In November 1912, a meeting at The Windsor public house in Holton Road saw townsfolk choose to pursue membership of the thriving Southern League as Barry AFC (the 'Town' suffix was added after World War II).

Fittingly, the new team would register a surprise, albeit merited, victory, with Barry's Ralph Isherwood scoring the very first goal at Jenner Park just three minutes in.

At the end of the 1920s, a crowd of 6,000 at Upton Park saw Barry beat Dagenham Town 1–0 to progress to the FA Cup 2nd Round; before losing to Brighton & Hove Albion ten days later.

Barry's Chris Mason would be captured as a prisoner of war during the conflict, though would return to Jenner Park to resume his career afterwards; entertaining spectators thrilled by the adventures of players such as Derek Tapscott (who would later sign for Arsenal), celebrated striker Stan Richards and Gwilym 'Cannonball' Cain.

Among them, prolific goalscorers Ken Gully and Clive Ayres, brothers John and Dickie Batt, long-serving Bobby Smith and Ashley Griffiths, and tall defender Mike Cosslett; now a member of the club coaching staff.

After insufficient floodlighting had stopped the club being able to compete in the Southern League for most of the 1980s, the tail end of the decade saw the necessary ground improvements to support a return to England.

The creation of the League of Wales (now Cymru Premier) in 1992 then prompted a decree that Barry would no longer be able to compete in the English pyramid at all while based on Welsh soil.

However, this arrangement would last only one season, as chairman O' Halloran performed a shock u-turn that saw the Barry first team return home; eventually accepted into Welsh League Division One for the 1993–94 campaign.

The season was though marred by the deaths of chairman Neil O' Halloran and young midfielder Matthew Holtham, the latter in a motorway accident on the way back from an away match in April.

However, the Town would win the home leg 3–1, recording a famous result that has grown in legend with the career success of Porto's Ricardo Carvalho, Helder Postiga and others.

[1] [2] [3] The golden era would not last forever, and the continual challenge of securing enough prize money to sustain their high standards set would eventually catch up with those running the club.

After chairperson and backer Paula O' Halloran stood aside, former Scarborough and Grantham Town official Kevin Green came in as the club's new chief executive; yet his varying initiatives failed to stop the rot.

Promising African and Chinese TV deals and an influx of Nigerian internationals, Fashanu made headlines, yet did little to steady a Barry ship in increasingly rough seas.

Judging the figure to be unfairly based on the club's relinquished professional status, Lovering refused to pay this amount and instead moved the senior side to the White Tips Stadium in Treforest from January 2005 to May 2006.

In December 2008, a crisis meeting at Jenner Park saw supporters come forward to pledge their commitment to operating the first team (forming a new company for this purpose), to allow Lovering to focus on finding a buyer.

Undeterred, 2010 saw the Stand Up For Barry campaign launch, using new social media platforms such as Twitter to spread news of the club's plight with a wider online audience.

Nevertheless, the BTSC held a successful '100 Years of Barry Town' event at the Angel Hotel (attended by many past and present players), before the current team beat Welsh League champions Cambrian and Clydach on the 100th anniversary itself.

However, a meeting of the FAW Council in Betws-y-Coed in June 2013 announced that the Barry side would have to play "recreational football" henceforth; a declaration that prompted significant outcry, both locally and further afield.

With their immediate and long-term future unclear, Barry began their pre-season with wins at Moreton and Elmore that same month, followed by a narrow 3–2 loss to Premier League newcomers Cardiff City, watched by a home crowd of 1,650 supporters on Saturday 27 July.

Eventually, a High Court judge in Cardiff ruled in Barry's favour; stating that the FAW Council had acted unlawfully in denying them their licence to play Welsh League football.

Today, the club competes at senior, development, youth and junior levels, along with various ladies' teams and pan disability sides in the over and under-16 age groups.

In the 2016–17 season, the first team reached the final of Welsh League Cup for the first time since 2001, becoming only the second side from outside the national top flight to achieve this feat since the competition was expanded several years prior.

On Saturday 6 April 2019, a remarkable 5–2 victory at Bala Town, coupled with a 6–0 win for The New Saints away against Newtown, ensured Barry would finish at least third in the 2018–19 JD Cymru Premier and qualify for the preliminary round of the UEFA Europa League.

Nevertheless, the club would bounce back, with new manager Lee Kendall, a former goalkeeper at Jenner Park, guiding the team to the Cymru South championship with three games to spare.

It was the following season that the club adopted its yellow change kit (deemed lucky for the success it brought in Welsh Cup competition) as a home strip – and it is this colour that has become synonymous with Town football, with variations including uses of blue.

Named after the Jenner family who had gifted the land, the ground was built by the Barry football enthusiasts for their representative side to compete at the highest possible level and was completed between the landmark meeting of 1912 and the opening fixture of 1913–14.

Recent years have seen the addition of a special viewing area for wheelchair users in the grandstand (known colloquially as the 'Old Stand'), accessible via the stadium's Devon Avenue entrance.

The team has won three full qualifying ties, defeating opposition from Latvia, Hungary and Azerbaijan, in addition to single victories against FC Porto and Vardar Skopje and draws with Aberdeen, Valletta and Cliftonville.

Barry's sole second round appearance came in 1929 against Brighton and Hove Albion, after a replay win over Dagenham Town at the Boleyn Ground, home of West Ham United.

The club's Hall of Fame was established by the Barry Town Supporters Committee in the 2011–12 season to celebrate the achievements of past players, managers and other influential figures.