Ice Hockey team

Ynyshir Albions

Club · Wales · FAW Championship

«The Buns»

72 Matches

16 wins

14 draws

42 losses

78–148 Goals

−70 Difference

1.1 Scored per game

Form D W D L W D

Ynyshir Oval sits at 2,000 capacity by one count, closer to 1,500 by another, with room for perhaps 150 spectators seated across two small stands — the rest stand pitchside, which tells you most of what there is to know about the level this club plays at. Ynyshir Albions have called it home since the club took shape in 1992, formed out of a merger of village sides that had each carried a piece of the name before: Wattstown, Ynyshir Rangers, Ynyshir Albion, Ynyshir United.

The club, nicknamed The Buns, has spent most of its existence working through the lower tiers of Welsh football rather than near the top of them. The pattern repeats: a Rhondda & District League title in 1997–98, South Wales Senior League silverware either side of the millennium, a South Wales Alliance League Division Two championship in 2015–16. Each one marked a step rather than an arrival.

The step that mattered came in 2018–19, when Craig Wells was in his fourth season as player-manager. Wells had already worn the shirt across three separate spells at the club, more than 200 appearances and 115 goals, before taking charge of the side in 2015. Under him, Ynyshir Albions won the South Wales Alliance League Premier Division and were promoted into the Welsh Football League for the first time in the club's history. He left the post in December 2019, handing over to Craig Hopkins, who had been running the youth setup; Dane Williams took over as manager in April 2022.

Since then the club has reached the Ardal Southern League playoff final twice, in 2021–22 and again in 2024–25, and won both, each time going up into Cymru South. No player or manager connected with Ynyshir Albions has gone on to senior Welsh international football or a professional club beyond Wales — the step from village football into anything higher than the fourth tier of the Welsh pyramid is one The Buns have yet to take.

Latest results

All matches

5 Sep	FAW Championship	Pontypridd Town H
31 Aug	FAW Championship	Afan Lido A	0:0	D
28 Aug	FAW Championship	Newport City A	1:0	W
22 Aug	FAW Championship	Caerphilly Athletic A	1:2	L
15 Aug	FAW Championship	Aberystwyth Town H
7 Aug	FAW Championship	Caerau (Ely) A	1:1	D