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The history of football in Newport is a remarkable story. Frequently fans have feared for its future, but their passion through the years has ensured its survival and, just occasionally, it thrives. There are some memorable tales to tell. To start at the beginning, in the late nineteenth century incoming ironworkers first tried to establish football in the area. It took a few years for their missionary work to take effect in a rugby stronghold, though in 1906-07, a Newport FC, with its home ground on Corporation Road, played in Division Two of the Western League, finishing as runners-up. Economic factors forced its closure and in 1912 the first Newport County was formed, originally taking the title ‘Newport & Monmouth County AFC’. They competed in the Southern League’s Second Division prior to the First World War, playing home games at Somerton Park. Upon the resumption of organised football in 1919-20, County were elected to Division One and this, 12 months later, became the Third Division of an expanded Football League. Money was always in short supply though and in 1931, County became the third club from the area to lose its League membership. Long forgotten Aberdare Athletic had been voted out four years earlier while the old Merthyr Town club failed in their re-election bid in 1930 as the economic depression hit South Wales harder than anywhere. However, after a season regrouping in the Southern League, County returned to the fold in 1932, though several more seasons of struggle followed before a remarkable campaign in 1938-39 when, with Billy McCandless at the helm, they strolled to the championship, and promotion to the Second Division. Optimism that County could flourish at this exalted level was given substance by a comfortable win against Southampton on their Division Two debut, with a home draw with Tottenham Hotspur followed by a narrow defeat at Nottingham Forest. However, with County just above halfway in the embryonic table, world war intervened for the second time in 25 years. Organised football was again suspended and we will never know what Newport County might have achieved if they had not been so rudely interrupted! Upon the resumption in 1946-47, County were out of their depth and conceded 133 goals, 20 of them in a two game spell with a 7-2 defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion followed by a 13-0 thrashing at Newcastle in front of 52,000 Geordies. Newport fans of that vintage preferred to recall the return game at Somerton when Newcastle were beaten 4-2 in a rare County triumph. The highlight of the following seasons was the 1948-49 FA Cup run when County won 3-1 at Elland Road against Leeds United before returning to Yorkshire to win a Fourth Round replay against First Division Huddersfield Town. That earned a glamour tie at Fratton Park against a Portsmouth side on their way to the League Championship. County led the best team in the land 2-1 at one stage and would have earned a home replay if it had not been for a rule then allowing for extra time in the first cup meeting and Pompey scraped through 3-2. County spent most of the next decade comfortably in mid-table, making the cut for the new national Third Division in 1958 when the upper halves of the northern and southern sections combined. Four seasons later though they had another dreadful time, finishing 12 points adrift at the bottom to drop into Division Four. Most of the following 18 seasons were spent in the lower reaches of the basement division with four anxious but successful applications to the League’s AGM for re-election. The appointment of first Colin Addison and then Len Ashurst heralded the most exciting period in the annals of Newport football as a thrilling squad was assembled who won a promotion and Welsh Cup double in 1980. With the likes of John Aldridge and Tommy Tynan going into local folklore, County flourished in Division Three and reached the Quarter-Final of the European Cup-Winners Cup only to suffer an agonising aggregate defeat to the East Germans from Carl Zeiss Jena. County beat Cardiff City at Somerton Park to go top of the Third Division on Easter Monday 1983 in front of 16,052 fans and promotion looked assured. However, with just four points from the remaining seven games, County missed out on a dream return to the higher echelons. The best team in their history was broken up and the club could not stop the slide towards its demise before the decade was out. After becoming the second team to suffer automatic relegation from Division Four in 1988, County’s attempt to survive in the Football Conference ended in farcical failure as the club was first suspended and then expelled for failure to fulfil fixtures as the bailiffs moved into Somerton Park. However, although supporter numbers were relatively small for the size of the community, the overwhelming desire of fans to see Newport back on the football map meant that a replacement club, Newport AFC, was formed in June 1989 and gained election to the Hellenic Football League as the first step on its intended journey back to the exclusive 92 club! Football politics dictated that the Cotswolds town of Moreton-in-Marsh had to be home to the new club, nicknamed the Exiles, but a championship and league cup double secured a place in the Midland Division of the Southern League at a Somerton Park ground given a makeover by fans after a season of neglect. Two years later it was back to Gloucestershire as the FAW refused to sanction Newport’s continued participation in the English football pyramid. In 1994 in the High Court the Exiles won the right to return and home has since been at the council owned sports complex at Spytty Park. The name Newport County AFC was restored in 1999, and in 2004 County qualified for the new tier of Conference football. For two seasons however County fought a nailbiting battle to avoid relegation back to the Southern League, though, with Peter Beadle at the helm, the 2006-07 season was much better. County achieved a final placing of sixth in Conference South with an average league attendance of 932, an increase of 35% on the previous term and missed out on a promotion play-off place only on the last day of the season. That improvement continued into last season with the club eliminating both Swansea City and Cardiff City on their way to the final of the FAW Premier Cup. On 11 March 2008 in front of a Newport Stadium attendance of 1,889, County beat Llanelli 1-0 to win the trophy and £100,000 in prize money. However the league campaign tailed off badly and for the second season in succession, County missed out on the promotion play-offs on the season's last day and Peter Beadle's appointment as manager was terminated. On 18 May former England B International Dean Holdsworth was appointed as manager and with attendances having averaged 1,000 for league games in 2007-08, the club is ready to push once again for a place at the pinnacle of non-league football in the Blue Square Premier League. The club runs a successful football academy in partnership with the local authority, and won the South West Counties Youth League for the fourth time in six seasons in 2008. Its website has been named the best in the division and its match programme has long been acclaimed as one of the best in non-league.