Nodiadau Mawrth 2001 /
March 2001 Notes
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ABERYSTWYTH TOWN 23/03/01 A WARM WELCOME to you all to
Richmond Park, especially to our visitors from Aberystwyth. Of course, we were both in action on TV
last week and I think that it is safe for me to say that we did the LoW
proud. As far as we were concerned, we
could not have asked for more from the boys and, as a result, the Swans did
not have it all their own way. I think our committed performance made it good
viewing and that the BBC authorities and TV pundits were pleased with the
highly competitive nature of the match. The Town of Carmarthen has
considerable sporting tradition, no more than that associated with the Carmarthen Quins. To illustrate the camaraderie that exists
between the various sporting organisations of the town, it was gratifying to
see in attendance at the Vetch a week last Tuesday the President of the
Quins, Brian Jones, and their Chairman, Robert Morgan. It is interesting to note that both are
sponsors of this club, Brian, of course, being the proprietor of Castell
Howell Frozen Foods, and Robert a Veterinary Surgeon. Indeed, the association
goes back to the late 60s when the Quins’ current Secretary, Alan Bowen, was
for a brief time Secretary of the Carmarthen United team which played their
games at Richmond Park. Although Alan
was one of the team selectors he indicates that he did not have much choice
in picking the team, not with John
‘Davo’ Davies as team manager anyway! And now moving on to something
completely different. This week has been a very sad one indeed. Firstly in the passing of Keith
Jones. Keith was indeed a keen
supporter of the Club and, believe it or not, for the last five years has
always held Season Ticket Number 1, being the first supporter to enrol every
time. As recent as our last home game
Keith featured in the new column in our programme Shouting from the Terraces which profiles our supporters. Keith
could always be seen at Richmond Park with his dear friends Dewi Owen, David
Rogers and the Rev. Canon Randolph Thomas.
And like Dewi and David, he had been a Church Warden at St. Peter’s
Church where Randolph, of course, is the Vicar. Only ten days ago, the four were at the Vetch Field, Swansea, lending their loyal support to
us. Keith, with an absolutely
marvellous sense of humour, has his photograph in our Social Club as a member
of the Carmarthen GPO Team of 1949 and before his retirement, some six or seven years ago, was an employee with the GPO (now, of
course, BT) for over 40 years. Keith
was also a fine cricketer and turned out for the Petrines, rivals of course
to the Carmarthen Wanderers for whom his great friend David Rogers was
Treasurer for so many years. The
sympathies of us all here at Richmond Park are extended to his dear wife
Iona. AND SECONDLY, a reference also
to the sad passing of the former Scottish Rugby Union International and
British Lions player Gordon Brown.
Gordon was a great friend of the Club through his connections with
Robert and Val Fulton and attended Richmond Park to see our games as well as
making a special effort to watch our Welsh Cup Final appearance at Merthyr in
1999. Gordon, of course, was a Rugby
Union player of great distinction, having toured with the British Lions in
1971, 1974 and 1976, and the photograph of him at Merthyr sporting a
Carmarthen Town (as seen in this programme) is indeed a pleasant memory. AFAN LIDO AFC 06/03/01 A warm welcome to you all and
let’s hope it’s another fine evening - as we have had in the last couple of
games. Once again we are hosting a team
from Port Talbot and I can visualise next season the exciting scenario of
three teams from the same Town being in our National League. Well, what a prospect that would be next
season. And no doubt, Port Talbot helped their cause to remain the League last
Friday evening with a splendid draw here at Richmond Park with which I don’t
think we can have any complaints.
