Club History
It is accepted that the first competitive matches in Ton Pentre were underway in 1896 and the Ynys Park club have represented the soccer loving fans of the Rhondda ever since. The Bulldogs were members of the Southern League from 1909-1915 and again after the First World War, 1919-1922 which saw Ton Pentre playing against opposition such as Luton Town, Southend United, Cardiff City, Aberdare, Stoke, Coventry City, Brentford, Portsmouth and Swansea Town.
In 1919, Ton Pentre were involved in a preliminary round match of the FA Cup when over 20,000 people watched the Bulldogs defeat Mid Rhondda at Tonypandy. It is thought to be the biggest crowd to have ever gathered in the Rhondda. Ton Pentre made their one and only Welsh Cup Final appearance on 4th May 1922 at Pontypridd where they played Cardiff City. The Bulldogs lost the match 2-0 with Len Davies and Jimmy Gill netting Cardiff’s goals.
The post-war coal boom collapsed in 1923 and valley teams such as Mid Rhondda, Pontypridd, Porth and Aberaman disappeared under financial strain. Ton Pentre were able to continue, but only at the expense of leaving Southern League football for more localised Welsh League football.
Ton Pentre’s present day set-up dates from 1935 since which the Bulldogs established themselves as a potent force, however although invited to participate in the inaugural season of the League of Wales, they declined preferring to gain promotion as a right, by winning the Welsh League Division 1 in 1992-93.
Ton Pentre’s stay in the League of Wales saw the club finish a credible third place in each of their first two seasons. In 1995-96 they became the first Welsh participants in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, playing Heerenveen (Holland), Beckescsaba (Hungary), Leiria (Portugal) & Naestved (Denmark) in Group 4.
Unfortunately, the European experience proved to be an expensive one for the Bulldogs and their European ‘hangover’ resulted in a drain on resources. After being dragged to the brink of insolvency, the Rhondda club were forced to resign from the League of Wales at the end of 1996-97.
Back in the Welsh League, Ton Pentre won Division 1 five times in consecutive seasons between 1997 & 2002, which equalled the league record held by Barry Town. Ton Pentre were again crowned Welsh League Champions in the 2004-05 season for an incredible sixth time in eight seasons and for a record 11th time after earlier wins in 1957-58, 1960-61, 1973-74, 1981-82 as well as 1992-93 of course.
After suffering their first ever relegation at the end of the 2009-2010 due to league restructuring, Ton Pentre bounced straight back after lifting the Division 2 title by finishing the league season unbeaten with 22 league wins and 8 draws. The stay in Division 1 was to be for seven seasons, until relegation in 2018-19, after a reprieve the previous season due to club licencing criteria and other clubs being relegated. In 2019-20 the club finished the final season of the Welsh League in 10th place on the points per game average due to the pandemic and now take their place in the inaugural Ardal Southern League, South West Division.
