User:Cymrogogoch/sandbox
| Yr Ynys | |
 | |
| Former names | Ynys Meadows Ynys Fields Ynys Grounds The Ynys Athletic Ground The Athletic Ground |
|---|---|
| Location | Aberdare, Wales |
| Coordinates | 51°42′46″N 3°26′15″W / 51.7127°N 3.4374°W |
| Record attendance | 22,584 (for Soccer) 40,000 (for Rugby League) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Renovated | 1893 1920 (for Soccer) 1971 (for Rugby Union) 2008 (for Cricket) |
| Tenants | |
| Aberdare RFC 1890–present Aberdare Athletic F.C. 1893–1928 Aberdare RLFC 1908–1909 Aberdare CC 1968–present Aberdare Valley AAC 2008–present | |
The Ynys (Welsh: Yr Ynys) is an historic mixed sports venue in Aberdare, Wales. The ground is notable as the venue of the first ever international match in Rugby League history, and was also home to the professional rugby league club Aberdare RLFC as well as English Football League members Aberdare Athletic F.C.[1][2][3]
Today the Ynys hosts the Aberdare Rugby Union Club, Aberdare Cricket team and Aberdare Valley AAC, as well as the Sobell Leisure Centre and the Ron Jones Athletics Stadium.
Name
[edit]The Welsh word Ynys (cognate with the Irish language innis), is commonly translated as island. However, it can also mean a flood plain, peninsula or river meadow.[4] It is a common toponym in the South Wales Valleys, denoting a flat area of land along the banks of a river. As such, a number of places named Ynys were found around the modern playing fields.nb[5][6]
History
[edit]Early history
[edit]Aberdare was described as "very remarkable" for its traditions of Taplasau Hâf (summer games), rhedegfeydi (races) and gwrolgampau (manly sports) as early as 1853.[7] Although it is unknown when the Ynys was first used for sport, a number of special areas had been set aside by the townsfolk for these games since at least the 1640s, with the three most prominent being at Ton-glwyd-fawr (also known in English as "The Ton" in Cwmdare), Tontypel in Cefnpennar and most notably, "a small ynys on the shore of Cynon". However, the text explicitly names this "Ynys" as Glan-rhyd-y-gored near Llwycoed Mill, someway up river from the current playing fields.[8]
1875-1908
[edit]By 1875, The Ynys was under the supervision of the Abernant ironmaster, Richard Fothergill who contiued to use the land as a place for fêtes and athletic tournaments. As Fothergill was leasing the grounds to local societies, the area continued to be set aside and remained largely undeveloped, despite the rapid growth of Aberdare and the Ynys' situation as flat open land between the town's two main railways stations.[9] In August 1875, the Ynys hosted the first of an annual athletic tournament which would also include equestrian events and a brass band competition.[10][11][12] These events were sponsored by the town's hostilaries and attracted crowds of up to 10,000.[13]
The ground was opened in 1893 as the home of Aberdare Town, who later became Aberdare Athletic.[14]
1908-1930
[edit]On 1 January 1908 the Athletic Ground the venue of the first rugby league international involving a team from outside the British Isles when Wales played New Zealand as part of the 1907–08 tour, with Wales winning 9–8. The match attracted approximately 15,000 fans[15][16]
By 1920 the ground was still quite basic, with a narrow grandstand on the southern touchline and a cycle track around the pitch. With Aberdare attempting to gain entry to the Football League, the stand was rebuilt, the cycle track removed, and banking installed at each end of the pitch.[14] The following year saw the ground's record attendance of 22,584 set for a schoolboy international between Wales and England on 14 May. In the same year Aberdare were elected to the Football League, and the first League match was played at the ground on 27 August 1921, with Aberdare and Portsmouth drawing 0–0 in front of 9,722 spectators. In 1927 Aberdare were voted out of the Football League.[14]
1930s-1960s
[edit]The first Greyhound racing meeting at the Ynys took place on December 26th 1931.[17] By 1959, the stadium had an Inside Sumner hare installed at a cost of £1400.
During the late 1920’s Ynys Park became host to Rugby Union, but by 1931 an approach by a newly formed Greyhound Racing saw the venue change dramatically forcing the Rugby Club to look elsewhere to stage their fixtures. The Cycle Track and athletics track became removed to the see the venue transformed in a more recognised greyhound stadium. Greyhound Racing was staged at The Ynys Stadium for the first time with a meeting on the 26th of December 1931.
Little is known on how it operated, but a race distance of 475 yards has been discovered, with the installation of a new inside Sumner type hare during 1959, at a cost of £1400. It is clear that Greyhound Racing was staged at an independent level and continued until the latter end of 1961. The sport could claim that 20 bookmakers would stand during meetings during its best years with just seven standing at the end. Its closure was blamed due to the reduced interest and lack of greyhound entries.