Perhaps the manager will have more
to say about this in his Notes which
may not be so diplomatic as mine! You may remember the Barcelona Olympic
Games in 1988 when a certain Ben Johnson had his 100 metres gold medal
withdrawn for drug related reasons and in all honesty this was the first
occasion that I realised the extent of the misuse of drugs for performance
enhancement. I may have been naive as it may have been going on extensively
without my realising it. There have
been other high profile cases and I remember well the drug taking scandal of
our Welsh weightlifters in the Commonwealth Games in Auckland. During my
pre-retirement days with the Local Authority I often worked in the same room
as the now Secretary of the Welsh Commonwealth Games Council whose forte was
also in the field of weightlifting. When this scandal erupted it must have
been a source of embarrassment and a blow to this superb administrator who
was so dedicated to weightlifting in Wales. As far as our game is concerned
I don’t think that the presence of drugs is such an issue due to the fact
that Association Football relates its success more to the skill factor -
except, of course, where players could be affected by the recreational side
of drug taking! Nevertheless, as
Secretary, I have received a directive this week from UK Sport Ethics &
Anti-Doping that random dope testing will now take place on League of Wales
players. A UK Sport Independent
Sampling Officer will turn up at a match unannounced and players could be
balloted to undertake a drugs test which could happen before or half time
during a game. Where players have to
be careful, however, is that they do not partake of certain prohibited
substances which help in the cure of asthma, colds, coughs, hay fever, etc.,
but I cannot for a moment visualise any League of Wales player being found to
have taken drugs as a stimulant or for narcotic purposes. I hope that you will support our
lads at the Vetch Field next Tuesday as I believe that, with great respect to the large numbers of
Swansea supporters who frequent Richmond Park - and that includes myself, you
will agree that the Swans must be at their lowest ebb at this moment and if
there ever was a time to play them it must be now. And there is no grester supporter than our guest writer today,
Paul Ashley Jones. Paul is actually
my son-in-law and is employed as a civil servant with the Ministry of Defence
and is adept at writing football articles in
well-known football publications, such as When Saturday Comes and Come
on Cymru books Finally, just a word regarding
the presentation of the semi-professional caps which were to be made last
Friday. Unfortunately, the FAW
President, Des Shanklin, was unable to attend, but will now make the
presentation with Dorian Roberts, at the Aberystwyth match on 23 March
2001. Enjoy tonight’s game! PORT TALBOT ATHLETIC 02/02/01 A WARM WELCOME to all from the
great steel town of Port Talbot this evening, and it’s nice to have a home
game at last! A fortnight ago, we
were at Connah’s Quay and those of us from Carmarthen were all concerned when
Shaun Chapple sustained what seemingly was a nasty injury., Thankfully, he
soon recovered and all is now well. The way that our medical team of Nigel
Davies and Chris Loyden dealt with the situation was impressive. This prompts
me to think how well served we have been over the years by the men with the
sponge, although in my time as
Secretary we have had just three trainers which suggests that the quantity
may have not been there but the quality was.
It is remarkable how the First Aid
Departments of Football Clubs have developed and evolved. These people used to be called ‘trainers‘
but now, of course, they are known as ‘physios’ whilst the mention of the
‘magic sponge’ and ‘the old bucket and water’ is now taboo in line with modern
medical ethics, not to mention the proverbial damp stretcher of two poles
held together by a piece of canvas. These days, of course, we have spray
bottles, sterile dressings, examination couches and trolley stretchers and
medical teams have had to improve to keep pace with the material
developments. In this respect we have
always been extremely blessed. I
remember Tom Pointon starting in 1977 when our manager at the time, John
‘Davo’ Davies, approached him to ‘Come along for just one game’ to Richmond Park
and give advice on the treatment of injuries. Little were we to know then that Tom would continue as a conscientious physio until 1992 when
he suffered a heart attack and decided to take a back seat role in the
club. Even so, he is still very much
involved, albeit in an advisory capacity.
During his reign Tom brought
great credit to this club when using his expertise to treat serious injuries
suffered by opposing players and I often received communications from clubs
thanking him for his services. It’s nice to see that Tom is still very fit
these days and was recently elected to serve on the Town Council, and wasn’t it nice to see that his agent
was another cornerstone of this club.,
But enough about politics, so I’ll move on! Tom was superseded as club physio by Alan Underwood, another
well qualified incumbent who, much to the benefit of this club, is continuing
as physiotherapist for our Reserve Team.
These days we have Nigel Davies at the helm. Nigel has already successfully attended an FAW Sports Trainers
Course and he is also the holder of a St John’s Ambulance Life Saving
Certificate and, of course, his employment in the theatre at the West Wales
Hospital, assisting the anaesthetists, no doubt holds him in good stead for
this job. Of course, our Club Doctor,
Chris Loydon, is a consultant at the hospital. FINALLY CONGRATULATIONS to Neil
O’Brien and David Barnhouse who will be presented with their
semi-professional Welsh caps this evening by Des Shanklin, President of the
FAW, and Dorien Roberts, Proprietor
of our Main Sponsors, RSU Windows.
Enjoy tonight’s game! |