Bartley Wilson

Acknowledged as the founder of Cardiff City Football Club, he was born in Bristol on 3 January 1870 but lived in Cardiff for 67 years. He first became involved with Riverside Cricket Club and then helped to found Riverside AFC as the popularity of football grew in 1899. Wilson oversaw the amalgamation of Riverside and Riverside Albion in 1902. Three years later, Cardiff was officially named a city by King Edward VII and Wilson immediately applied to the South Wales & Monmouthshire Football Association (SWMFA) to change the name of the team to Cardiff City.

In September 1908, Riverside AFC were officially granted permission by the SWMFA to adopt their new name and became Cardiff City. However, the club was deemed to be playing at too low a level to represent the city. To improve the club’s status, the Committee successfully applied for election to the South Wales Amateur League. Wilson was instrumental in the club moving from local amateur league to being a fully professional football club in 1910 by joining the Second Division of the Southern Football League.

Following the club’s admission, club director Herbert Frew Jones credited Wilson with the club’s progress from an amateur side with 12 members to a fully professional club in just over a decade:
“It was always Bart who was the prime mover. Cardiff City would never have been Cardiff City if it had not been for Bart.”.

Wilson was initially placed in charge of the first team and secured the first transfer in the club’s history by signing Jack Evans from amateur side Cwmparc for 6 shillings. Wilson later joked that Evans’ fee was “all we had and it included his train fare from Treorchy.” He was appointed manager in 1933 for a brief spell.

He also led the club’s efforts to secure the ground on which to build a home stadium, which went on to become Ninian Park. He approached Bute Estate in the hope of purchasing land at Leckwith Common but local Councillor John Mander instead offered the club a piece of land on Sloper Road with the added incentive that Cardiff Corporation would assist in the construction of the ground. The club became leaseholders of the land on 1 April 1909 and set about flattening the former rubbish tip on the site to erect a new football ground.

Wilson retired in May 1954 having been employed in some capacity by the club he helped found over 50 years previously for 44 years. The board of directors agreed to pay him a wage of £4 a week for the remainder of his life. During his tenure with the club, he had served as first team manager, reserve team manager and secretary in various spells and had also written the club’s match reports in the South Wales Echo for a period.

He died on 19 November 1954 aged 84.