The celebrations were underway at the Ynysydarren Ground last weekend after the club were crowned champions of Division 1 West Central with two games to spare – without even taking to the field.
That was due to Bonymaen’s 21-14 defeat at Maesteg Celtic in their final league match of the season. Now ‘Fera can go into cruise control in their final few fixtures against Skewen and Ammanford, which are both at home.
“We’re very proud that we’ve managed to finish on top. It’s been hard work and a long season; there are good sides in Division One and it has been a contest all the way through,” said Ystalyfera vice chairman David Carter.
“We have every respect for Bonymaen, who we know well. They are a very good side and one of only three sides to have beaten us this season in any competition.
“For us, as we’ve been going along, it has only been about the next game, rather than the bigger picture and we’ve done it our way.”
Next on the silverware agenda will be the defence of their the West Wales Cup title against fellow Division 1 West Central outfit Glynneath. They are also in the final of the High Motive Glamorgan County Silver Ball, where they will meet Nantyffyllon at Bridgend’s Brewery Field on 18 May.
Ystalyfera made the final of the Silver Ball after defeating Nant’s fellow Two West Central title challengers Birchgrove 30-15 in their semi-final clash at Glynneath last week. Ryan James, Luc Caines, Ben Williams, Jesse Patton and a penalty try were on the scoresheet for the Fera. Steff Castle also sent over a penalty.
Lewis Cox and Nathanial Llewellyn got the Birch tries with Jamie Sturgess adding five points from the tee. Ystalyfera have already recorded a win over Nantyffyllon in cup competitions this season, defeating them 49-14 in the first round of the WRU National Plate at the end of September.
But perhaps top of their list before the season ends will be the two-legged play-off against Division 1 West champions Felinfoel. At stake then will be promotion to next season’s WRU National Championship.
Ystalyfera last met Felinfoel at the end of last season, defeating them 27-6 at Loughor to lift the West Wales Cup. Should they prevail in the play-off, the club would then have a big decision to make about whether or not to take promotion to the Championship.
“That decision would be entirely up to our players. They would get together and decide, as it’s them who have got to go out on to that field. It would be a big challenge and obviously the Championship is very hard division,” added Carter.
“Over the years, we’ve come out from the old Division Eight way back, that’s where we started in the National League. We’ve worked our way up and we’ve done it gradually and steadily.
“We’ve sort of jumped into divisions, managed to hang on for a couple of seasons and then we’ve got our heads together, rose to the top of the division and won promotion. I remember when we were champions of Division 3 in 2014 and we were put into Division One thanks to a league reorganisation at the time,
“People were saying then that it was a hell of a jump, that it would be torture and we were going to get hammered every game. But it didn’t work like that.
“Yes, we lost a few games and were overwhelmed by certain sides, but we hung in there and we won enough games to keep us there. We’ve steadied ourselves in Division 1, just avoided relegation twice, but then we crept up into mid-table, last season we finished second and this year we’ve finished top.”
This season’s run to the title has seen them win 16 of their 18 games to date in the league, losing only at Glynneath and Bonymaen. Their only other defeat so far was at the hands of Treorchy, 27-26, in the second round of the National Plate.
