Club Statement | Cefn Albion forced to play football outside of Cefn Mawr

Cefn Albion Football Club (CAFC) would like to formally announce that an agreement has been reached with Brickfield Rangers Football Club (BRFC) and accepted by the Ardal Northern East League/Football Association of Wales (FAW) for CAFC to complete the remainder of its 2021/22 home league fixtures at Clywedog Park and also the entirety of the 2022/23 season at the Wrexham based venue. This new agreement means that our time and contract at the Rock, the home of Cefn Druids Football Club (CDFC) terminates with immediate effect.

CAFC would like to place on record its sincere thanks to everyone involved at BRFC for the professional and prompt manner in which negotiations were overseen and for the warm welcome that the club, its players, management, committee, and supporters have received in the games so far this season. Our extended thanks must go to representatives of the Ardal Northern East League and the FAW for all their support and understanding during difficult circumstances for the club. Also, we would like to show our full appreciation and say a huge thank you to both Brymbo FC and TNS FC for their support in assisting with hosting some of Albion`s home fixtures this season. Finally, CAFC is incredibly grateful to our fellow Ardal Northern East League clubs and our fantastic supporters who have adjusted to these imposed changes without any fuss.

Whilst the club expresses thanks to all those who have supported us during a difficult period, we feel it is necessary to enlighten our fantastic community as to why CAFC is being forced to play its home fixtures outside of our home village of Cefn Mawr, and away from the contractually agreed 2021/22 home venue of the Rock, CDFC. Also, in the face of circulating rumours surrounding our relationship status at the Rock, we feel that releasing factual details will help people understand some of the challenges that CAFC has faced. We feel it is important to be transparent in order to help protect the integrity of our community football club.

As a community-based football club with local people and charity at the very centre of our club ethos, it goes without saying that everyone involved is extremely disappointed that we have to temporarily move away from our village. Our spiritual home at the MUGA, in the heart of Cefn Mawr, would be our preference to stage our home games but in its current state it does not meet the criteria as set out by the FAW in order to represent at Tier 3 or indeed Tier 2, should the first team achieve promotion. Needless to say, everyone involved at CAFC hopes we can return here in the future.

In June 2017, in a bid to further strengthen and unite the community of Cefn Mawr an exciting agreement was reached between the board of directors at CDFC and the committee of CAFC which would see the two Cefn based clubs form a closer working relationship. As part of the new link, it was agreed that our first team would move their home fixtures from the MUGA to be hosted at the 3G pitch at the Rock. At the time, the agreed pitch rental fee was a very reasonable £100 which later increased to £120 to cover additional costs. The relationship blossomed and both clubs contributed to raising lots of money which got donated to some important local causes such as Rhosymedre Church and Plas Bod Llwyd residential home. Following changes to the CDFC board in 2019 and the arrival of their new chair, the pitch hire fee at the Rock immediately increased to £150 initially and then at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it further increased to £300 per game! CAFC was informed that the 100% increase to the pitch rental fee was to cover the rising costs incurred by the pandemic. Despite a strain on CAFC’s finances, our volunteers worked tirelessly to raise additional funds which helped to cover the increased costs. We can confirm that all increased fees were fully paid (when expected) by cheque to CDFC throughout the course of the season.

In December 2021, through a representative of CDFC, we were informed that all cheques paid by CAFC since August 2021 remained uncashed and were being accumulated in a safe. At the time of writing these cheques remain uncashed and since our difficult decision to move away from the Rock the chair of CDFC has publicly stated that CAFC hired the Rock “for free over the past 2 years”! Despite this unexpected claim, CAFC can confirm that on no occasion did the chair of CDFC communicate or indicate his intentions not to cash cheques and representatives of our club only discovered this so-called gesture following a tweet published at 13:50 on the 25th of March 2022 on the Twitter platform. There is a written contract, signed by both clubs that clearly states that CAFC is required to pay CDFC £300 for each time they hire the pitch at the Rock. The stated fee was completely determined by CDFC and CAFC has always satisfied all parts of the agreement. In the same thread of tweets published on Twitter that day, the CDFC chair also claimed that CAFC had also “trained at the Rock free of charge.” Training sessions at the Rock were irregular which presented many challenges; however, we can confirm that we did not pay a fee for the few times that we were allocated a slot to train. CAFC would usually find out that there was no availability at the Rock at short notice meaning an alternative venue outside of the area had to be found. This would always prove an arduous task due to demand and on some weeks our football coaching sessions were swapped with work in the gym. This would always affect matchday preparations and the last example of this was on the 22nd of February 2022 when we were informed by the CDFC first team manager that there was no availability to train that week. This was 4 days before CAFC were due to compete in the Quarter Final of the FAW Amateur Trophy.

