A GROUP of friends who chose to follow a football club in Wrexham while studying at university 20 years ago are marking the anniversary of attending their first fixture.

Alex Morrison and his friends who were at Exeter University together will be making their annual trip to Cefn Mawr this weekend as Cefn Druids FC face Penrhyncoch in the Cymru North League.

Alex explained how it all came about: "21 years ago, I sat with a group of new friends in our halls at the University of Exeter, watching football scores on the “vidiprinter”. One caught our eye: A team called Flexsys Cefn Druids (now Cefn Druids) got thumped, I think 6-0. We knew at once they were our new team.

"I thought it would be funny to write them a letter asking if we could be their Exeter fan club - they called my bluff. A lovely chap called John Edwards sent us a box of scarves and shirts, with an open invite to visit.

"He said we'd be welcome 'as long as you don't bring more than 2,000 people'. So we hired a minibus and went to a game at Plaskynaston Lane (Cefn Druids' now former home)."

The Leader: The group during their first trip to Cefn Druids in 2002. The group during their first trip to Cefn Druids in 2002. (Image: Alex Morrison)

And with that, the tradition was born. 

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Alex, who is writing a book on local journalism, continued: "It was fun, too much fun. The 'Druids Till I Die' competition began. Simple rules: Go every year or you're out. We've been going ever since. Two of us are still in the competition but, more importantly, a load of us turn up each year - first at Plaskynaston and now at the impressive new stadium, The Rock." 

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They travel from all over the country for the annual pilgrimage, and some have even come from USA and New Zealand to maintain the tradition.

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Alex said: "We've even travelled all the way from our various homes only for the game to be snowed off, twice! We made the best of it by having our own match on the pitch.

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"Over the years, I've presented the man of the match award to a baffled young man while dressed as a druid. 

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"And tried to sneak myself into the team (using a suspiciously old-school Druids shirt)."

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Some of them even followed the Druids to Lithuania when they got into the Europa League. 

"The games that stick out for me are the Port Talbot game in around 2004 and the European trip," Alex said.

"The Port Talbot game was incredible. Druids were 2-0 down at half-time and came back to win 3-2 in torrential rain. There were three or four penalties, a punch-up and around five red cards, it was absolutely incredible.

"The European game was a great experience. We all met at Luton Airport and flew over to Lithuania - Druids lost narrowly but we stayed with the players and officials and that was absolutely amazing."

 

The group's annual travels were halted by the Covid pandemic, meaning Saturday's game will be the first they have attended in three years. 

Alex added: "This is our first trip since Covid so we're all really excited for it. There's a few coming from Devon, there's a couple of car loads coming from the London area and there's one guy coming from the Isle of Man.

"Bottom line: we love Cefn Druids and the annual trip has helped keep our group of friends together over the years."

Cefn Druids are one of Wales' oldest football clubs, having been formed in 1872. The club has spent most of the last 20 years in the Welsh Premier division but now find themselves in the second tier of Welsh football.

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