Originally Posted by
Eric the Half a Bee
Cardiff, Merthyr, Newport and Swansea were the first Welsh teams admitted into the football league in 1920. Cardiff were elected to go straight into Division 2; the others into Division 3. Cardiff were supposedly favoured as they were the strongest team in Wales at the time. Portsmouth, Watford and Crystal Palace finished above City in the Southern League that season and probably felt a bit miffed at not being elected into Div 2. It proved to be a good move by the football league as Cardiff were promoted to Div 1 at the first time of asking, while Swansea, Merthyr and Newport finished 5th, 8th and 15th in Div 3 respectively.
In 1921, Aberdare and Wrexham joined the football league as further expansions meant new Div 3 north and south. Aberdare would finish 8th in Div 3(S), becoming Wales's second best side in the football league in their first league season. They would finish 21st, 12th, 18th and 9th before finishing bottom of the league in 1926/27, where they lost their place to Torquay after a controversial ballot.
Swansea were the second Welsh side to win a promotion in 1924/25 having finished 5th, 10th, 3rd and 4th in their first 4 seasons. Despite finishes of 5th and 6th in Div 2, they would not manage to join Cardiff in Div 1 but remained a second tier side up until WW2. Cardiff finished 4th, 9th and 2nd in their first 3 seasons in the top division, losing out to Huddersfield in the closest ever finish between the top 2. Despite winning the FA cup in 1927, Cardiff would join Swansea in Div 2 following relegation in 1928/29. Two seasons later and Cardiff would be a struggling Div 3 side until WW2 started while Swansea were the top side in Wales throughout the 1930s.
Wrexham remained a steady Div 3(N) side. Merthyr spent 10 seasons in Div 3 and mainly struggled. They were not re-elected in 1930 and lost their league place. Newport had suffered similar struggles as Merthyr and were also not re-elected in 1931, but a good season in the Southern League saw Newport readmitted. They would finish in the bottom two in 3 of the next 4 seasons but were re-elected each time. In 1938/39 Newport won Div 3(S) but saw the next season abandoned at the start of the war. Their first, and only full season in Div 2 after WW2 saw them relegated.
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