| CAMFORDS HISTORY |
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CAMFORD HAVE BEEN KNOWN AS P.S.FISHERS,FISHER AND LUDLOW,LEYLAND,PRE STAR AND CAMFORD SPORTS BUT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FACTORY NOW.
PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 200/01
1ST DIVISION CHAMPIONS 1987/88, 2004/05 , 2011/12
3RD DIVISION CHAMPIONS 1971/72
RESERVE DIVISION 1 CHAMPIONS 1990/91 , 2011/12
RESERVE DIVISION 2 CHAMPIONS 1986/87
RESERVE DIVISION 3 CHAMPIONS 1985/86
SENIOR CUP WINNERS 1990/91, 1997/98
RUNNERS UP 1976/77, 1977/78, 1988/89
STAR CUP WINNERS 1974, 1978, 1980,1984,1987,2005
CHALLENGE CUP WINNERS 1967/68
DARCH CUP WINNERS 1979/80
LEAGUE SHIELD (TG DAVIES CUP) 1969/70
RUNNERS UP 1968/69,2008/09
MOND CUP WINNERS 1971/72
RUNNERS UP 1972/73
BRITISH MOTOR CORPORATION CUP WINNERS 1966/67, 1969/70, 1970/71
RUNNERS UP 1968/69, 1971/72
WEST WALES SEMI-FINALISTS 1995/96, 1998/99 ,2008/09
CARMARTHENSHIRE SENIOR LEAGUE SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR:- 1985/86 WYNFORD FRANCIS - LEYLAND SPORTS 2001/02 GARETH EVANS(GAZZO) - CAMFORD SPORTS Camford Sports AFC currently field two sides within the Carmarthenshire
Association Football League (CAFL) in the Premier and Reserve Division 1
The Early Years / BMC Cup and “A Major Coup”
The club though has not always been known as Camford Sports and indeed has had a few name changes over the years since originating as a factory side.
It was formed in 1962 when the employees of the recently built Fisher and Ludlow Ltd factory in Felinfoel, who manufactured car body components to be taken to Longbridge for Austin Rover, created the team to play friendly matches against established teams in the area.
It was decided to enter a team to play in the CAFL – Fisher and Ludlow AFC - and the opportunity arose when during 1964 -1965 season the Llanelli Steel Club which had entered two sides in the divisions found it difficult to sustain both teams and disbanded their then second team after a few weeks and the factory team applied to take over the remaining fixtures in the Second Division and this was accepted. (There were only two divisions at that time).
The works management and the Sports and Social Club agreed to sponsor the team, paying most of its expenses and supplying the kit.
1st Committee – Allan James (Chairman) Eddie Williams (Secretary)
Peter Gittings (Treasurer) Doug Morgan (Team Manager)
Members : George Snaith , Tom Garrington , Ken Garrington , Sid Hopkins , Ray Simon , Peter Dunne , Jeff Tucker , Dennis Glendon , Benito Lelli
Royal Blue and White Stripped Jerseys / Royal Blue Shorts and Socks
The early team however fielded all employees and was no where near the strength of the “friendly” team as many of those were well established players with other sides so it had to rely on a number of older players and young apprentices and together with the aid of some transfers they just about held their own in the league.
The next season however was all change as following “ a major coup” by the Chairman Allan James when he managed to persuade a fellow worker Peter Smith , a well known Welsh League part time professional of former Swansea Town, Llanelli Town and Haverfordwest fame to join as player-manager and with his influence and professional attitude toward training/coaching he attracted many new players from outside the factory to sign and with such a great pre season he club entered two teams into the newly reformed Premier , First and Second divisions of the CAFL. Peter rejoined Ton Pentre through the season but the seeds had been sown and with Les Bowen taking over the talented squad the club got its first trophy – The League Challenge Cup in 1967-68 and also ended up runners up in the first division to gain promotion, whilst seeing its next change of name to Pressed Steel Fisher Sports.
During this time the club also played in the British Motor Corporation Cup (BMC cup) and travelled quite a few times to England to compete against other factory teams in Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Oxford and Swindon and with former Part Time and Ex Pro’s playing it reached a very high standard. 1966/67 saw the first victory in this trophy with further victories in 1969/70 and 70/71.
League Shield, Prolific Freddy and an “Epic Battle”
After the promotion to the Premier Division the club as P.S.F reached the League Shield competition (later re introduced as T G Davies Cup) and narrowly beaten 1-0 by the Gorseinon side however the following season the final beckoned again with a head to head with Llanelli Town A who were strengthened by several of the Welsh League side however an excellent 3 –1 victory saw the shield captured with two goals from Ions Malcolm and one from Freddy Davies.
Freddy Davies was the most prolific goal scorer in the history of the club. After joining in the start of 1967-68 he took a little over 3 seasons to notch a century of goals for the 1st Team and was selected to play in the Carms League side during which time they defeated Pembrokeshire 8 goals to 2 with Freddy netting 6!!
The 80’s saw a lean spell for the 1st Team however the Reserve side having lifted there first trophy in 71-72 had success in the Darch cup 1979-80 and the league championships in 1985-86 and 86-87 and 90-91 lifted their first trophy in
The club won the Senior Cup for the first time under the management of Dennis Hughes in 1990-91 in an “epic battle” against Garden Village in the cup final at Stebonheath Park, when it took a replay to decide the issue after drawing the first game two goals each following extra time. The club – now known as Pre Star Sports – lifted the trophy 2- 1 however they had to come from behind with superb goals from Brian Jones and Aneurin (Babes) Evans.
And so to Camford Sports and the Title!
Following a change of name to Camford Sports and under the leadership of the current manager Mark Caton they again tasted victory in the Senior Cup when they defeated Felinfoel in a final played at Trostre Sports ground when in a 4 – 1 victory Mark Townsend netted a hat-trick.
Mark inspired the Camford side to further success as the club won its first Premier Division championship in the Millennium season of 2000-01.They lifted this title by a margin of four points over second place Bwlch Rangers winning 18 of their games drawing 2 and only 2 defeats netting 76 times whilst conceding only 25!
The strike force of Paul Fowler and Robert Wilson netted 40 of these goals with Wilson winning the Golden Boot with 22 league goals.
The club has also participated in and been numerous winners of the Pre Season “Star Cup” with its latest victory in 2005 after a 2 goals to 1 defeat of Dafen.
2008/2009 Season sees us launching a 3rd Team Senior side due to the younger teams coming through the ranks and providing a platform for them to continue their playing with Camofrd and the opportunity to play 1st team football.
Lost two T & G cup finals against Pengelli and Albies and finished 4th in premier as recently as 2014/15 before losing nearly 2 senior teams the following summer. This resulted in 2 relegations and ending up in Division 2 for 2017/18 and a major rebuilding .
Currently there seems to be a problem in all carms league sides where loyalty, willingness to play and a lack of consistency in selection are common factors at a lot of clubs. We have finally got a youthful senior side and an u16 side coming through so we are hoping to get back to having a 1sts and 2nds (had to fold in 2016/17)which we hope leads back up the league's. Our current mini section shows u6s through to u11s with an u12s girls(for the 1st time in our history)& u12s boys teams a result of 3 years of hard work. Camford have also become part of the committee of penygaer enabling the football pitches to remain part of the local community with the help of town and rural council.
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