Llewelyn Kenrick

First international match

In January 1876, a Welshman living in London named G. Clay-Thomas put an ad in The Field calling for a Welsh rugby team to take on Scotland or Ireland. Llewelyn Kenrick saw it but felt the match should be played under Association football rules instead. He responded in The Field, saying North Wales footballers were up for the challenge, and he put out his own call for players. Anyone selected had to be born in Wales or have lived there long enough to qualify.

Kenrick reached out to Welsh clubs and universities to build a squad, but drew criticism for supposedly ignoring players from the south. Trial matches were held in February 1876 under the newly formed Football Association of Wales. Kenrick chose six men from his own club, Druids, two from local rivals Wrexham, and one from the English side Oswestry. Only one player, William Evans of Oxford University, came from South Wales.

The rest were from the north, except John Hawley Edwards, who was born in Shrewsbury, England, and had already played for England. The game against Scotland took place on 25 March 1876 at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, home of the West of Scotland Cricket Club. Wales lost badly, with Scotland scoring four goals to none. Kenrick played left back and did well; the match report noted that "Evans and Kenrick, the backs, played splendidly for Wales."

Football Association of Wales

The Football Association of Wales, initially called the "Cambrian Football Association," came to life at a meeting on 2 February 1876 in the Wynnstay Arms Hotel in Wrexham, set up mainly to sort out the details for an upcoming game against Scotland. A second meeting took place that May, this time in the ballroom of another Wynnstay Arms Hotel, this one in Ruabon. There, the name "Football Association of Wales" was settled, and a constitution was written.

The debate stretched on so long that a local policeman arrived to shut things down. Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, who was both a magistrate and a Member of Parliament, stepped in. He went next door, opened the court, and extended the hotel's licensing hours, letting the meeting carry on. When it finished, Kenrick was made the first chairman and honorary secretary, with John Hawley Edwards as the first treasurer.

Kenrick stayed with the FAW until 1884, leaving likely due to the move toward professional football. In 1897, after the FAW secretary was accused of fraud, Kenrick came back to steer the association through the trouble. He made his final departure a few months later, over a small disagreement about how gate money should be split among Welsh Cup semi-finalists and finalists.

The Welsh Cup

The Welsh Cup, the first domestic football competition in Wales, was launched by the FAW in 1877, with matches beginning that autumn. Nineteen clubs entered, but only seventeen actually put a team on the pitch. The very first match took place on Saturday, 13 October, between Newtown and the Druids. It ended in a 1-1 draw.

Play started at 2:30 before a large crowd, and a strong wind made conditions difficult. Evans put Newtown ahead in the first half, but Daniel Grey equalised for the Druids, forcing a replay. The match report noted that Ll. Kendrick stood out for the Druids.

The Druids won the replay 4-0 and advanced to the final against Wrexham. That final was a tense affair, scoreless until the final minute, when Wrexham’s forwards charged through the Druids’ defence to force the ball over the line, with James Davies credited with the winning goal. After losing their Plasmadoc ground in autumn 1878, the Druids temporarily disbanded. During this time, Kenrick played a single game for Wrexham but chose not to stay.

Instead, he and several Druids teammates joined Oswestry. By 1879, the Druids had secured the use of the Wynnstay ground, and Kenrick returned for one more season as captain. He led them to the Welsh Cup Final, where they beat Ruthin 2-1, with goals from Jack Vaughan and John Jones. As captain, Kenrick received the cup from Sir Evan Morris, who hailed him as the founder of Welsh football.

Later international career

Llewelyn Kenrick played left-back for Wales in the return match against Scotland on 5 March 1877 at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, but the Scots won again, 2–0. He did not play in the 1878 match, which Wales lost 9–0, but came back the following year for games against England and Scotland. Known as a small, muscular full-back with a reputation for fearsome shoulder charges, Kenrick had retired from playing by 1881. On 26 February 1881, he attended the match against England at Alexandra Meadows in Blackburn as a spectator.

When teammate Jack Powell missed his train connection at Chester, Kenrick stepped in wearing his everyday clothes and gave a splendid performance at right-back. Years later, William Pierce Owen recalled the scene: it was snowing and hailing, and Owen thought he saw a spectator run onto the field and violently attack the English right wing, Marshall and Rostron. Upon closer look, he realised it was Kenrick of Ruabon, dressed in long tweed trousers, ordinary boots, and a smart Oxford shirt.

Kenrick played with great vigour until his knee gave way, leaving Wales with only ten men again. According to the Wrexham Advertiser, English goalkeeper John Hawtrey threw the ball out but was charged over at the same moment, and Jack Vaughan ran up to put the ball safely through the goal for Wales.

The English side fired shot after shot at the Welsh goal, but each attempt failed. When time was called, Wales had won by one goal to love. This marked the first victory for the Welsh international team, five years after their first ever international match.

Did You Know?

• Kenrick played for the Shropshire Wanderers in the 1874–75 season and helped them reach the FA Cup semi-final, where they lost 1–0 to the Old Etonians.
• Kenrick was Clerk to the Ruabon Magistrates from 1896 and was appointed coroner for East Denbighshire in 1906, a post he held until his death.
• One writer who knew Kenrick well described him as 'thoroughly straightforward and conscientious' with a 'somewhat brusque manner' that perhaps offended many, but no one ever doubted his sincerity.