1912–13 Swansea Town A.F.C. season

Swansea Town
1912–13 season
Chairman	John William Thorpe
Player-manager	Walter Whittaker
Stadium	Vetch Field
Southern Football League	3rd
Welsh Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Billy Ball (8); All: Billy Ball (19)
	Home colours
	Home colours

The 1912–13 season was the first season in which Swansea Town (now known as Swansea City) took part in organised league and cup football. The club was elected to Division Two of the Southern Football League and also entered the Welsh Cup.

Review and events

A number of local businessmen met in the summer of 1912 to establish a professional association football club for Swansea. J. W. Thorpe was appointed chairman and the new board recruited players from across the United Kingdom to join the Southern League Second Division.^[1] The club leased the waste ground known as the Vetch Field from the Swansea Gaslight Company and prepared a clinker surface for its matches.^[1] Player-manager Walter Whittaker assembled a squad through newspaper advertisements and trial games, and more than 2,000 people attended the club's first practice match.^[2]

Swansea's first competitive match was played on 7 September 1912, when the Mayor of Swansea ceremonially kicked off against Cardiff City. Approximately 8,000 spectators attended, Billy Ball scored the club's first goal, and the match ended in a 1–1 draw.^[3]^[1] Swansea remained unbeaten in their first nine league matches and were undefeated at home throughout the season.^[4] Over a 24-match programme in which victories were worth two points and draws one point, the team won 12, drew 7 and lost 5, scoring 29 goals and conceding 23 to finish third with 31 points.^[5]

In the Welsh Cup, Swansea defeated Cardiff City 4–2 in the semi-final before drawing 0–0 with Pontypridd in the final and winning the replay 1–0.^[4] Following their successful debut campaign, the club constructed the central section of the South Stand and replaced the clinker surface with a grass pitch during the summer of 1913.^[1]

Match results

Southern League Division Two

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Division Two results
Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Goalscorers	Attendance
7 September 1912	Cardiff City	H	Draw	1–1	Ball	8,000
14 September 1912	Ton Pentre	A	Win	2–1	Grierson 2
21 September 1912	Newport County	A	Win	1–0	Grierson	5,000
5 October 1912	Mid-Rhondda	H	Win	1–0	Ball	6,000
9 November 1912	Pontypridd	H	Draw	0–0
25 December 1912	Llanelly	H	Draw	1–1	Coleman
28 December 1912	Aberdare Athletic	H	Win	5–4	Ball 3, Coleman, Grierson
18 January 1913	Mardy	H	Win	1–0	Grierson	6,000
23 January 1913	Aberdare Athletic	A	Draw	2–2	Coleman, Grierson
1 February 1913	Southend United	A	Loss	1–3	Grierson
8 February 1913	Luton Town	A	Win	4–0	Messer, Coleman 2, Grierson	6,000
20 February 1913	Pontypridd	A	Draw	0–0
1 March 1913	Newport County	H	Win	2–1	Ball 2 (1 p)	10,200
8 March 1913	Mid-Rhondda	A	Loss	0–1
15 March 1913	Cardiff City	A	Draw	0–0		12,000
21 March 1913	Croydon Common	H	Win	1–0	Hamilton	10,000
22 March 1913	Treharris	A	Win	3–1	Anderson 2, Messer
24 March 1913	Croydon Common	A	Loss	0–3		10,000
29 March 1913	Luton Town	H	Win	2–0	Ball, Anderson	8,000
1 April 1913	Mardy	A	Loss	0–4		2,000
8 April 1913	Llanelly	A	Loss	0–1		6,000
26 April 1913	Southend United	H	Win	1–0	Anderson
28 April 1913	Ton Pentre	H	Draw	0–0
30 April 1913	Treharris	H	Win	1–0	Jepp

Source:^[6]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Promotion
1	Cardiff City	24	18	5	1	54	15	3.600	41	Promoted to Division One
2	Southend United	24	14	6	4	43	23	1.870	34	Promoted to Division One
3	Swansea Town	24	12	7	5	29	23	1.261	31
4	Croydon Common	24	13	4	7	51	29	1.759	30
5	Luton Town	24	13	4	7	52	39	1.333	30

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976-77 season. The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.

