Newport County AFC The First 100 Years

In Newport County AFC: The First 100 Years, author and club historian Andrew Taylor celebrates Newport County AFC’s first century, detailing the club’s highs and lows over the years.

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The 2012/13 season marked 100 years of professional football in Newport, a century during which Newport County AFC has played a major role in raising the profile of the city, and taken generations of supporters on an emotional roller coaster, ranging from glorious successes to the depths of despair.

County’s first 100 years has seen many great highs: winning championships, a Wembley Cup Final and even stunning the football world by reaching the quarter finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup. Such successes are all the more treasured as the club regularly faced financial difficulties, bad luck and misfortune. Ultimately, this led to the lowest point any supporter could endure – the bankruptcy of the original club in 1989.

But this is also an inspiring story of defiant resistance, as the supporters immediately reformed the club against all odds and began battling for the right to regain their place in the Football League. County entered its centenary season at a new ground: Rodney Parade, the traditional home of Newport Rugby. With County having been formed as a local alternative to rugby, perhaps this will, after all, be where County come to enjoy their greatest success.