Welsh football has the audience – now we need to give people a reason to come

Jack Sargeant

There is a fascinating experiment taking place at Connah’s Quay Nomads.

The question is a simple one: can the experience of staging some of the biggest sporting events in the world help create a bigger and better matchday experience for a local football club?

On Friday, 6 November, the Nomads welcome local rivals Flint Town United under the lights. It is being billed as Friday Night Lights, and Alex Catton, whose normal working life involves luxury sports travel and taking clients to major sporting occasions, is spending the weeks beforehand looking at every aspect of the experience – what works, what doesn’t, what can be improved and, ultimately, whether people will come through the gates.

It is an experiment I am really interested in because I think it goes to the heart of one of the biggest opportunities facing Welsh football.

We know people will come to Welsh football. We have seen it in recent years, with clubs across the Cymru Premier demonstrating that there is an appetite for the domestic game when supporters are given a reason to make the journey.

Look at Caernarfon Town and the extraordinary support they have built around the Oval. Look at Colwyn Bay, where more than 2,300 people turned out for their derby against Caernarfon earlier this year – the highest Cymru Premier attendance for 14 years at the time.

Then there is Penybont, where the recent Big Bont Bash attracted 2,666 people to the DragonBet Stadium – a record league crowd for the club and one of the biggest attendances in the history of the Cymru Premier. Free admission, entertainment, food and drink, children’s activities and the involvement of local organisations helped turn a league fixture into an occasion.

And that, I think, is the important word: occasion.

People don’t simply buy a ticket to watch 90 minutes of football any more. They buy into an experience.

That doesn’t mean we need to turn every Welsh football ground into a theme park. Far from it. The beauty of our clubs is their authenticity and their connection to their communities. But we do need to recognise what makes people want to leave the comfort of their homes, bring their families and friends, and spend an evening at a football ground.

The Football Association of Wales clearly recognises the opportunity. The new Cymru Premier structure, introduced for this season, has expanded the league from 12 to 16 clubs, with the FAW identifying increased attendances, stronger competition, a higher profile and commercial growth among its objectives.

The league has also adopted a new identity built around community connection, Welsh identity, authenticity and ambition. Those are the right ambitions, but they need to be matched by clubs, supporters, communities and everyone involved in the domestic game.

That is where the Nomads experiment becomes particularly interesting.

I have followed the Nomads home and away for many years, and I have some fantastic memories. There have been long journeys, great cup runs, European adventures and nights at Deeside that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

One of the great things about following a club is that you accumulate these memories without necessarily realising it. The trips to Scotland for the Irn-Bru Cup are among those that stand out for me. They were about the football, of course, but also about the people you travelled with, the conversations along the way and the shared experience when you finally got to the ground.

Then there were the European nights. For a club from Connah’s Quay to welcome European opposition to north Wales and create those occasions was something special. Those nights showed what is possible, but they also demonstrated something important about the Nomads: this is a club with a history, a story and a community behind it.

My connection with the club is also deeply personal. Members of my family and friends have played for the Nomads at different levels over the years, so when I talk about the club I am not simply talking about a badge or a football team. I am talking about people I know and generations of players, volunteers, supporters and families who have given something to the club.

Andy Morrison

That brings me to another part of the Nomads story which deserves recognition – the legacy of Andy Morrison.

Andy left an enormous mark on Connah’s Quay. He helped transform the club into a side capable of competing for honours and regularly qualifying for Europe, including those unforgettable European nights. John Disney, who played more than 300 times for the Nomads before becoming manager, has spoken about Morrison’s enormous influence on his career.

What I find particularly encouraging now is seeing the legacy of that era continue through the next generation. John is managing the Nomads, while on the other side of the Flintshire divide Danny Holmes – another former Nomads player and teammate of John’s – is managing Flint Town.

Two men who shared a dressing room are now standing in the technical areas on opposite sides of a local derby.

That is a wonderful illustration of what a football club can create. Players don’t simply pass through. They learn, develop, form relationships and take those experiences into the next stage of their careers. In time, they can find themselves managing clubs within the same Welsh football system.

That is a legacy worth celebrating, and it reinforces why attendances matter.

Pathway

A football club is not just about the first team. It is a pathway for young players, somewhere for coaches to learn, a place for volunteers to contribute and somewhere families can spend time together. It can provide friendships that last decades and create memories that stay with people for the rest of their lives.

That is why I don’t look at the question of attendances simply through the prism of numbers.

Of course, numbers matter. The FAW wants to grow the Cymru Premier, and clubs need sustainable commercial models and bigger crowds if that ambition is going to be realised. But behind every number is a person: a child seeing their first football match, a family coming together, a former player returning to watch, a group of friends making a night of it, or someone who hasn’t been through the turnstiles for ten years deciding to give it another go.

That’s how a crowd grows.

Perhaps that is the lesson we should take from Caernarfon, Colwyn Bay and Penybont. There is no single formula, but when clubs create a sense of identity, rivalry, belonging and occasion, people respond.

That gives me real optimism about the future of Welsh football.

We have spent a long time asking how we can persuade people to watch the domestic game. Perhaps the better question is: what can we do to make people want to be there?

Local derby

The Nomads and Flint have a perfect opportunity to explore that under the lights on Friday, 6 November. It is a local derby with history, rivalry and people at the heart of both clubs.

Let’s see what happens when we make a football match into an occasion. Because I suspect the answer is already sitting in the stands at Caernarfon, Colwyn Bay and Penybont.

The audience is there. We just need to give them more reasons to come. If we get that right, the future of Welsh football could be very exciting indeed.

Jack Sargeant was the Welsh Labour Member of the Senedd for Alyn and Deeside until May 2026. He served as Sports Minister in the Welsh Government and is a club ambassador for Connah’s Quay Nomads FC.

 Follow the Friday Night Lights journey on social media: https://www.instagram.com/alcatton and https://www.instagram.com/thenomadsfc

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