When the Neath League was formed in 1931-32 many teams from the district had long since been established playing in the Swansea League, or even the Welsh League. Indeed, the Swansea League offered a Neath section of two divisions in the early 1920s.

We also have to recognise that many junior clubs were playing throughout the district arranging friendly fixtures with several cup competitions restricted to the non-league clubs. But when over twenty teams entered the Neath Guardian and the Tregarthen cup competitions in 1930-31, many thought it worthwhile to set up a Neath & District League. However, there were just eight founder members to the league, as reported in the Neath Guardian on October 23rd 1931.

Most of the junior teams preferred to retain their status for several reasons. For many, they simply had no facilities, having to arrange friendly games against league clubs or even sharing a vacant pitch when available. Many games attracted sizable crowds and the league claimed percentage of any gate money but many of the junior clubs relied on gate receipts alone to exist. Then we can imagine that many of the established senior clubs offered a much higher level of competition against the junior teams. Indeed, after enjoying some success as a non-league club, Skewen Rovers then suffered eight consecutive defeats and resigned from the league in February so that they could qualify for entry into the D.B. Rees cup. Again, this competition was open to just non-league clubs and was run from the Aberdulais Tin Works where the club could offer their facilities for both semi finals and the cup final. So we can imagine that many of the non-league teams enjoyed the freedom of a much more extensive fixture list than many of the Neath league clubs and in return, the league tried to ban it's member clubs from arranging any games against the non-league teams. But this had an adverse affect and perhaps competing against the stronger Swansea League, the Neath League, struggled to attract new members for the next few seasons.

By the mid Thirties the league gathered some momentum attracting new members from both senior and junior clubs. Perhaps a stroke of genius, the Neath League then introduced a Junior Section (under eighteens) in 1935-36 and later, an Intermediate league. This offered fair competition to the junior clubs where many later graduated to the senior league. However, many of the senior clubs still preferred the higher competition of the Swansea League but perhaps entering a second team to the Neath League. Indeed, when Garthmoor formed in 1933-34 they directly entered the Neath League. But perhaps with financial support they quickly established themselves as one of the premiere clubs in the district and just the following season the entered the Swansea League but retained a second team for the Neath League.

By the end of the decade the Neath League had been well established but with the outbreak of World War Two on September 3rd 1939 all league football throughout the country was suspended. However, the Neath League actually resumed - during the war - in 1943-44. We can only assume that many of the local young men were retained to support the war effort in the heavy industries of coal and steel. Unfortunately, I have very little information for this period since even the local press were rationed to just a few pages of print but it appears that the league extended to include teams from outside the district. From the early Fifties the league dropped the Intermediate league in favour of a second division and the league gathered strength throughout the decade.

The Neath League offered two cup competitions, The Open Challenge Cup and the League Cup. The 'Open Cup' offered entry to include any teams from outside the league while the 'League Cup' was restricted to league members only. However, from looking at the cup finalists throughout the Fifties we can guess that the Open Cup now drew entry from only the Neath League. In effect, the Open Cup was dropped in 1966-67 yet the title remained but for one season since it was then decided at the A.G.M. for 1967-68 the competition should in fact be titled the League Cup - as reported in the Neath Guardian. I've yet to establish for fact, the exact year and any sequence but eventually each division held it's own cup competition perhaps to compensate. However, I understand this has since changed yet again where we now have the 'Open Challenge League Cup'.

In fact, the Neath League restructured in 1966-67 to introduce the Premiere league, Division One with a third section, Division Two being added. When the Intermediate section was introduced in the Thirties I have no evidence that the champions were offered promotion to the Senior league. Instead, I can only guess that any team playing in that league could apply for the senior league when it suited their status. Perhaps for the same reason, from the mid sixties the junior section was dropped when the teams entered straight into the senior league. Of course, many clubs fielded a junior team to prep the players for the senior league but from the Junior league many new teams had formed that later entered the Senior section.

From the mid Eighties the Neath League extended to six divisions, from the Premiere to Division Five with over seventy teams competing. Then in 1995-96 the league was once more restructured to introduce the Reserve League. Now we have the Premiere, with Division One and Two with three Reserve Divisions.

July 2007