JD Cymru South side Llantwit Major took a break from league action last weekend to make their debut in European competition in the Fenix Trophy.
The Fenix Trophy is the brainchild of Italian side Brera FC, and celebrates semi-professional and amateur football clubs, all chosen to compete based on their social, historical and cultural distinctiveness. The idea is to highlight best practice in non-professional football – sporting conduct, community activism, sustainability, technological innovation, and the football family.
Llantwit Major committee member Ben Dudley found out about the competition last season and made it a mission to get the club involved – telling the organisers all about their creation and rise to the second tier.
“I think the thing that most won him over was the community work we do,” says Ben. “We organised a counter-protest last year when a Neo-Nazi group came to Llantwit and we try to support as many good causes as we can.”
Llantwit Major are the first Welsh club to compete in the competition since its creation in 2021, which is something that gives Ben and the rest of the club a great deal of pride.
“We feel like the Cymru Leagues system is very underrated and we find that when people come to watch for the first time they are very surprised by how good the standard is. We got put in one of the hardest groups possible, and we would have felt like we let the country down if we got battered in every game! We’re still being realistic about our chances, but would we be adding a star above the badge if we won the whole thing? Absolutely!”
Their campaign started well with a brilliant 1-0 win against defending champions Skjold, attracting a record home crowd of 746, meaning that the gate receipts will help pay for the travel to the reverse fixture in Copenhagen, which will mean a flight from Bristol with a stop in Edinburgh.
“It’s obviously a lot more difficult than organising a trip to Port Talbot or Abergavenny, but the players have really bought into the competition so they’ve all been working hard to get the time off work and to ensure their families are happy with them being away for a couple of days,” says Ben.
“We’re only missing one regular first-team player for the trip to Denmark, and someone who I won’t name did ask if he would need to rearrange his wedding if we got to the final – thankfully not!”
He adds: “The feedback from everyone, staff, players, and supporters has been overwhelmingly positive about taking part, so we’ve got our fingers crossed that we’ll be able to enter the next edition too.”