Welsh Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Score	Goalscorers	Attendance
31 October 1912	PreQ	Milford	H	Win	3–1	Ball 3	1,000
2 November 1912	1	Mond Nickel	H	Draw	2–2	Messer, Davidson
7 November 1912	1r	Mond Nickel	A	Win	5–0	Ball 2, Grierson 2, Swarbrick
7 December 1912	2	Llanelly	H	Win	2–1	Messer (p), Ball	3,000
4 January 1913	3	Wrexham	A	Win	3–1	Ball 2, Swarbrick	2,000
25 January 1913	4	Merthyr Town	A	Win	3–0	Soady 2, Coleman
15 February 1913	SF	Cardiff City	N	Win	4–2	Ball 3, Grierson
19 April 1913	F	Pontypridd	N	Draw	0–0		8,310
24 April 1913	Fr	Pontypridd	N	Win	1–0	Grierson	10,000

Source:^[7]

Player details

List of squad players, including number of appearances by competition

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Southern League Division Two		Welsh Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1		ENG	D Anderson	8	4	7	4	1	0
2	FW	ENG	Billy Ball	26	19	19	8	7	11
3		ENG	T Brazell	2	0	1	0	1	0
4	DF	ENG	Arthur Cleverley	22	0	18	0	4	0
5		ENG	J Coleman	26	6	18	5	8	1
6		ENG	H Davidson	2	1	1	0	1	1
7	MF	ENG	John Duffy	32	0	23	0	9	0
8	GK	ENG	E Fisher	22	0	17	0	5	0
9		ENG	G Fyfe	7	0	7	0	0	0
10		ENG	RT Grierson	27	12	19	8	8	4
11	DF	ENG	Jock Hamilton	26	1	19	1	7	0
12	MF	ENG	Sam Jepp	28	1	20	1	8	0
13		ENG	P Jones	1	0	1	0	0	0
14	FW	WAL	Willie Messer	26	4	19	2	7	2
15	DF	ENG	Jack Nicholas	29	0	21	0	8	0
16		ENG	F Prideaux	14	0	10	0	4	0
17		ENG	Soady	3	2	2	0	1	2
18		ENG	A Sutherland	15	0	9	0	6	0
19	FW	ENG	Jimmy Swarbrick	31	2	22	0	9	2
20		ENG	J Weir	5	0	4	0	1	0
21	GK	ENG	Walter Whittaker	11	0	7	0	4	0

Source:^[8]

Transfers

Transfers out

Date	Name	Fee	Ref.
27 June 1913	F Prideaux	Released	^[8]
27 June 1913	RT Grierson	Released	^[8]
27 June 1913	Soady	Released	^[8]

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "A history of the club". 100 Years of Swansea City. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
^ "Club". 100 Years of Swansea City. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
^ "Classic seasons: 1912–13". Swansea City A.F.C. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
^ ^a ^b "The story of the Swans – Part One". Read The League. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
^ "Swansea Town". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
^ Jones 2012, pp. 1–2
^ Jones 2012, p. 3
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jones 2012, p. 4

Bibliography

Jones, Colin (2012). Swansea Town & City Football Club: The Complete Record, 1912–2012. From Southern League to Premier League. Dinefwr Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-904323-26-6.
Jenkins, Geraint H. (2012). Proud to be a Swan, The History of Swansea City AFC. Ceredigion: Y Lolfa Cyf. ISBN 978-1-84771-481-7.

[SwansHistory-1] "A history of the club". 100 Years of Swansea City. Retrieved 21 March 2026.

[SwansClub-2] "Club". 100 Years of Swansea City. Retrieved 21 March 2026.

[ClassicSeasons-3] "Classic seasons: 1912–13". Swansea City A.F.C. Retrieved 21 March 2026.

[StorySwans-4] "The story of the Swans – Part One". Read The League. Retrieved 21 March 2026.

[FCHD-5] "Swansea Town". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 21 March 2026.

[Jones1912League-6] Jones 2012, pp. 1–2

[Jones1912Cup-7] Jones 2012, p. 3

[1912Summary-8] Jones 2012, p. 4

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Swansea City A.F.C. seasons
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