Since the FAW excluded clubs playing in the English leagues which included six Welsh Clubs at the time from playing in the Welsh Cup in 1996, a new competition was announced where the best teams in Wales could compete. This is where the FAW Premier Cup came in. The competition was first played in 1997 and last played in 2008 but during the 11 years the competition was played it gave teams from the Welsh Premier League to test themselves against the Football League teams at the time in Cardiff City, Swansea City and Wrexham.
The original format of incorporated the three that were playing in the Football league along with Merthyr Tydfil and the four Welsh Premier League clubs. Until the 2001-02 season Merthyr Tydfil had a guaranteed as Newport County and Colwyn Bay were not invited to take part. From then on wards, the highest placed of the three were invited, subsequently Colwyn Bay never qualified for the competition. From 2004-05 on wards, the competition was expanded to 16 clubs, the top 10 from the Welsh Premier League, joined by the two best-placed of the three teams from Newport County, Merthyr Tydfil or Colwyn Bay, but as mentioned before, those two teams were always Newport County and Merthyr Tydfil, the winners of the Welsh Cup plus Cardiff City, Swansea City and Wrexham.
The competition also offered a very healthy prize fund. A share of the TV coverage matches as some matches were shown live on BBC Wales, the share was an even split between both clubs. The losing semi-finalists each received £25,000 , with the losing finalists receiving £50,000 and the winners netting themselves £100,000. The senior clubs in the competition were accused of taking it lightly especially Cardiff City after the arrival of ambitious owner Sam Hammam, Cardiff enjoyed success in the Football League but only won the FAW Premier Cup once after beating arch-rivals Swansea City in front of 6,629 fans in the 2002 final at Ninian Park. Wrexham were the most successful team in the competition’s short history winning it five times while appearing in the final eight times.
Four Welsh Premier League teams appeared in the final which would’ve been somewhat of a financial jackpot for those clubs. Barry Town won the competition in 1999 overcoming Wrexham in the final at The Racecourse Ground. Rhyl lost to Wrexham in the 2004 final, while The New Saints overcame Newport County in 2007 and Llanelli lost to Newport in 2008. The competition saw it’s demise after BBC Wales announced they were withdrawing their sponsorship of the competition, with no financial backing the competition was cancelled after the 2008 edition. In the 2011-12 season the FAW announced that the six exiled clubs would again be invited to participate in the Welsh Cup, Merthyr Town, Newport County and Wrexham all accepted while Cardiff City, Swansea City and Colwyn Bay all rejected the invitation. However the three clubs that initially accepted their invitation all pulled out as UEFA announced that they would refuse entry into the Europa League to any club in the English leagues system if they did win the Welsh Cup.
During it’s 11 years of existence the FAW Premier Cup brought some entertainment to the clubs of Wales, and gave the clubs of the Welsh Premier League the chance to play against clubs the size of Cardiff and Swansea albeit they did play against weakened sides. Having started off in a group format, the competition changed in 2004 to a knockout style Cup which gave the smaller clubs more of a chance in a one-off game than having to go through a group then a two-legged tie. As a fan, it was a change to see the likes of The New Saints, Llanelli, Bangor and so on come up against clubs like Cardiff and Swansea in competitive games. The significant backing the competition received from BBC Wales showed it could’ve grown but sadly it wasn’t to be and it reached an unfortunate end.
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