Played 28 Won 5 Drawn 3 Lost 20 Goals For 49 Goals Against 86 Position 13th of 15
COMPLETE LEAGUE RECORD
Played 70 Won 39 Drawn 7 Lost 24 Goals For 230 Goals Against 151

CUP RESULTS

2022-23

Welsh Cup
Betws-y-Coed (home) 2-2 (won on pens)
Llanrwst United (h) – cancelled

FAW Amateur Trophy
Abergele (h) 1-2

NWCFA Junior Challenge Cup
CPD Caer Clwyd (h) 3-0
Llanfairpwll (a) 1-0
Abergele (h) 0-3

REM Jones Cup
Abergele (a) 2-5

2023-24

Welsh Cup
Penmaenmawr Phoenix (a) 2-3

REM Jones Cup
Rhos United (a) 4-0
CPD Y Glannau (h) 3-2
Henllan (h) 4-2
Llandudno Amateurs (h) 1-0

FAW Amateur Trophy
CPD Y Glannau (a) 8-6
Kinmel Bay (a) 3-1
Menai Bridge Tigers (a) 3-5

NWCFA Junior Challenge Cup
Penrhyn Bay (h) 7-2
CPD Gaerwen (h) 6-1
CPD Y Glannau (h) 1-8 (result later void after dispute over alleged ineligible player)