Saturday 15th November 2025 ko 14:00

Cymru South

TREOWEN STARS 3 (C Davies 24 Meachan 35 43)

YNYSHIR ALBIONS 0

Att 85

Entry £6

Programme £2

When you’ve spent most of the last 25 years groundhopping, it isn’t the simple statistics of how many and where that do it for me. When people ask I tell them, then add the tagline “Which shows I need to get out more” when the exact opposite is the case! These days, it’s the connections you make that drive me on, and Treowen was a classic case of this.

You may recall that 6 years ago I attended what could have been Ynysddu Welfare’s last game at Pontllanfraith Leisure Centre, and the sole reason I knew about the peril the club were in was due to manager Ben Murphy. Sadly Ynysddu are no more, ( whatever happened to Shidey’s sister?) but Ben is now manager at Treowen Stars- quite the step up from the Gwent County League!

Treowen is to be found in Newbridge’s environs, and are graduates of the Gwent County League- which is probably why GroundhopUK missed them, they’d left before we started our stint with the league.

You climb to get to Bush Park, from Newbridge, then to Treowen, then to the club, and a flight of steps to the ground itself. You are rewarded with both a wonderful view at the top, but a wonderful welcome too. In a weekend that saw no end of waterlogged pitches, Ben had been kind enough to let us know his game was definately on, but had also told the gate we were coming- I’m quite happy to sail under folks’ radar, honestly!

Now my regular reader will probably expect an away win, I do tend to jinx friendly clubs. Perhaps the opponents being Ynyshir helped: they were excellent hosts on the 2017 Welsh Hop so I can’t jinx both sides, can I? The game saw two struggling sides meet, with Ben’s charges winning deservedly. Since then Treowen have rallied and now sit in a comfortable 10th while Ynyshir continue to find the Welsh second tier difficult and are second from bottom.

We picked our way back to the car, there is a way of avoiding those steps, and headed back down to Newbridge. It had been a highly satisfying afternoon out. Thanks Ben!!