Llantwit Major FC: The club with dinosaurs on the kits and a big Argentinian fan base

At Østerbro Stadium in the heart of Copenhagen, Ben Dudley sits and watches the Welsh players from Llantwit Major FC, who are inspecting the pitch about an hour before kick-off. The players are in good spirits, greeting the 20-30 traveling fans who are already in the stands singing songs.

“I started off as one of their worst-ever players. Then I stopped playing. To begin with, I just wanted to get involved in the club because this is my main club. I don't support any other team,” Dudley begins when asked about his role in the club, where he is kind of a jack of all trades. At the club, he handles both social media and serves on the club's committee.

Dudley is basking in the Copenhagen sunshine because of the Fenix Trophy, an annual European football tournament between semi-professional and amateur clubs. The tournament was founded in 2021, and since then, clubs from across Europe, from Wales to Romania, have competed for the trophy, which is decided in a final-4 round in Italy, where the tournament also originated. Tonight, BK Skjold from Denmark hosts the final round of the group stage.

“It was actually me who got us into this competition. I heard about it last season and thought, ‘Wow, that's something that we need to get involved in.’ I tracked the organizer down and told him a bit about the club and what makes us interesting,” says Dudley.

The big fan base in Argentina

From the outside, it might be hard to find many points that make Llantwit Major FC, located in the town of the same name on the Bristol Channel coast with just under 10,000 inhabitants, so interesting. However, they do have a large fan base in Argentina.

“We probably have more fans in Argentina than we do in Wales,” Dudley says before explaining how the club attracted Argentine supporters.

“Two years ago, we released a Boca Juniors-inspired kit. I posted it on Twitter, and when I opened Twitter a few hours later, I had 18,000 notifications. And it was all these Argentinians trying to work out how they could buy the shirt. If we win a match, all the comments on our Instagram page will be in Spanish,” he says, laughing.

‍

It’s not just the Boca Juniors-inspired kit that has gone viral among the Welsh players. For the past few seasons, the goalkeeper has often worn a unique outfit, and today is no exception. Dudley is personally good friends with the goalkeeper, and two seasons ago, Dudley decided to create a jersey inspired by a windmill, as their home ground is also called.

“The goalkeeper told me, ‘I bet you can't make something worse than this one.’ And I accepted that challenge. We’re going to do a competition for next season where people can design the goalkeeper's kit. We’ll do it on social media, and people can send in their submissions.”

Is he going to wear the windmill shirt tonight?

“No, he's going to wear a yellow kit with a dinosaur driving a truck.”

Rebuilding the club from scratch

There has been significant player turnover in the Welsh club in recent years. Dudley talks about Llantwit Major FC's remarkable journey through the Welsh football divisions.

"In Wales, there are six divisions, and after that, it's pretty much pub football," he explains. "Ten years ago, we were in Division Six. We moved up to Division Five, Four, Three, and Two. In eight years, we achieved four promotions without money or anything. It was actually the same team all the way through."

Two years ago, Llantwit Major FC won Division Two, which would normally result in promotion to the Welsh Premier League. But the Welsh FA, the governing body, did not allow them to move up because their stadium did not meet the requirements. After this disappointment, the club lost nearly its entire team of 20 players; 17 of them left the club. The manager went to another team and took 14 players with him, and Llantwit Major FC had to rebuild the team from scratch. Fortunately for the club, they managed to gather enough points, and with a victory in the last round, survival was secured.

“I think we're at a nice level now in Division Two, where it's not just about the money. Whereas if we were to go into the Welsh Premier League, we would need a lot more money from sponsorships and we'd have to raise our prices.”

“Right now our league is quite regional. The furthest away match is 1.5 hours. It's still far, but it's not a lot. You don't stay overnight or anything like that. And if we went up into the Premier League, then you're maybe 4 or 5 hours away. Then you need to have a team bus. So we're at a nice level right now. And obviously now that we have the Fenix Trophy, it helps us to play in those big matches that you miss out on a bit by not being in the top flight.”

“When we are speaking to a player, they ask if we have a Veo”

The reason Llantwit Major FC is participating in this year's Fenix Trophy is not only for the players to get European matches on their CVs but also because the club identifies with the values that the tournament emphasizes.

“It’s values like friendship, quality, and being nice to each other. That's really what it is about. It's obvious that we go out there and want to win. But actually, we would rather lose with a team of nice people than win with a team of idiots. That’s what we've always said.”

“No one that plays for us is ever going to play Champions League or Europa League or Conference League. So this is really the closest that they can come. After our first game, the players told me that it was like the best moment of their career. The player who scored the winning goal is from Belgium, and because it was live-streamed, there was a bar in Belgium streaming it, and his family went nuts when he scored,” Dudley says.

On the sidelines for today's match, a Veo Cam is ready to live stream the game, and back in Wales, Llantwit Major FC also uses Veo Cams extensively, both to analyze the games and attract new players.

“When we first got Veo some years ago, it was key for us that we could review the matches. But then social media has actually become equal with that. I would say it's helped us to attract players because we have a Veo. The players love to be able to watch themselves back, and because our matches aren't on TV or anything like this, it's the only way. Often, when we are speaking to a player who wants to sign for us, they ask if we have a Veo,” Dudley ends.

The match between BK Skjold and Llantwit Major FC ended 3-2. Unfortunately, neither team managed to advance from the group stage, thus missing out on the final four in Italy. It has not yet been announced which teams will compete in the 24/25 edition of the Fenix Trophy.

‍