Rhyl F.C.
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| Full name | Rhyl Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Lilywhites |
| Founded | 1879 |
| Ground | Belle Vue, Rhyl |
| Capacity | 3,000 (1,720 seated) |
| Chairman | Paul Higginson |
| Manager | Niall McGuinness |
| League | Welsh Premier League |
| 2015–16 | Welsh Premier League, 11th |
Rhyl Football Club (Welsh: Clwb Pêl Droed Y Rhyl) is a Welsh football club from Rhyl in Denbighshire, playing in the Welsh Premier League.
The club was founded in 1879 (though a new limited liability company was formed in 1991) and the team plays its home matches at Belle Vue, which can accommodate 3,000 spectators.
Football in Rhyl dates from the late 1870s and at one time there were several Rhyl clubs in existence. Rhyl F.C. became founder members of the Welsh League, formed in 1890, but withdrew the following year. They reformed as Rhyl Athletic in 1893 and became founder members of the North Wales Coast League, winning the title in 1894–95. Rhyl Athletic joined forces with Rhyl Town in 1898 and in an ambitious move switched to the Anglo-Welsh competition known as The Combination. Despite financial crises, they remained in membership until the league disbanded at the end of the 1910–11 season. Under the name of Rhyl United, they rejoined the North Wales Coast League but, following the Great War, they moved to the North Wales Alliance, before becoming founder members of the Welsh National League (North) in 1921. Rhyl won the title in 1925–26 and became a limited company in 1928 as Rhyl Athletic. In 1929 Rhyl applied to join the Football League but York City became the only non-league team elected to the Third Division North. With North Wales football in turmoil in the early 1930s, Rhyl sought to realise their ambitions elsewhere. Another unsuccessful application to the Football League was made in 1932 before joining the Birmingham and District League. Seeking relief from the onerous travelling to the Birmingham area, Rhyl successfully applied to join the Cheshire County League in 1936 and began one of the most successful chapters in the club's history.
In a post-war purple patch, Rhyl won the league title twice – in 1947–48 and 1950–51 – and the Welsh Cup twice in succession. In 1952, they beat Merthyr Tydfil 4–3 and became the first non-league side in the modern era to retain the trophy, by defeating Chester City 2–1 the following season. Rhyl had been losing finalists to Cardiff City in 1930 and Crewe Alexandra in 1937, but did not feature in the final again until 1993, when they lost 5–0 to Cardiff City. Between 1948 and 1972 Rhyl appeared regularly in the first round proper of the FA Cup. In 1957 Rhyl reached the fourth round proper, losing 3–0 away to Bristol City. In the Cheshire County League, success eluded them for several years before they won the title in 1972. On the dissolution of the Cheshire County League in 1982, Rhyl became members of the North West Counties League, winning promotion to the Northern Premier League in their first season. In 1992, they reluctantly decided to join the League of Wales but, because their application was received too late, they were placed instead in the Cymru Alliance, the second level of the pyramid system. In 1993–94, they won the title by six points and gained promotion to the League of Wales.
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