THIS weekend sees two brand new football clubs make their competitive debut in the Montgomeryshire League.
It has not been an easy couple of years for the Montgomeryshire League so the return of traditional amateur league club Forden and newly formed Newtown Wanderers must be welcomed.
Forden has a superb facility and will be a great addition to the league while the Wanderers will fill a gap gap in Newtown's sporting culture which has needed filling for many years.
Both have ambitions to climb the non-league and arrive at the promised land - the Spar Mid Wales League.
Whether they make it or not is totally down to themselves but should development off the pitch mirror on the field strengthening it would not surprise me if either make it in the next couple of years.
There example will be closely monitored by other sides with Trewern likely to be the next club to be re-formed after several years hiatus while Llanwddyn and Defaid Du's summer Llanfechain KO success show that both clubs are from dead despite not being a league club anymore.
With so many northern Montgomeryshire clubs currently members of the Spar Mid Wales League it is imperative that the feeder league continues to provide promotion applicants to ensure the continued strength of the Mid Wales League.
Last season the Montgomeryshire League faced a real cross roads. It lost so many members to the Mid Wales League new second division that it almost ceased to be a competitive league.
Thankfully the league is back on the mend this season - thanks in no small part to the arrival of five new sides - three reserve strings and of course Forden and Newtown Wanderers.
Let's not kid ourselves and pretend the league is still anywhere close to where it needs to be in terms of numbers.
With only Llangedwyn, Llanfechain, Bettws, Churchstoke, Forden and Newtown Wanderers the only Welsh-based first team sides in the league we still need at least another four to six clubs to make the Montgomeryshire League as viable as it once was.
However there is a new sense of optimism around the league nowadays and compared to 12 months ago the league is in excellent health.
We need the likes of Trewern, Llanwddyn and Defaid Du back and it would be nice if the likes of Llandinam and Tregynon, growing communities made up of locals and newcomers to the area, to create some common community link via a village football club.
The roots need to be strong to protect the shoots and hopefully that is exactly what Montgomeryshire football will soon have once more