The Rhymney valley was once a densely populated industrial centre for iron, steel and coal production. Like all such industrialised parts of south Wales it spawned many sports teams and was, for much of the twentieth century, a hotbed of football activity, as well as rugby union.
But, more than any other valley, Cwm Rhymni has lost practically all the football clubs which once represented it: from Rhymney Town and Pontlottyn at the head of the valley, down through Bargoed, Ystrad Mynach, Tredomen and Llanbradach, to Caerphilly and Senghenydd in the south, former Welsh League clubs have disappeared.
One such community is New Tredegar, a former mining community in the upper Rhymney valley north of Bargoed. It grew up around Elliot Colliery, which at its peak in the early 1900s employed 2,800 people, but as the coal industry declined so did New Tredegar.
As well as providing one of the founder members of the South Wales FA in 1893, for two extended periods in the twentieth century, New Tredegar supported a Welsh League football team: the first incarnation flourished just before and after World War 1, playing at the top level of domestic football (Welsh League Division One) in the 1920s and meeting clubs like Barry Town, Ebbw Vale and Mid Rhondda, as well as the reserve sides of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport.
New Tredegar Town re-formed after the Second World War after a fifteen year hiatus, competing in the Welsh League for most seasons up until 1971, although without ever lifting any significant honours.
The full, illustrated story of football in New Tredegar, the community’s clubs and the Grove Park ground, is told in Welsh Football issue 227 (March 2021). Details here: https://www.welsh-football.net/index.php/publication-dates