1912–13 Swansea Town A.F.C. season

Swansea Town
1912–13 season
Chairman	John William Thorpe
Player-Manager	Walter Whittaker
Stadium	Vetch Field
Southern Football League	3rd
Welsh Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Billy Ball (8); All: Billy Ball (19)
	Home colours
	Home colours
	1913–14 →

The 1912–13 season was the first season in which Swansea Town (now known as Swansea City) took part in league and cup football. The club was elected to Division Two of the Southern Football League.

Swansea's first official match was played on 7 September 1912 against local rivals Cardiff City at the Vetch Field. All of Swansea's home games for the 1912–13 season were played on a 'Clinker pitch'.^[1]

After a 24-game season the club finished third, narrowly missing out on promotion. The club also entered the Welsh Cup and won it at the first attempt, beating Pontypridd 1–0 in a re-played final.

Southern Football League

Win	Draw	Loss

Division Two Results
Game	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Goalscorers	Attendance
1	7 September 1912	Cardiff City	H	D	1–1	Ball	8,000
2	14 September 1912	Ton Pentre	A	W	2–1	Grierson 2
3	21 September 1912	Newport County	A	W	1–0	Grierson	5,000
4	5 October 1912	Mid-Rhondda	H	W	1–0	Ball	6,000
5	9 November 1912	Pontypridd	H	D	0–0
6	25 December 1912	Llanelly	H	D	1–1	Coleman
7	28 December 1912	Aberdare Athletic	H	W	5–4	Ball 3, Coleman, Grierson
8	18 January 1913	Mardy	H	W	1–0	Grierson	6,000
9	23 January 1913	Aberdare Athletic	A	D	2–2	Coleman, Grierson
10	1 February 1913	Southend United	A	L	1–3	Grierson
11	8 February 1913	Luton Town	A	W	4–0	Messer, Coleman 2, Grierson	6,000
12	20 February 1913	Pontypridd	A	D	0–0
13	1 March 1913	Newport County	H	W	2–1	Ball 2(1p)	10,200
14	8 March 1913	Mid-Rhondda	A	L	0–1
15	15 March 1913	Cardiff City	A	D	0–0		12,000
16	21 March 1913	Croydon Common	H	W	1–0	Hamilton	10,000
17	22 March 1913	Treharris	A	W	3–1	Anderson 2, Messer
18	24 March 1913	Croydon Common	A	L	0–3		10,000
19	29 March 1913	Luton Town	H	W	2–0	Ball, Anderson	8,000
20	1 April 1913	Mardy	A	L	0–4		2,000
21	8 April 1913	Llanelly	A	L	0–1		6,000
22	26 April 1913	Southend United	H	W	1–0	Anderson
23	28 April 1913	Ton Pentre	H	D	0–0
24	30 April 1913	Treharris	H	W	1–0	Jepp

Source:^[2]

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Promotion
1	Cardiff City	24	18	5	1	54	15	3.600	41	Promoted to Division One
2	Southend United	24	14	6	4	43	23	1.870	34	Promoted to Division One
3	Swansea Town	24	12	7	5	29	23	1.261	31
4	Croydon Common	24	13	4	7	51	29	1.759	30
5	Luton Town	24	13	4	7	52	39	1.333	30

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976-77 season. The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.

Welsh Cup

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Goalscorers	Attendance
PreQ	31 October 1912	Milford	H	W	3–1	Ball 3	1,000
1	2 November 1912	Mond Nickel	H	D	2–2	Messer, Davidson
1r	7 November 1912	Mond Nickel	A	W	5–0	Ball 2, Grierson 2, Swarbrick
2	7 December 1912	Llanelly	H	W	2–1	Messer (p), Ball	3,000
3	4 January 1913	Wrexham	A	W	3–1	Ball 2, Swarbrick	2,000
4	25 January 1913	Merthyr Town	A	W	3–0	Soady 2, Coleman
SF	15 February 1913	Cardiff City	N	W	4–2	Ball 3, Grierson
F	19 April 1913	Pontypridd	N	D	0–0		8,310
Fr	24 April 1913	Pontypridd	N	W	1–0	Grierson	10,000

Source:^[3]

Player details

No.	Pos.	Name	League		Welsh Cup		Total
No.	Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	-	D Anderson	7	4	1	0	8	4
2	FW	Billy Ball	19	8	7	11	26	19
3	-	T Brazell	1	0	1	0	2	0
4	DF	Arthur Cleverley	18	0	4	0	22	0
5	-	J Coleman	18	5	8	1	26	6
6	-	H Davidson	1	0	1	1	2	1
7	MF	John Duffy	23	0	9	0	32	0
8	GK	E Fisher	17	0	5	0	22	0
9	-	G Fyfe	7	0	0	0	7	0
10	-	RT Grierson	19	8	8	4	27	12
11	DF	Jock Hamilton	19	1	7	0	26	1
12	MF	Sam Jepp	20	1	8	0	28	1
13	-	P Jones	1	0	0	0	1	0
14	FW	Willie Messer	19	2	7	2	26	4
15	DF	Jack Nicholas	21	0	8	0	29	0
16	-	F Prideaux	10	0	4	0	14	0
17	-	Soady	2	0	1	2	3	2
18	-	A Sutherland	9	0	6	0	15	0
19	FW	Jimmy Swarbrick	22	0	9	2	31	2
20	-	J Weir	4	0	1	0	5	0
21	GK	Walter Whittaker	7	0	4	0	11	0

Source:^[4]

Transfers

Out

Date	Name	Fee	Ref
27 June 1913	F Prideaux	Released	^[4]
27 June 1913	RT Grierson	Released	^[4]
27 June 1913	Soady	Released	^[4]

References

General

Rundle, Richard. "Swansea Town". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 5 June 2013.

Bibliography

Jones, Colin (2012). Swansea Town & City Football Club: The Complete Record, 1912–2012. From Southern League to Premier League. Dinefwr Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-904323-26-6.
Jenkins, Geraint H. (2012). Proud to be a Swan, The History of Swansea City AFC. Ceredigion: Y Lolfa Cyf. ISBN 978-1-84771-481-7.