Club History

Few clubs in the League of Wales have as distinguished a past as Rhyls. Soccer in the town dates from the late 1870s and at one time there were several Rhyl clubs in existence. Rhyl FC became founder members of the Welsh League, formed in 1890, but withdrew the following year. They reformed as Rhyl Athletic in 1893 and became founder members of the North Wales Coast League, winning the title in 1894-95. Rhyl, joined forces with Rhyl Town in 1898 and in an ambitious move switched to the Anglo-Welsh Combination. Despite some financial crises they remained in membership until the league disbanded at the end of the 1910-11 season.

Under the name of Rhyl United, they rejoined the North Wales Coast League but, following the Great War, they moved to the North Wales Alliance before becoming founder members of the Welsh National League (North) in 1921. Rhyl won the title in 1925-26 and became a limited company in 1928 as Rhyl Athletic.

With North Wales football in turmoil in the early 1930s, Rhyl sought to realise their ambitions in the Birmingham and District League. Seeking relief from the onerous travelling. Rhyl successfully applied to join the Cheshire League in 1936 and began one of the most successful chapters in the clubs history.

In a post-War purple patch. Rhyl won the league title twice - in 1947-48 and 1950-51 - and the Welsh Cup twice in succession. In 1952 they beat Merthyr Tydfil 4-3 and became the first non-league side in the moden era to retain the trophy, by defeating Chester by 2-1 the following season. Rhyl had been losing finalists to Cardiff City in 1930 and Crewe Alexandra in 1937 but did not feature in the final again until 1993 when they lost 0-5 to Cardiff.

In the Cheshire League, success eluded for several years before the team fashioned by manager Dick Jones brought them the title in 1972. On the dissolution of the Cheshire League, Rhyl became members of the North West Counties League, later winning promotion to the Northern Premier League.

In 1992 they returned reluctantly to Wales but because their application to join the League of Wales was out of time they were placed instead in the Cymru Alliance, the second level of the pyramid system. In 1993-94. they won the title by six points and gained promotion to the League of Wales. They also narrowiy missed the double, losing 1-2 to Welshpool in the Final.

The club have struggled to make much of impact since joining the League of Wales. Their best season was in 1997-98 when they qualified for the FAW Premier Cup competition, but other than that, the club has finished in the middle to lower reaches of the table.

Rhyl FC opened the 2000/2001 season with some fresh impetus, thanks to a consortium led by former player Peter Parry. He enlisted the help of other former players with the aim of re-establishing the club. He did so with great success, achieving qualification to the FAW Premier Cup and being close contenders for European qualification right until the closing weeks of the season.

The club have built upon this success this season, and are currently competing for one of the three sought after European qualification placings.