Nodiadau Rhagfyr 2001 /
December 2001 Notes
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LLANELLI AFC 26.12.01 A VERY WARM welcome to you all
on the occasion of Llanelli’s visit to us here at Richmond Park. In my view, this game captures the
imagination more so than any other match in our footballing calendar, even
though the derby occasions over many years have unfortunately been more
infrequent than one would wish. In my
Afan Lido notes I referred to their Secretary and Director of Football as one
of the club stalwarts on the Welsh footballing scene and it would be fitting
to include also Llanelli’s Secretary, Roger Davies, within the same
terminology. Yes, Roger is indeed a warhorse,
having started playing for Llanelli as far back as 1958, and acting as
player/manager of one of the club’s reserve teams in the twilight of his
playing career in the late 70s, then in 1980 embarking on the onerous role of
Chairman for two years before settling into the job of Secretary, a position
he has occupied since 1982. In my
dealings with Secretaries over the years, I have found Roger to be one of the
most amiable and co-operative of them all.
In the same breath, may I mention their Chairman Robert Jones who is
working hard at the helm in Llanelli to help the club achieve its ambitions. At LoW meetings of clubs, Robert
invariably makes his presence felt with some forthright contributions to
debates which can indeed be stimulating to say the least! And talking of chairmen, it would be
remiss of me not to refer to the superb contribution our own Chairman made at
the recent Special Meeting of Clubs to consider the future development and
strategy of the LoW. He presented for
the consideration of Clubs a document outlining a fiscal application to the
FAW on behalf of the League. It
proved to be very enlightening and thought provoking and was well received by
the Clubs. Hopefully, the FAW will
now support the League’s desire to have more autonomy in the form of a degree
of devolution. You may have noticed the
one-liner which was included in the notes on the officials in the Rhyl
programme last Saturday, but how’s this for a better effort? A friend of mine was fortunate to obtain a
ticket for a big match at one of the country’s biggest stadia but upon
arriving at the ground he was disappointed to find himself sitting in the top
row of the upper tier with the players on the pitch no more than little dots
in the far distance. He then observed
a vacant seat just three rows from the front on the half-way line and thought
to himself what a lovely vantage point that was. He somehow managed to work
his way through the various aisles to this vacant seat. Upon enquiring with
the person sitting next to the vacant seat, he was told that this seat was
his wife’s. He and his wife had held
the seats for the last 30 years.
Unfortunately, she had now died and when my friend suggested to the
person with such a vantage point that he might invite one of his friends or
relatives to occupy this vacant seat, he replied terselythat no-one was
available to come along for today’s game as they were all at the funeral! ENJOY TODAY’S GAME and a Happy
New Year to you all! 22.12.01 RHYL FC FIRST OF ALL, may I on behalf of
our Club wish you all a very Merry Christmas, with special reference to our
visitors from the North Wales Coast.
