| The football club started out of the cricket club in the
city and indeed played their home games at Sophia Gardens (now home to
Glamorgan Cricket club) for some time. While scores were fairly
low, a few balls ended up in the river, because they were known as
Riverside from 1899 until 1902 for their proximity to the nearby waters
of the River Taff. In 1902, they added Albion to the end of their
name and by then had also strutted their stuff at Old Park, Fir Gardens
and finally ended up at Ninian Park by 1920, when they turned
professional. The site was formerly a rubbish dump and for the
first few years players were injured by glass and other debris rising up
through the turf. However, the biggest shock came when a bed-stead
protruded out of one of the goal-mouths on a particularly muddy
day. The original name for the ground was to be Sloper Park, but
luckily for the Blues, Lord Ninian (who kicked off their first game at
the new ground and scored the winner against Aston Villa late on) gave
his name as well as his money to the venture to develop the pride of
Wales, with 10 Scotsmen and one native Welshman to take the field in the
shirts of the new club.
The club joined the League in 1920 and in 1924, they came second in
Division One, failing to land the championship by 0.024 of a goal.
Len Davies was their frail, but successful forward at the time and he
missed a penalty in that season, which could have secured the
championship for the Welsh side. The next season, the Bluebirds
got to the FA Cup semi-final, but two years later reached Wembley for
the Final itself. On the way Davies hit a 40 yard shot against Chelsea
in the FA Cup and the referee had to ask a policeman behind the goal if
it had gone in - everyone was so amazed the slight striker could hit the
ball so far !! In the Final they met Arsenal and started what was
to be a long-running series of giant-killings for the London side.
One goal, which squirmed off the keeper's new shiny jersey, settled the
match and took the cup out of England for the only time.
In 1929, Cardiff conceded a then record low of 59 goals, but still
got relegated and by 1934 they had plummeted to the bottom of the Third
Division (South), having to be re-elected to stay in the League.
The ground suffered a tragedy in 1937, when thieves broke in and tried
to blow up the safe, but only succeeded in setting the stand
alight. Their recovery took some time - winning 30 out of 42
games in 1947 to take the Third Division (South) title and they did
return to the top flight in the 1950's, before heading back down to the
lower rungs of the League ladder. During the Fifties, they were
drawn away to Leeds United in 1955, '56 and '57 in the FA Cup and they
won each game 2-1 in front of a crowd that was the same size for each
tie !!
More recently, they have been trawling the lower end of the League,
but in 1993 won the Division 3 championship and gaining promotion to
Div. 2 again last season. In European competition, for which they
have qualified through winning the Welsh Cup on many occasions, they
have had some notable successes - in 1970 beating Real Madrid in the
home leg of a Cup-Winners Cup tie and even managing to overcome FC Blau-Weiss
of East Germany, the city that Cardiff is twinned with !! For a long
time their most famous headlines have been for crowd trouble and
financial struggles, but now it looks like the club are on firm ground
(which is more than could be said for their original pitch) and hope to
move forward into the 21st Century with ambition. This has
received a knock-back as they were relegated from Division 2 at the end
of the 1999-2000 season, being passed on their way down by their main
rivals Swansea City. Under the bizarre leadership of Chairman Sam
Hamman, the Bluebirds have soared up the league and into Div. 2 for the
2001-2002 season, having gained automatic promotion, passing their main
rivals Swansea City who were on the way down.
Having got
planning permission for a new stadium, it looks like it is good times
ahead for the Bluebirds if they can get out of the Championship (as it
is now known) with a good push for promotion in 2006-07. The only
black cloud on the horizon is the arrival of Peter Ridsdale who has
taken over from Hamman and his duties might include him wanting to "live
the dream" as he did at Leeds United.
FAMOUS PLAYERS : - John
Toshack, Bob Stand, Fred Keenor, Phil
Dwyer, Barry Swift, Don Clark.
FAMOUS FANS : - Super Furry Animals (Band), Mike Young (creator of
SuperTed), Neil Kinnock (Euro MP), David Sullivan (Chairman - Birmingham
City) |
