The Dracs have new co-managers, a new stand and are in a new league – now they just need the green light from Sport Wales
CARDIFF Draconians are optimistic of starting their first ever season in the third tier of Welsh football in the new year.
The Gabalfa-based side were admitted into the Ardal Southern West League in August following the withdrawal of fellow Cardiff outfit STM Sports.
The 2019-20 Welsh football season was curtailed in March due to Coronavirus, and so far only the top-flight, the Cymru Premier, has been able to start the new campaign as part of Sport Wales’s elite status programme.
However, the second tier – the Cymru North and Cymru South – will begin next month after being given the go ahead to play.
It is hoped that if this is successful, tier three will be granted ‘elite’ status by the end of January. The FAW have said they are “committed to doing all [we] can to support the potential return”.
“I think we’re at a stage where we’re all chomping at the bit just to get going, so obtaining the go ahead will be huge,” Cardiff Draconians secretary Paul Yanez says. “It’s something that we’ve been waiting for for a long, long time.
“We were probably ready for this back in May when we were given the tier three certification. We’ve been waiting and waiting and I think everyone is going a bit stir crazy. We can almost touch it. It’s not quite happening yet, but we are hopeful.”
When The Dracs are finally able to get the season underway, Yanez says it will be a momentous occasion: “As far as the club is concerned, this is the highest ranking we’ve ever been since the club formed back in 1963.
“To get this far is monumental for us. It’s taken an awful lot of work in the background as well as on the pitch, but I’m so proud to be in this position.”
Plenty has happened since the club were last in competitive action in March in the South Wales Alliance League Premier Division, which they finished second on a points-per-game basis.
Former Cardiff City player Layton Maxwell has stepped down as manager due to increased work commitments, with his assistant Darren Buttle and first-team coach Phil Booker appointed as his successors.
“We’re hoping for a smooth transition,” Booker says. “I don’t think we’ll have to go too far away from the foundations we’ve built over the last few years. We had a good working relationship with Layton, so it’s definitely going to be different without him in the dugout.
“This is my local club. I only ever played for The Dracs, and then coming back in a coaching capacity was great. Having the opportunity to now manage the club, in our first season at this level, is a privilege and something I will make sure is a success.”
The last few months have been frustrating for clubs below the Cymru Premier, particularly as the non-league system in England have returned to competitive action.
The Dracs have started playing friendlies in recent weeks as they aim to build up fitness levels ahead of a potential return in the new year.
“It’s not been easy to keep the players motivated,” Booker says. “Training can only get you so far, especially in the early stages when we would only train in bubbles of fives and sixes. The players have seen some of their friends from tier two going across the water and playing in the English set-up and it does affect them.
“But I think the boys are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now especially with tier two getting the go ahead. So we’ll just be sat over Christmas with our fingers crossed, hoping that we get our chance come the end of January.”
Behind the scenes, the club’s committee has been busy developing their ground, Lydstep Park, alongside the River Taff in Gabalfa, ahead of the new campaign.
Work has included the construction of a new stand and the erection of fencing around the pitch for fan safety. Meanwhile, the pitch has also undergone improvements.
Yanez says: “One of our former players had been away from the UK for two or three years but got back recently, and he popped over to watch a friendly on Saturday. He was really pleased to see what we’ve done as everything had changed.
“When he left it was almost the equivalent of a parks pitch, and now there’s a stand, there’s seating, just a total transformation. To see his surprise and shock was amazing and that’s pretty much the reaction that everyone has had.
“We have gone from just having a pitch that we hired off the council every game, to now having a pitch that we lease and maintain. We’re proud to put something like that in our community and the community is proud to have us there. It was a dream, going back five or ten years, and dreams do come true.”
During the summer, players and staff helped out with the ground improvements where they could, such as re-seeding and levelling out areas of the pitch. It emphasised how big of a role community plays at The Dracs and the friendly atmosphere that is created.
“We are pretty much like a family rather than a team,” Yanez says. “We’ve grown over the last few years, but we’re always there for each other. That’s part of the reason why we attract players. They don’t turn up just to play football, they love the vibe around the club too.”
This is echoed by Booker: “One thing you’ll find with The Dracs is that a lot of people come, but not many people actually leave. So you might start playing but you’ll always be involved with The Dracs in some way or form. The chairman often says, ‘Once a Drac always a Drac’, and I think there’s never been a truer statement said than that.”