I must say that I find the backroom staff of this Club an extremely
friendly crew and whatever the outcomes of games their Chairman, Secretary,
etc., maintain their good will which is most pleasing. As far as we are concerned, I hope the
season of good will extendsw beyond the Christmas period with some much
needed wins so that we can get back on track to achieve our aim to qualify
again for Europe. After having had a taste last year, our appetite is
insatiable for another dose of European competition. With the season of good will now
upon us, I suppose it is appropriate to refer to the recent publication of
the LoW Fair Play League Table. Now
each European National League has a Fair
Play Table recognised by UEFA and herein lies an opportunity for European
qualification in so far as one European country is drawn out of a hat and the
club that clinches the Fair Play
trophy for that country gets a UEFA Cup place. At present, we are in the nicely placed 3rd position
in the Table. The Table
is calculated in accordance with the number of penalty points the club
accumulates for each red and yellow card issued against players and there is
no doubt as far as we are concerned that we are improving fast each season. The average overall trend of LoW clubs,
however, remains fairly consistent. So why have our Club improved so
dramatically? Our Manager cannot put
his finger upon it but to spare his blushes I feel that he has instilled a
high degree of discipline within our ranks which is now paying off. Let’s
hope the improvement continues. JUST A COUPLE of
Saturdays ago, with our First and Reserve teams not in action, and not even
games at Llanelli or Haverfordwest, I ventured to Carmarthen Park to watch
our friends the Quins play in a Welsh National League Division 1 match. One
Club Official when he saw me arriving at the Park thought he was having an
apparition but I was indeed there in the flesh! I must say that the Quins were well supported at the game and
the atmosphere was splendid and playing standards were extremely high and
must be a joy to their supporters. And, of course, exactly as it is here at
Richmond Park, it was the referee who was getting the blame from the crowd
for a player’s mistakes and not the player himself. The welcome one gets at the Park is also extremely warm and
friendly. But on the downside was the
condition of the pitch - large uneven tufts of grass and large divots
prevailed and that was after taking into consideration that heavy packs of forwards
when scrummaging in rugby can cause problems to pitches. I can cast my mind
back to the 80s and early 90s here when we used to embark upon matches in bad
weather with extreme trepidation as to whether the game would be played or
not. No doubt, our supporters here today will equally enjoy a warm and
friendly environment and a good atmosphere and like the Quins will witness a
high-class performance on the field.
One thing is certain, however - our pitch will be first class. Eenjoy
today’s game and see you on Boxing day for the Llanelli clash. AFAN LIDO 08.12.01 A WARM WELCOME to you all to
this afternoon’s League clash, especially our friends from the South Wales
coast. I suppose when the club is doing well and suddenly sustains two
successive defeats, like we have done during the past fortnight, some
eyebrows are raised, but hopefully this is just a minor blip as our season
gathers momentum. But I wonder
whether the demanding fixture schedule that has been thrust upon the players
since September has been reflected in our last two performances. The
accumulation of fixtures in the League Cup and Premier Cup is a major
contribution, of course, to this congestion and not as is usual, by postponed
matches, although we did, of course, have one, at last, a week last Friday
evening. The compilation of the Premier
Cup fixture list is a matter between clubs and before I, as Secretary, make
any agreement with other clubs regarding a date. I invariably consult with
our Team Manager to obtain his views in order to get a fair balance, in terms
of travelling, etc. Of course, consultation must also be made with our
Chairman in line with his sponsorship requirements which indeed can be the
lifeblood of the Club. On the whole, I feel that the Premier Cup schedule
fitted in perfectly with Tomi’s needs, with home and away games evenly
balanced, although perhaps the away Rhyl Premier Cup game on 23rd
October led to a demanding week, especially as we faced a long journey on the
Saturday to Flexsys Cefn Druids. Ironically, however, we won both games in
convincing fashion and there may be a moral here. Full marks to our players
for coming through the Premier programme unscathed, especially since some of
them were working extremely unsociable hours before and after the Premier Cup
away games Well, as you have been made
aware quite often, I have been in Office at this Club since 1977, and it’s
appropriate for me to refer in my notes to Afan Lido’s current Director of
Football, who also undertakes the Club’s secretarial duties. And the reason for referring to Phil
Robinson is that when I go back to the long distant days of 1977 I remember
contacting the Afan Lido club to confirm our Welsh League fixture and lo and
behold Phil was secretary then, having already been in that Office for 1O
years. So I can safely describe Phil as a real stalwart and warhorse on the
Welsh football circuit. He was in
fact instrumental in establishing the Afan Lido Football Club in 1967 when after
the opening of the marvellous Lido Sports centre in Aberafon, Phil saw the
need to organise a football team to meet the needs of those who regularly
visit the centre. That was in 1967
and 35 years later he is still at the administrative helm of the club and
even has acted as team manager during various periods of his reign at the
Lido. A big well done to Phil who must also be extremely proud of the
magnificent reputation the Club has gained for its youth policy throughout
the game. MAY I WISH Phil and his Club every success for the future, but please not at our expense today. |