Although the present club was founded in 1947, football in Pontardawe certainly stretches back over 100 years, into the closing years of the 19th Century, when a Pontardawe club, run by industrialist CF Gilbertson, was among the members of the earliest Swansea League, and won the championship in 1899–1900. The club went on to join the Swansea and District League in the early 1900s, playing familiar names like Swansea Town, Morriston, Skewen and Clydach, as well as long forgotten ones such as Mond Nickel, York Place and Sketty. But honours don't seem to have come their way in the first half of the 20th Century; the club never even reached the top division of the Welsh League and it disbanded during the Second World War. Reformed as Pontardawe Athletic in 1947, the town club entered the Welsh League, playing in division two. The first few post war years brought reasonable success at this level and by 1959/60 they were challenging for promotion, finishing 3rd behind Carmarthen and Clydach, achieving a Division One place a year later despite finishing below Gelli Colliery. But relegation came swiftly in 1961–62, Ponty finishing 19th out 20 and going back down with Milford. By the mid 1960s the club was struggling in the middle section of the restructured Welsh League and by 1980 they dropped to the lowest division. A period of comparative success followed in the early 1980s, with successive promotions taking the club back to the top flight of the Welsh League by 1982. 1981 / 82 was Ponty's best ever season – not only did Dixie McHale's team win promotion, finishing second to Brecon Corries but they reached the quarter finals of the Welsh Cup, hosting a Wrexham side containing Dai Davies, Joey Jones and Dixie McNeil.. Competing in the Premier Division for only the second time in their history in 1982–83, Pontardawe Athletic managed to lift the West Wales Senior Cup and in the league they held their own, finishing 13th – but luck wasn't on their side, the league restructured and as Athletic lacked a ground adequate for the Welsh league's self-styled "National Division" they were dumped back into the middle section, curiously known as the Premier Division, for 1983–84. Ponty went into decline again, slipping back to the third level of the Welsh league by the mid-1980s, quietly remaining there for over a decade. The first Welsh league championship – of the Third division – finally came in 1996, after 50 years of membership but the club's progress up the league was almost halted on ground criteria again, as council bureaucracy meant Pontardawe were one of the last clubs at this level to erect a covered stand. But the club was now on a definite upward curve, its youth side lifting the Welsh Youth Cup and MacWhirter League title in 1997, and the senior side gaining promotion to the First Division in 1998. This time the club lasted 6 seasons and then returned to the top flight for the 2005–06 season after winning the Second Division and losing to Goytre in the Shamrock League Cup final. Their return to the First division saw them finish third in the table and again finishing runners up in the Shamrock League Cup. Between 2005 and 2015 the club was in the top flight and during this time the club won the Reserve League, Reserve Cup, Youth League, Neath League and at Under 18s the SWFA League, WWYAFL Cup. The club also finished runners up in the 2013–14 League Cup Final losing to AFC Porth on penalties after leading for most of the game. Unfortunately the club was relegated to Division Two at the end of the 2014–15 season. The club has now relocated to Parc Ynysderw.
