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Bala Town

Full name	Bala Town Football Club
Nickname(s)	Lakesiders
Founded	1880; 139 years ago (1880)
Ground	Maes Tegid, Bala
Capacity	3,000 (504 seated)
Chairman	Arwel Roberts
Manager	Colin Caton
League	Welsh Premier League
2017–18	Welsh Premier League, 4th
Home colours Away colours

Bala Town Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Pêl-droed y Bala) are a Welsh football team from Bala, Gwynedd, who play in the Welsh Premier League.^[1] They play their home games at Maes Tegid.^[2]

History

Although the current Bala Town was formed in 1880, there is record of a football club competing in the 1877–78 Welsh Cup, losing to Corwen after two replays.^[3] After Bala North End, Bala South End and Bala Thursday's merged, Bala Town's first available league status record is playing in the Welsh National League North Division 2 East in 1921–22 season. Bala Town moved to their current home, Maes Tegid, in the early 1950s and joined the Wrexham Alliance in 1950,^[4] however Bala Town had to wait for more than a century until they were promoted to the second tier of Welsh football, into the Cymru Alliance at the end of the 2003–04 season.^[5] After only four seasons in the Cymru Alliance, Bala Town sealed promoted to the Welsh Premier League.^[6]

A view of Maes Tegid from the side of the pitch

Bala Town secured European football for the first time in their history after a John Irving goal in the 89th minute was enough to see off Port Talbot Town 2–1 to ensure the Lakesiders a European place. Bala Town were drawn against Estonian outfit Levadia Tallinn and after winning the home leg 1–0, crashed out of the Europa League at the first qualifying round after losing 3–1 in the reverse fixture in Tallinn. In the 2014–15 season, the Lakesiders finished second, their highest ever league position, thus qualifying for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League. Bala Town missed out the opportunity of playing Turkish giants Trabzonspor in the 2015–16 Europa League after losing on aggregate to FC Differdange 03 after falling victim to an injury time Differdange goal, however Bala maintained a proud record of a 100% win percentage at "home", playing at Rhyl's Belle Vue stadium due to UEFA stadium requirements on both occasions, in Europe.

After finishing second in the 2015–16 Welsh Premier League they followed this success up by winning their first Welsh Cup, beating The New Saints 2–1 in the final ending their 8 trophy winning streak.

Stadium

Bala Town have played at Maes Tegid in Bala since the 1950s. For European matches they use Rhyl's Belle Vue stadium due to UEFA stadium regulations.

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Levadia Tallinn	1–0	1–3	2–3
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Differdange	2–1	1–3	3–4
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	AIK	0–2	0–2	0–4
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Vaduz	1–2	0–3	1–5
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	PR	Tre Fiori	1–0	0−3	1–3

Notes

• 
  PR: Preliminary round


• 
  1Q: First qualifying round

Current squad

As of 6 February 2019^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Ashley Morris 2 DF Andrew Burns 3 DF Sean Smith 4 DF Stuart Jones 5 DF Stuart Jones 6 DF Anthony Miley 7 FW Steven Tames 8 MF Nathan Burke 9 FW Mike Hayes 10 FW Ian Sheridan 11 FW Kieran Smith

No. Position Player 12 MF Evan Horwood 14 FW Josh Williams 15 MF Rob Pearson 16 DF Ryan Valentine 17 MF Daniel Gosset 19 DF Shaun Kelly 20 MF Joe Edwards 21 DF Anthony Stephens 22 MF Josh Jones 25 MF Chris Venables 30 GK Keighan Jones 77 MF Henry Jones

Honours

• 
  Welsh Premier League:
  
  • Runners-up (2): 2014–15, 2015–16
    


• 
  Welsh Cup
  
  • Winners (1): 2016–17
    


• 
  Welsh Premier League Cup:
  
  • Runners-up (2): 2013–14, 2014–15
    

References

External links

• Official website


• 
  Welsh Premier Official site – Bala Town page.^{[permanent dead link]}