Swansea City

Swansea Town was founded in 1912 and changed its name to City in 1969. They bounced around among the lower leagues for 60-plus years before catching fire in the late 1970s with three promotions in four seasons. This put them in the top tier for the first time in 1981, when they finished sixth—still their highest finish. Incredibly, they turned right around with two straight relegations and went bankrupt in 1985!

By 2001 they were in League Two. Their finances were disastrous, managers were coming and going, and an Australian group of owners bought the club and got rid of all the best players. Dark times. They avoided relegation out of the league only by winning on the last day of the season in 2003.

The short version of what happened then is that the supporters—ordinary citizens of Swansea, the ones who live and die with the club—rallied to the cause and purchased a 20 percent share of the team. Incredibly, 10 years later in 2011, they found themselves in the Championship playoff final at Wembley—which they won, 4-2, over Reading. From the brink of extinction to the Premier League in 10 years!

A wonderful film was made about this called Jack to a King. (Jack is a local nickname that comes from the Welsh word for “seamen” as well as a legendary dog named Swansea Jack who saved twenty-seven people from drowning in the 1930s. There’s a monument to him in town.) That film is on YouTube in a kind of limited format, but it’s also available elsewhere.

The Swans were a midtable Premier League team for the next five years, and they won the League Cup in 2013. But the energy started running out in the 2016-17 season, when they slipped to fifteenth, and in 2017-18 the dream ended, for now, with relegation to the Championship. That’s where they have been since.

2024–25 SEASON: 11th in the Championship, 3rd Round FA Cup, 2nd Round League Cup.

2025–26 SEASON: The Championship (relegated in 2018)

Cardiff City is their rival in the South Wales derby, which is so intense that for several years away fans were banned outright. They have lesser rivalries with Bristol City as well as Bristol Rovers and Newport County, though the latter two are currently in different divisions.

Get to Know the South Wales Derby, Cardiff City vs Swansea City

Some derbies are really just very simple: two big clubs in one area, with no other real competition for supporters’ affections. Such is the case with the South Wales Derby, Swansea City vs Cardiff City. There are other teams in...

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Swansea City Ladies play in the top-tier Welsh Premier Women’s Football League. Home games are at Llandarcy Academy of Sport in nearby Neath.

They have one called “Hymns and Arias,” and it goes:

And we were singing

Hymns and arias

Land of my fathers

Ar hyd y nos.

That last line is Welsh for “all through the night.” There is another good one that starts out “Swansea o Swansea” and goes on about standing on the north bank (of the old ground) “until the day I die.” They also occasionally crank out, “England is full of shit,” and they’ll chant, “You Jack bastard,” at somebody, which means they like them.

Liberty Stadium, their home since 2005, is another of the new, symmetrical, and not terribly interesting stadiums, but it can be one of the louder ones. It’s also not out on the edge of town, which means a game there still feels pretty old-school. It holds just over 21,000, so it’s cozy as well.

Away fans will be in the middle of the North Stand and the most vocal Swansea folks in the nearest end of the East Stand. So try to sit in that corner somewhere if you have a choice.

TOURS: Stadium tours are £25 for adults and £18 for under-16s. Check the club website for more information. 

GETTING THERE: It’s a couple of miles from the main rail station, so a taxi (around £7) or city bus would be best. Buses 4, 34, 50, and 51 all go there from the High Street station.

PUBS: There is one option right at the stadium, The Harvester, which is modern, clean and heinously crowded. Not too far away are The Plough and Harrow and a couple other options on Llangyfelach Road; good luck pronouncing that one!

In town, look along entertaining Wind Street—pronounced like “wind a clock”—for the No Sign Wine Bar and the Bank Statement, a Wetherspoon.

GRUB: Near the stadium you’ll find a decent chippy called Rossi’s, as well as Azad Tandoori and Pizzeria Vesuvio.

Better options are in town, like the Belle Vue Bistro, and a surprisingly good Chinese meal can be had at Gigi Gao’s Favourite Authentic Chinese Restaurant.

Traditional Welsh foods include rarebit (basically cheese sauce on toast), laverbread (made from boiled and pureed seaweed!), Welsh cakes, and Glamorgan sausage, made with cheese, leeks, and breadcrumbs. Look for those in the Swansea Market.

AROUND TOWN: The central city is worth a walk around; go into the market and along Wind Street. It’s also interesting to visit City’s former ground, Vetch Field. (Vetch is a type of legume that was grown in the area.) Almost all these old grounds have been turned into housing, and this one may be also. But for right now, some of the entrances and walls are still there, and where the pitch was is now a big grassy area you can walk around in. It’s on Glamorgan Street near the bus station.

Speaking of buses, you should take one to Mumbles. A day pass on the bus system is around £5, and the 2 bus will take you along a beautiful seaside park and out to the town of Mumbles, which is named for two hump-shaped rocks in the sea, which in turn are named (in local dialect, presumably) for exactly what you’d think a sailor would be thinking about when he sees two hump-shaped rocks in the sea.

It’s a cute little town with a nice promenade that leads out to a pier. Just above the pier, you’ll see a stone structure with a staircase next to it; that is part of the 870-mile-long Wales Coastal Path. At the top is an apple-shaped ice-cream stand and some amazing views along the coast. The path keeps going, and you can use the local bus system and path to go for quite an excursion out there.

Seeing a Game at Swansea City

Seeing a game at Swansea City would seem, without context, to be a pretty standard English Football League experience–except it’s in Wales, of course! Not that it lacks interest or passion or drama — certainly it was the exact opposite...

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