Newport Association Football Club Ltd and others v Football Association of Wales Ltd

Newport County A.F.C. were originally founded in 1912 and were one of a number of football clubs in industrial South Wales invited to join the Southern Football League in England. At the end of the 1919–20 season the majority of the Southern League became the new Third Division of the Football League. In 1989, having been automatically relegated out of the Football League the previous season, the club was liquidated with debts of £330,000 (). Fans created Newport A.F.C. as a phoenix club, however, they were barred by Newport City Council from using the club's old Somerton Park ground as the council viewed the new company as a continuation of the old and asserted they owed back rent for the ground. Whereas the FAW ruled they were a new club with no connection to Newport County. The club's stated aim was to regain Football League status, and as such, they started in the Hellenic League, which as part of the English football league system allowed eventual promotion back to that level and as Wales had historically had no national league. In 1992, the FAW created the League of Wales and invited Newport to join. The club declined and although the FAW had granted permission for them to continue to play in the English leagues, they banned them and any other Welsh club playing in the English leagues below the Football League from playing their scheduled matches at home in Wales. The action resulted in Newport having to groundshare with Moreton Town F.C. in Gloucestershire. The decision affected seven other Welsh clubs that played in the English football pyramid, Bangor City, Barry Town, Caernarfon Town, Colwyn Bay, Merthyr Tydfil, Newtown, and Rhyl, whom began to collectively be referred to by the Welsh press as the "Irate Eight". Four of the affected clubs joined the League of Wales, but Merthyr Tydfil, Newport, Caernarfon Town, and Colwyn Bay remained. The latter three appealed the FAW's decision but their appeal was rejected after a hearing. After an attempt at obtaining arbitration that failed and due to the excessive costs of playing away in England, Newport sued the FAW on the grounds of restraint of trade in what had been stated as the first occasion where an individual football club has taken its football association to court. The club cited inconsistencies in application as Merthyr Tydfil played in the Football Conference yet were allowed to play the club's home games in Wales and had permission to continue to play in Wales if they were relegated. This was due to Merthyr Tidfil being successful in an independent FAW appeal. == Case ==

The case was heard at the High Court in London before Mr Justice William Blackburne in April 1995. The clubs requested an urgent injunction to allow them to play in Wales during the case and sought a declaratory judgement that the FAW's decision to ban them from playing in Wales was an "unreasonable" restraint of trade and requested £300,000 () each in compensation for breach of contract. The FAW responded saying the court had no jurisdiction to grant an injunction without the declaratory judgement. The court had previously ruled in August 1994 that it did have the power to issue such an injunction if it wished. Mr Justice Blackburne considered the case based upon the case of Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Dickson. He ruled on 11 April that the FAW's ruling had been a restraint of trade but considered whether this was a justified one. The breach of contract compensation claims were denied. == Aftermath ==

Despite the judgment in favour of Newport, the world football governing body FIFA announced that they would seek to ban the 3 clubs from playing as a punishment for suing the FAW. In December 1995, following a request from the FAW "in the interests of peace", the bans were later rescinded in favour of a requirement that the clubs join the League of Wales by 1997, which never occurred. In 1997, FIFA did not attempt to enforce the requirement. Though the clubs played in leagues governed by The FA, jurisdiction for disciplinary matters relating for the Welsh clubs in English leagues remained with the FAW. The situation continued until 2011 when it was revealed that Cardiff City could not be punished for breaching FA third-party ownership rules as the FAW had no such rules. Following the revelation, The FA would assert disciplinary jurisdiction over Welsh clubs playing in the English Football League. Newport would subsequently repurchase the trademark for their previous club's name and would compete as Newport County A.F.C., winning promotion to the Football League in 2013. Colwyn Bay would follow suit in 2019, leaving the Northern Premier League Division One West to join the FAW's Cymru North. == References ==