In addition to the £300 rental fee to hire the pitch, the chair of CDFC also informed CAFC that it had to conform to many Tier 1 COVID-19 protocols issued by the FAW during the pandemic. Despite CAFC operating at Tier 3 (which had different set criteria) and the FAW confirming that we did not have to conform to Tier 1 protocols, it was at the discretion of the CDFC chair who imposed the criteria upon us. Despite many obstacles and the immense strain on our small team of volunteers, CAFC delivered on everything that was outlined by CDFC. Furthermore, the Chair of CDFC informed CAFC that before hosting any of our Ardal Northern East League (Tier 3) home fixtures at the Rock we were required to have at least 3-6 NVQ Level 2 qualified matchday stewards and a ground safety officer present. We were informed that this was required to meet the requirements of the stand/ground safety certificate. CAFC assembled a pool of ten volunteers who all agreed to rotate and marshal our home fixtures but despite putting many of them through an online paid spectator safety course we were informed by CDFC that the certificate we provided them was not sufficient. CAFC had no option but to hire and pay NVQ Level 2 qualified stewards and a ground safety officer which came at a further significant cost to the club. The fees associated with hosting a game at the Rock were high and this did not include all of the usual matchday costs that all clubs have to deal with such as paying officials etc. In addition, CAFC were told that should we require the refreshment areas at the rock to be opened we had to cover the costs of the staff. This put us in a difficult position when trying to provide hospitality to supporters, visiting officials and away teams. Unfortunately, in most of the home games this season there has been no facility for refreshments available. In late 2021, CAFC were eventually forced to use an urn outside the main entrance to the club so that we could offer beverages for visitors/referees attending our home games. It is important to note that even with all the extra matchday costs, CAFC always paid in full at every home game at the Rock.

In December 2021, an attempt was made by the chair of CAFC to open discussions with the chair of CDFC relating to an extension of the agreement already in place at the Rock. It was also viewed as an opportunity to also discuss the relationship between the two clubs in general. These discussions were further required as with the league standings, there was a genuine opportunity for CAFC to gain promotion into the Cymru North (Tier 2) so an application needed to be submitted to the FAW before the deadline. These approaches/conversations were refused by the chair of CDFC who stated that CAFC had not delivered on promises made. CAFC have no record of these ‘promises’ so were left extremely confused by the situation and what it never delivered upon. With the chair of CDFC refusing to meet or discuss the future of CAFC and its existence at the Rock, a decision was made to consider alternative arrangements that were in the best interests of the club. The decision was based on giving CAFC the best chance of competing at Tier 2 should promotion be gained or even remaining at Tier 3. The prospect of having two teams from Cefn Mawr potentially competing at Tier 2 is something that really excited everyone at CAFC, but it would seem that those views are not shared elsewhere which is why things may have got difficult.

No matter how hard everyone at CAFC tried to be an excellent tenant at the Rock we were continually provided with obstacles to overcome just to get football matches played. Despite these many hurdles, the club remained determined and tried to abstract off-field events away from our two teams who to their full credit have continued to produce on the pitch and remain highly competitive. For clarity, our Ardal Northern East home fixture scheduled on the 27th of November 2021 versus Caersws at the rock was postponed by CDFC with the landlord citing safety concerns. The re-arranged fixture on the 27th of January 2022 was unable to take place at the Rock and CAFC was not given any reason other than it was unavailable. The real reason was discovered on Saturday 22nd January 2022 during our home fixture against Four Crosses and to everyone's disbelief, we learned that the Cymru North fixture between Gresford Athletic and Holyhead Hotspur had been given priority at the Rock over Cefn Albion v Caersws, our fixture was regrettably moved from the village to Brickfields Clywedog Park and the game was drawn 1-1. Due to the pitch hire agreement that is in place between CAFC and CDFC the Ardal league rules stipulate that CAFC fixtures should take precedence over other fixtures not involving CDFC. CAFC has never received an explanation from the CDFC chair why our fixture was not honoured and replaced with one from the Cymru North.

A few weeks after the fixture incident CAFC were informed that the CDFC ground safety officer who we hired for home games was departing the club (this was also the stadium manager). Upon receipt of this news, CAFC made numerous attempts to contact the CDFC chair in order to confirm our home fixtures at the Rock which were already booked but we received no response! Completely in the dark and with the risk of turning up to a home game at the Rock and either the gates being closed or another fixture taking place, there were too many risks that CAFC may not be able to fulfil a fixture which would also result in unwanted sanctions issued by the FAW. With the current situation escalating everyone at CAFC felt it was necessary to seek more stability and therefore start looking into securing another ground to complete its remaining 2021/22 Ardal Northern East League fixtures.

