Chirk AAA Football Club

NEWFA

The North East Wales FA was started in 1968 and is the youngest of the area associations in Wales.  At that time the Football Association of Wales was based at Fairy Road in Wrexham and comprised of a Secretary, 4 clarks and and administration assistant.  How times have changed!!, but back in the day it soon became clear that there was a need for an Area Association.  ​

There were 2 main leagues at the time in the local area; The Welsh National League, The Wrexham and District Youth Football League and of course there was the Schools football and as always the need for match officials.  Therefore at the start of NEWFA we had seats for the two leagues, Schools FA and the Referees' Association.  As always within football there was a need for discipline to be monitored, but with the FA of Wales overseeing the area it could have been construed as a conflict of interests and NEWFA was formed.​

The Association started in 1968 but by the early 70's football in the local area was booming.  1970 had seen the start of Sunday Football and the wrexham Sunday League, there was also the introduction of the South Clwyd League and when looking at the start of the NEWFA Cup Competitions, The Sunday Challenge Cup gained 132 entries (just an indication of how football was growing in the area).​

One of our oldest competitions is the Horrace Wynne Cup.  Horrace was a former President of the Welsh National League who suggested a cup which was aiming at the lower level players.  A slightly different cup from the Challenge Cup.  There were stipulations as to the eligibility of players  and again this was another competition that was booming.  NEWFA continued to promote the popularity of football and then Referees' Officer JD Williams was keen to organise many training sessions and guest speakers to work on the development of referees in our area, with many a day spent at Monsanto or Caertrefle as a coaching session.​

Unfortunately in 2019 we lost our two last founder members from 1968, Mr Peris Jones and Mr Cyril Davies, but we are sure that during their involvement with NEWFA that progression was always a key motto and ethos associated with NEWFA.  There are many other stalwarts of the Association with Tony Edwards, Keith Spencer, Cliff Evans and Ken Hughes to name a few who are members who can be relied upon for words of advice and wisdom, whilst current Officers in post aim to continue with the driving force that NEWFA has always had by developing Mentoring programmes for our Under 18 officials, major developments of Girls and Women's football in the local area, as well as the development of a Festival of Football Finals weekend to celebrate the talent that we have in our local area.​

Although we are a young Association in comparison with our counterparts we have celebrated much success with NEWFA making the Welsh Final of the Regions Cup in it's first appearance and regularly being the Champions of the Inter Association competition at U18 level where we have witnessed players that have progressed with their careers to play in the Premier League, namely Chris Armstrong and Rhys Healey.​

Last year saw NEWFA hold their 50th Anniversary where Kevin Ratcliffe was the guest speaker, another player who represented Deeside Primary Schools in the area and went onto play for Wales and be a regular name on the Everton teamsheet in the 80's and 90's, so although quite young in comparison with others, we are an Association that is steeped in history, has had many a successful time and aims to continue to offer such memories for all who participate in the wonderful game in North East Wales.