CAERAU ELY AFC - A BRIEF HISTORY Caerau Ely were formed in 1955 joining the junior division of the Cardiff Combination League. A set of red jerseys given to the club by Mr. Ron Miller of Cross Bros. AFC was to determine the colours of the club forever. The club started its playing days on the Ely Racecourse moving on to Glyn Derw School in the eighties and then finally moving onto the Cwrt-yr-Ala ground in Ely. In 1991 they gained entry to the new Senior League and then progressed to the CC Sports Welsh League in 1998 after beating Dinas Powys 1-0 in the playoff held at Bridgend. The history shows that after winning well over EIGHTY combined league titles and cups in its time, Caerau Ely has become one of the most successful clubs in Cardiff. Season 04/05 we gained promotion from the 3rd Division to the 2nd finishing in the third place, we were to carry on surviving near the bottom and scraping to safety at the end of most seasons, with most players probably leaving their best days behind them, we realised we had to look at the future. Season 06/07 saw the coming together of Caerau Ely and the youth of Llanishen Dons football club. Caerau without a representative side in the youth league approached Llanishen to invite them to join the Caerau set up. The advantages for Llanishen were obvious in that they could play at a very good level and the advantages for Caerau were that they would have a new group of young players for the future. The first season saw the youngsters finish third in the East division and also saw an amount of players move up and take their place in the senior side, the next season they finished 2nd with even more of a presence in the first side. Season 09/10 was the biggest in our History ending in promotion to Division One, winning 8 drawing 2 and with 1 loss in the last 11 games we took third place and with a finish like that thoroughly deserved it. On times we played with a starting eleven that didn’t have a player over the age of 21, so the youth policy adopted in 06/07 had finally paid off. The first Season in Division One went very well finishing with a respectful 5th place, which was our highest finish in our history so a great achievement, unfortunately the second season we came up very short, with major problems trying to keep hold of players and discipline on and off the pitch returning to days we thought we had moved on from we finished bottom, so a major come down from the previous season. So we started Season 12/13 back in Division Two after a short but eye opening period in the first division, It was decided that a New Management team be brought in who would bring with them Welsh League experience and knowledge of players that could help. Nana Baah was appointed as the New manager and Immediate promotion to division one for season 2013-14 was achieved. Season 13/14 started the same as the previous with new faces and new goals, it was a tough season but a very respectful 7th place was achieved so success in our eyes as the goal was to finish in the top half which we did. Unfortunately the summer came with the same issues players leaving for the promise of more money and so began the search for new players, and the tough task of getting them ready for the 14/15 campaign. The start of the 14/15 campaign also saw a renewed connection with Llanishen Dons (now known as Rhiwbina FC) where we have been able to put together an Under 18's and Under 19's squad to compete in the Youth Leagues, these two teams have some quality players who will be on show no doubt this season for the 1st Team. Hopefully next Seasons history will have some tales of bigger smiles and bigger goals.

Well the widest smiles and the biggest goal was achieved, being Crowned Champions of the Welsh Football League was without doubt  the biggest achievement for this little football club from Caerau in Ely in Cardiff…

An amazing season seeing us crowned champions and runners up in the Nat Cup almost doing the double….

What does this season have in store

Time will tell

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS FOR THE YOUNG GUNS