Guess which North Wales club is coming back!
Halkyn United Football Club is coming back!
The Flintshire club with an impressive history will be re-forming into the Welsh football pyramid starting next season.
The name Halkyn last appeared in senior football as part of a name amalgamation with Flint Mountain, which occurred in 2019-20. At the start of 2022-23, Flint Mountain dropped the Halkyn part after promotion to the Tier 3 Ardal North West League.
Halkyn have continued to run junior football sides and now a new venture incorporating the seniors is set to go ahead.
The new club announced on social media: “For years Halkyn Juniors FC have provided grassroots football for young players in the Halkyn Mountain area, developing multiple junior teams.
“We are excited now to provide a pathway for this current set up to continue their development as they reach senior football.
“We are a group of local players who want to bring men’s football back to the Halkyn area, taking on the challenge of NEWFA Division 3 next season.”
HALKYN UNITED HISTORY
Halkyn United Football Club was formed in 1945 in the aftermath of the Second World War and became founder members of the old Halkyn Mountain League, which was a forerunner to the 1970s-born Clwyd League.
It is believed that during the early period of the club’s history it played their home games on various grounds within the village of Pentre Halkyn.
The earliest honours won by Halkyn were the Mountain League in 1956 and the League Cup in 1959. After many years playing in the Mountain League, the club joined the Clwyd League in 1975 and staged home matches in Pentre Halkyn on a field owned by the council.
This field was adjacent to the Village Park in Pentre Halkyn, the changing facilities being the nearby community centre.
The 1990s were a golden era for the club.
In the 1992–93 season under manager George Thelwell, the club won the Clwyd League Division One title and with it promotion to the Premier League.
In the first season in the Premier, despite finishing midway, United won both the Presidents Cup and Arrows Cup.
Further progress up the pyramid was achieved, and in 1994-95 Halkyn earned promotion as Clwyd League Premier Division champions to the Welsh Alliance League.
Success continued with the prestigious Barritt Cup making its way to Halkyn in season 1995–96 and the Cookson Cup the following campaign.
After four seasons of progression in the Welsh Alliance, 1999–2000 proved the most successful in the club’s history. They won Welsh Alliance by a clear 11 points whilst remaining unbeaten in the league.
Added to that the club progressed to the fourth round of the Welsh Cup including a 1-0 away victory at League of Wales outfit Haverfordwest County.
The club managed to stay in the Tier 2 Cymru Alliance League for six seasons, but the 2005–06 campaign proved too much of a challenge for them, and they finished bottom of the table.
This ensured they were relegated back to the Welsh Alliance, where 10 seasons of general struggle encompassing divisions one and two ensued.
In 2015–16 the club resigned their place in Welsh Alliance Division 2 and joined the Clwyd East Football League, where fortunes were less than memorable over the next few years.
They became part of the Halkyn and Flint Mountain amalgamation in 2019-20, but the name Halkyn was dropped before 2022-23 as Flint Mountain took on the new challenge of the tier 3 Ardal North West League.