My maternal grandfather was born in Swansea in 1903. He was a life long lover of football in general and of Swansea Town in particular. The street in which he grew up was less than a mile from the cindered patch of land that the club transformed from allotments into the Vetch Field, and I'd like to think that in the early days of the Town he was there, on the big open North Bank, watching those early games in the Southern League division 2.
Swansea Town Make Promising Debut at Vetch Field.
Bravo Swansea Town!
The Swansea Town Soccer Club, about whose doings and expectations there has been so much discussion during the past couple of months, have at last made their bow before the Swansea spectators, and the ten thousand people at the Vetch Field, who came from all parts of South Wales, were delighted with their play. To have run a team like Cardiff, who have had a couple of season’s experience, to a draw in the first home match, was a performance of which every member of the Swansea Town team can, with satisfaction, be proud. One thing was proved beyond a doubt, and that was that the directors have a really capable lot of players at their disposal, and though the forwards were at fault with their shooting, their defence was exceptionally safe. The Swansea Town players were certainly the more aggressive lot, and more than once it was luck on the Cardiff side rather than skill which kept the Swansea men from scoring the winning goal. The duel for points in the closing stages was productive of some thrilling football, and both sides played for all they were worth. The Town team rose to the occasion in splendid style, and not only prevented Cardiff from getting on top, but they had a moral victory, and there was scarcely a spectator on the field who did not give Swansea credit for being the better side. Swansea’s luck was out. In a couple of weeks, when the players become better acquainted, they will hold their own with the best in the Second Division of the Southern League.South Wales Daily News 9.9.12
Swansea Town finished a respectable 3rd in their first season, in which ten out of the thirteen teams were from South Wales.
