Football Association of Wales
Encyclopedia
The Football Association of Wales (FAW) is the governing body
Governing bodies of sports in Wales
The governing bodies of sports in Wales perform an organisational, regulatory or sanctioning function at a national level in Wales, some tracing their history to the 19th Century. Many cooperate with similar bodies from other countries to agree rule changes for their sport. Most implement decisions...

 of association football in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. It is a member of FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...

, UEFA
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....

 and the IFAB.

Established in 1876 (at the Wynnstay Arms Hotel, Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

), it is the third-oldest national association in the world, and is one of the four associations (along with the (English) Football Association, the Scottish Football Association
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA include clubs in Scotland, affiliated national associations as well as local associations...

, the (Northern) Irish Football Association and FIFA) that make up the International Football Association Board
International Football Association Board
The International Football Association Board is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football.-Operations:...

, responsible for the Laws of the Game.

The FAW is responsible for the administration of football in Wales, running the six international teams - namely the "A", "Under 21", "Under 19", "Under 17", "Women's", "Women's Under 19", Women's Under 17 and Semi-Professional.

The FAW is also responsible for all disciplinary actions against players in teams associated with the FAW. This includes Welsh teams playing within the English football pyramid, superseding the English FA disciplinary system.

The Football Association of Wales is based at Neptune Court, Vanguard Way, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

.

Formation

Provisionally known as the "Cambrian Football Association", the Football Association of Wales was founded at a meeting held on 2 February 1876 at the Wynnstay Arms Hotel in Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

, initially to formalise the arrangements for the forthcoming match
Scotland v Wales (1876)
The first international match for the Wales national football team came on 25 March 1876 when they played Scotland at Hamilton Crescent, Partick, the home of the West of Scotland Cricket Club, with the Scots claiming an emphatic 4–0 victory...

 against Scotland
Scotland national football team
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...

.

In May 1876, a further meeting was called, this time in the ballroom of the identically named Wynnstay Arms Hotel in Ruabon where the name was agreed as the "Football Association of Wales" and the constitution was drawn up. The arguments and discussions continued so long that the local policeman came in to call time.
"Sadly we have no record of the words actually used by the police constable as he stood sternly surveying the scene in the Wynnstay Arms, Ruabon, on that May night in 1876; but what they amounted to was that even if the gentlemen were busy forming the Football Association of Wales it was past closing time so would they mind forming it somewhere else… "

Fortunately, Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn
Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 6th Baronet
Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 6th Baronet was a Welsh Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1841 to 1885....

 was in attendance; as the local JP (and also the sitting Member of Parliament), he went next door, opened the Court, extended the hotel's licensing hours, thus enabling the meeting to continue. The meeting ended with Llewelyn Kenrick
Llewelyn Kenrick
Samuel Llewelyn Kenrick was a Welsh solicitor who became the founder of the Football Association of Wales and organised the first Welsh international football match against Scotland in 1876...

 appointed as the first chairman and honorary secretary with John Hawley Edwards as first treasurer.

Kenrick continued to serve the FAW until 1884, when he left, probably because of the trend towards professionalism. In 1897, when the FAW secretary was charged with fraud, Kenrick returned to guide the association through the crisis. He made the final break a few months later over the minor issue of the allocation of gate money to Welsh Cup semi-finalists and finalists.

External links

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