After its closure the stadium drifted into a derelict state before being demolished during the late 1960’s. The venue was covered by The Michael Sobell Sports Centre and its sports pitches, before that too was eventually replaced with today’s Aberdare Community School and its Sports pitches.[18]
The venue began to develop on grazing land around 1890, very close to a Railway line less than a mile east of Aberdare town centre.
During the early years the venue hosted athletics, with a cycle track also added to increase the size of the venue with enough viewing space for 23,000 people, which was vast considering the town had only a population of just 75,000. The success on the football pitch increased immensely, enough to see Aberdare Athletic enter the Football League during 1921. Aberdare Athletic became one of six Welsh clubs now competing in the English Football League, the others being Cardiff City, Swansea Town as they were called then, Wrexham, Newport County and Merthyr Town. Aberdare’s first League fixture was played on the 27th of August 1921, with Aberdare and Portsmouth drawing 0–0 in front of 9,722 spectators.
Success in the football league was only brief, as its decline seemed to begin on the 7th of November 1923, after a serious fire destroyed the man stand, its offices along with all the player’s kit. The Football Club continued, but with the depression of the 1920’s looming down on the people of South Wales, the football club was in serious financial trouble by 1927, leaving them in a position to sell Ynys Park to the council. Soon after the football club amalgamated with nearby Aberaman Athletic Football Club, therefore becoming the end of Aberdare Athletic.[19]
1960s-2000
[edit]2000-present day
[edit]
Notes
[edit]- ^nb A number of historic placenames with the "Ynys" element adjoin the modern playing fields, all located along the river bank. Thomas Morgan notes Ynysllwyd as "situated on the river Cynon" and gives a tentative derivation from "Ynys y tywod llwyd" ("an island on grey sands").[20] Other recorded names include Glanynys, Ynyscynon and Ynysyfelin.[21]
References
[edit]- ^ Athletic Ground (Aberdare) Doing the 92
- ^ Promotion to/Relegation from the Football League by year Pyramid.info
- ^ Delaney, Trevor (1991). The Grounds of Rugby League. Thornton and Pearson. p. 193. ISBN 978-095099822-0.
- ^ last1=Scott |first1=Margaret Rachael |title=The Germanic Toponymicon of Southern Scotland: Place-Name Elements and their contribution to the Lexicon and Onomasticon |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/293038093.pdf |pages=174
- ^ "A plan of the parish of Aberdare in the County of Glamorgan". The National Library of Wales. p. 38. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
- ^ "Aberdare". historicplacenames.rcahmw.gov.uk/. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
- ^ "Aberdare History 44 - Sports, games and pastimes". Cynon Valley History Society. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
- ^ Williams (Carw Coch), William (29 August 1853). Gardd Aberdâr yn cynwys y cyfansoddiadau buddugol yn Eisteddfod y Carw Coch, (in Welsh). Aberdare: William Thomas. p. 56. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- ^ "Foresters' Fete at Aberdare". The Cardiff Times. 7 August 1875. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ "Aberdare". South Wales Daily News. 16 August 1875. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ "Licensed Victuallers' Athletic Sports". The Aberdare Times. 9 September 1882. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ "Athletic Sports at Aberdare". South Wales Daily News. 26 July 1887. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ "Aberdare Athletic Sports". South Wales Echo. 28 July 1885. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ a b c Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005, Yore Publications, p17, ISBN 0954783042
- ^ Rugby League – 100 years since it kicked off in Aberdare BBC Radio Wales
- ^ R League: The day Wales made history Wales on Sunday, 23 December 2007
- ^ Barnes, Julia (1988). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File. Ringpress Books. p. 409. ISBN 0-948955-15-5.
- ^ "Ynys Park Greyhound Stadium, Aberdare, South Wales". Greyhound Racing Times. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- ^ "Ynys Park Greyhound Stadium, Aberdare, South Wales". Greyhound Racing Times. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- ^ Morgan, Thomas (1887). Handbook of the Origin of Place-names in Wales and Monmouthshire. Thomas Morgan. p. 155. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ "Welsh Tithe Maps: A plan of the parish of Aberdare in the County of Glamorgan". National Library of Wales. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
Category:Aberdare Athletic F.C. Category:Cricket grounds in Wales Category:Defunct football venues in Wales Category:Rugby union stadiums in Wales Category:Defunct rugby league venues in Wales Category:Sports venues completed in 1893 Category:Sports venues completed in 1920 Category:Sports venues completed in 1971 Category:Sports venues completed in 2008 Category:Aberdare Category:Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Category:Greyhound racing in Wales