THE Football Association of Wales (FAW) has today announced a restructuring of the third tier of the men’s domestic game.

A new brand identity and sponsorship have also been unveiled.

Sixty-four clubs from across the country, including 13 Gwent clubs, make up the regional divisions, under a new identity of the Ardal Leagues.

Ardal Northern consists of the Ardal NE and Ardal NW divisions, whilst Ardal Southern includes Ardal SE and Ardal SW.

The new Ardal SE league will be home to 13 Gwent clubs:

  • Abergavenny Town
  • Abertillery Bluebirds
  • Abertillery Excelsiors
  • Caldicot Town
  • Chepstow Town
  • Croesyceiliog
  • Goytre FC
  • Monmouth Town
  • Newport City
  • Panteg
  • Tredegar Town
  • Treowen Stars
  • Trethomas Bluebirds

The other two teams in the league will be Llandrindod Wells and Rhayader Town.

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Ardal translates as ‘Region’ and represents the four quarters of the country which feed into the national leagues of Cymru North and Cymru South, which in turn provides teams to the Cymru Premier.

Abergavenny Town first team manager Ben Murphy welcomed the announcement.

"The restructure is a huge step forward for football in Wales," he said.

"It will strengthen the game nationally.

"We are really excited to start the new season and have some fantastic Gwent derbies to look forward to."

This sentiment was echoed by Sam Houldsworth, chairman and first team manager of Newport City, whose side will also turn out in the new Ardal SE next season.

"We have been working hard to make sure we were involved in the new tier 3 and all of last season was working towards this," he said.

"We knew with the stadium we would be fine to meet criteria but it was work behind the scenes that set us in a good position to really push on.

"This means more publicity and has helped us attract better players.

"Not only this but we have junior clubs (male and female) approaching us to join the club and we will have two women’s teams next season.

"Our reserves will also be playing in the new FAW reserve division

"We hope that we can now push on and will be looking to the people of Newport to come and support us when the league restarts as we work hard to be a bigger part of the local community."

The Ardal Leagues are being supported by new title sponsor partners.

Ardal Southern is sponsored by Floodlighting and Electrical Services, a Pontyclun company which has specialised in sports floodlighting for more than 40 years.

Rhys Harrington, Director of Floodlighting and Electrical Services, said: “We were keen to align ourselves with an organisation that shares the same passion and values as Floodlighting and Electrical Services.

“In our 40 years of business providing floodlighting and electrical solutions to football clubs across Wales, we understand first-hand the value and life-line clubs can provide in the heart of communities, with challenging times ahead we are delighted to support the FAW on providing for their customer needs.”