Barry’s road back a happy ending to
FAIRYTALES only happen in movies, don’t they?
Try telling that to Barry Town United, the club who have been to hell and back, and then some.
From the halcyon days of playing the likes of Reading in the FA Cup and beating Porto in a Champions League qualifier to ceasing to exist as little as four years ago, they’ve seen it all.
Anyone ever attending a match at Jenner Park could be forgiven for keeping a heart rate monitor close by in the event of yet another incredible twist or turn at their beloved football club.
And to think, all seemed so right when the club — previously known as Barry Town before the suffix was added following their High Court battle to continue operating in 2013 — were facing the likes of Queens Park Rangers in 1961 and Reading 23 years later.
A bumper crowd of 7,000 crammed into Jenner Park to watch as Barry Town held the English capital club to a 1-1 draw, only for the Welsh side to be beaten in the replay at Loftus Road.
And after leaving the Southern League to battle it out in the Welsh League, Barry Town had another dream FA Cup tie on their hands as they were paired with Reading in the first round of the world’s oldest football cup competition in 1984.
Almost 4,000 supporters watched the Royals secure an injury-time victory, and just eight years later, it seemed like those dream cup ties would become a thing of the past as Barry Town were exiled from the League of Wales.
To bypass the banishment, the club briefly operated from Worcester City’s St George’s Lane so they could continue to play in England, although that geographical switch did not last and Division One of the Welsh League was where the club were subsequently placed.
A truly remarkable glut of trophies followed, with a quadruple that included a stunning Welsh Cup final success over Cardiff City being the ultimate highlight on an ever-increasing list of achievements.
“It was tough to take (being exiled) but obviously the club went on to enjoy incredible domestic success,” said club secretary David Cole, who has followed Barry for the best part of three decades.
“It became a golden period for us in Wales and we won everything going multiple times.”
With the domestic scene well and truly conquered, Barry attempted to scale greater heights.
The club soon ventured onto the continent having been granted the rights by UEFA to host European games at their Jenner Park base in 1996.
The band of brothers from South Wales set about their latest mission that saw them conquer Shamkir of Azerbaijan in 2001, becoming the first Welsh club to win a Champions League qualifier in doing so.
But that was still not enough for the men who were ripping up everything that stood between them and glory.
Even an 8-0 hammering by Portuguese giants Porto in 2001 did little to dampen the spirits of those who were intent on enjoying every last ounce of delirium that came their way from the club’s remarkable exploits.
And Barry Town were to claim the biggest scalp of them all in the return leg as the Welsh side claimed a famous 3-1 win against the Portuguese side – who would go on to lift the Champions League trophy under Jose Mourinho just three years after their trip to Jenner Park.
In that particular battle, the war had been lost, but the battle won.
“We’d dominated the domestic scene not too long before so Europe seemed like the right step up for us,” said Cole.
“Playing in Europe was just an incredible experience. Facing the likes of Dynamo Kiev and Porto, that’ll always stay with me.
“I was at all of the European games and they were truly brilliant for the club and for the town itself.”
So there they were, camped at the summit of the highest of heights, toasting another upward spike in an everescalating dream that looked like ploughing on straight through the clouds and into the gates of heaven.
But after the most joyous of rides through the skies, turbulence kicked in and journeys of ecstasy transformed into one horrifying white-knuckleride.
Relegation from the Welsh Premier League after the 2003/04 campaign may well have felt heart-breaking to those hardy supporters at the time — even more so when you consider the club won three consecutive domestic league and cup doubles prior to going down — but it was nothing compared with what was to follow.
Little under a decade later after an almighty struggle, the club were withdrawn from Division One of the Welsh League by former owner Stuart Lovering.
And just like that, the club’s very existence was cast in doubt.
Reading, Queens Park Rangers, Porto and quadruples would all be consigned to the history books.
From the grand pantheon of dream Champions League ties to desolate wasteland in the blink of an eye.
But that merry band who had experienced those incredible days of the past weren’t about to stand aside and let their club be discarded into the wilderness.
They were prepared for another enormous encounter, this time at the High Court against the powers of Welsh football.
After being told they would not be reinstated into the Welsh football pyramid, another battle commenced as the club fought to preserve their status when all seemed lost.
And in August 2013 came the greatest triumph of them all, or so it was at the time at least.
Their existence had been saved, but even that came at a huge cost.
Along came the fan-led Barry Town United, put into Division Three of the Welsh League, two tiers below where they had been playing just months earlier. Nil desperandum. “We had three successive seasons in which we won league and cup doubles and then we were relegated, so it was clearly quite a huge contrast of emotions for us,” added Cole.
“The new owners had arrived long before and at the time it seemed like a perfect fit but the supporters soon became alienated and it eventually led to our club being removed from the league system.