Whilst looking to agree on an alternative venue, CAFC again contacted the chair of CDFC to confirm our highly anticipated scheduled home local derby clash versus Chirk AAA on the 5th of March 2022. Our efforts were unsuccessful, and we even contacted the first team manager of CDFC in the absence of the chair. No one would/could confirm the fixture(s) and we had no idea where we stood.

CAFC has now negotiated an agreement with BRFC to hire their Clywedog Park ground and for it to become our temporary home remainder of the 2021/22 season and indeed the following season 2022/23. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of CAFC, communications from CDFC were non-existent so CAFC securing an alternative venue become a necessity and was in the interests of the club and also the sporting integrity of the Ardal Northern East League/FAW. It was a pleasure to negotiate the agreement for Clywedog Park with Paul Hooson and BRFC and everything was submitted to the Ardal League for ratification and the FAW was also informed accordingly. CAFC is extremely thankful for the support shown towards the club during what has been an unbearable strain on a number of Albion volunteers who we almost lost for good. CAFC’s fixture versus Chirk AAA took place at Clywedog Park with Chirk AAA winning the game 0-2.

Despite the new agreement being promptly finalised, unfortunately, Clywedog Park was unavailable to CAFC on the 19th of March 2022 because BRFC had a home Ardal Northern West fixture, therefore we were kindly supported by TNS football club who allowed us to hire their 3G pitch for our home game versus Penycae. Conversations with the Cymru Premier Champions were very forthcoming and professional which allowed us to fully prepare for the fixture ahead. Everyone at CAFC was extremely grateful to Ian and Jacob Williams for their support that day, CAFC won the fixture 4-0.

For many years, many people will claim that there was a divide between ‘top-flight’ Cefn Druids and any of the ‘local’ Cefn teams that operated lower down in the pyramid. However, in 2017, the decision for the two clubs to strengthen connections and rebuild relationships was a huge step forward for the local community. From the very beginning, the relationship was healthy and local people were benefiting in many different ways, not just football related. The partnership was exciting. However, since the appointment of a new chair at CDFC in 2019 the relationship has declined and eventually broken down which sees CAFC forced to play its home games outside of Cefn Mawr! It is an extremely sad day for the area and an outcome that we wanted to avoid despite the arduous relationship. Rest assured, everyone at CAFC will be working extremely hard to ensure that the club can return home, back to Cefn Mawr, as soon as possible. If all goes to plan, we could see CDFC in Tier 2 next year.

Unfortunately, there have been many ongoings behind the scenes, but the purpose of this statement is to only cover topics that have affected CAFC in preparing and hosting home Ardal Northern East fixtures and to address some of the comments that have recently been published in the public domain.

In summary, CAFC wishes to confirm the following facts:

• For every home game that took place at the Rock CAFC made a payment of £300 to cover the pitch fee that was defined by the CDFC chair. The full amount was paid by cheque on a monthly basis.
• All payments to cover additional matchday costs (NVQ Level 2 qualified stewards / ground safety officer and refreshment staff) were paid in full after each home game that took place at the Rock.
• Despite CAFC operating at Tier 3, the chair of CDFC imposed Tier 1 protocols for all Ardal Northern East home fixtures that took place at the Rock.
• CAFC complied with all ground safety measures and covid-19 protocols that were outlined.
• CAFC made every effort to excel as tenants at the Rock.
• CAFC regularly communicated with CDFC without a response latterly.
• CAFC was left with no option other than to secure an alternative ground share in an emergency situation.
• CAFC believe there to be multiple breaches of the pitch hire agreement by CDFC
• CAFC was never informed of a `free of charge’ venue hire until a comment was published on social media by the CDFC chair. The comment was made after CAFC had stopped using the Rock for home Ardal Northern East fixtures.
• CAFC firmly believes it has been forced to play home Ardal Northern East fixtures outside of our home village through numerous actions by the CDFC chair.
• CAFC reluctantly accepted that our tenancy continuation was not going to be forthcoming and acted in good faith to protect the club and FAW/Ardal League sporting integrity.
• CAFC deems the actions of the CDFC chair as hostile towards the club and to the local community of Cefn Mawr

CAFC has made the following bodies aware of the difficult situation/predicament that the club has found itself in

• FAW
• Ardal Northern League
• Wrexham Council EHO
• Cefn Community Council

CAFC will be making no further comment at this stage. For any further details please email cefnalbionfc@gmail.com. Thank you.