Those of who regularly read the matchday magazine may have been interested to notice the internet URLs (addresses) for our opponents, something which we have been printing throughout the season.
Writing articles about the Internet as if no-one could understand it has become a very patronising pastime for journalists over the past few years. Even watching the television, people are now bombarded with e-mail addresses and URLs, on adverts, on shows, for quiz answers.
People tend to make all sorts of promises for what the internet can do. The truth is that little of that currently exists, and that it will be a long time before the internet replaces ordinary items like the telephone, television and shopping, to say nothing of how it will cope with doing the laundry!
However, what it does, it does well. The internet is a great provider of information, if you know where to look, and of football news it is no different, whether you are looking for the latest European football news, which can be found at UEFA's website, or at Football365, an internet football magazine (an e-zine).
Welsh football isn't behind the times, with our opponents today, and, of course, ourselves, being among the ten League of Wales clubs with internet websites and keeping people around the world up to date with LoW information.
There are a number of Barry Town activities on the internet, both as websites and e-mailing groups.
The longest running of these is 'the Yellow Dragon's unofficial Barry Town website', an almost daily updated website, containing the days' Barry Town news, results from this and past seasons, copies of newspaper items as well as matchday magazine articles, amongst other items. A large-scale transformation of the website is planned for the Summer months, to make it bigger and better.
A newer addition to the world of Barry websites is 'On-Line Barry', a website edited by ardent support, Mark Carter. 'On-Line Barry' was only launched a few weeks ago, but already contains the essential material of results/fixtures and so forth, married to an easy-to-follow design pattern. Everyone's looking forward to what Mark produced on the website in the coming weeks.
There is also a Barry Town e-mailing group, where 50 Barry fans from all over the world swap information, stories and other tit-bits of information (but the Americans call them tid-bits!). Regular items include match reports, transfer speculation, arguments (or so that be 'discussions'?!), stories from by-gone eras, comparisons between different Barry sides in history, etc. It all adds up to a lively exchange of information.
Of course, Barry are not alone on the internet, nor even one of the innovators. The original Welsh websites were run by students at Aberystwyth University (university students have better internet access than many people), supporting their local club, while another website was quickly set up to promote Rhyl FC - 'the Virtual Vue'.
It wsn't long before others got in on the act, and, at one point, there were four different Aberystwyth websites available - with features going from match reports, surveys of the quality of tea at Park Avenue, and a marking scheme on how 'fanciable the current Aber side are'. That last was courtesy of 'Kate & Karen's sideways look at Aber Town'.
Other clubs were quick to follow, though, including Carmarthen Town, whose website, 'Y Dre ar y We' ('The Town on the Web') contains match reports and programme articles amongst its pages, leaking the wise words of club secretary Alan Latham and manager Tomi Morgan to the world!
Sadly, the original Aber sites have slipped into the ether, but a new set have appeared to replace them. One of these is an official website, edited by the club secretary, while there is also an unofficial site of Aber Town match reports.
Bangor City also have two websites, although one is 'erratic' as to its updates. The other, though, provides regular updates on the rumours and action at the club, providing a fascinating insight into what happens behind the scenes at Farrar Road.
Their local rivals, Caernarfon Town, are also in on the act, though, with a bi-lingual website containing a wide number of features. There are a number of other clubs with similar ideas, including Inter Cabletel, whose website was set up in October last year, and Rhayader, who received huge amounts of interest last year as a result of their signing of Junior.
Total Network Solutions FC also have website, organized by the company which sponsor the Llansantffraid-based side. However, the updates are erratic, especially when compared to those of local rivals, Newtown, whose acclaimed site was launched in Janury.
Below the League of Wales, there are a number of other websites, with two former LoW clubs, CPD Porthmadog and Flint Town United, leading the way. The Port site is one of Wales's oldest and is highly regarded by Welsh website 'owners', with regular updates etc, while the Flint site covers a broad range of topics, including interviews with former players and a match report of their recent Welsh Cup match against Port Talbot.
Additionally, there are websites for the Welsh Football Supporters' Association, and for Welsh Football magazine, who are also sponsoring awards for the 'best Welsh website' for the first time this year.
For those who are able to get to the Internet and the world wide web, here are some sample addresses and websites for you to have a look at:
Barry Town:
the Yellow Dragon's unofficial website:
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Bleachers/1075/index.html
On-Line Barry unofficial website:
http://www.angelfire.com/on/linebarry
Barry Town e-mailing group
(only if you have regular e-mail access):
http://www.isfa.com/isfa/lists/barry
The Yellow Dragon's unofficial website also lists full address for other League of Wales and Welsh Pyramid sites, including all of those mentioned above.
Pop in, and have a look!
Links to other sites on the Web
Barry Town homepage
Barry Town Matchday Magazine index
This page edited by the Yellow Dragon, 1999.
This article first published in the Barry Town Matchday Magazine, v Inter Cabletel, FAW Premier Cup semi-final first leg, 20.04.1999
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