Transcribed by Phil Sweet
These articles which appeared in three consecutive editions of the Merthyr Express in March 1921 are Harvey Boots’ own reminiscences of the development of three football codes in the town up to that date.
ARTICLE 2 MERTHYR EXPRESS 12TH MARCH 1921
THE GROWTH OF FOOTBALL IN MERTHYR
(By Harvey Boots)
My feeble efforts to trace the history of the game of football in Merthyr has been the occasion of a good deal of friendly criticism from my intimate friends. I have endured a goodly portion of leg-pulling with hints on how to write for the Press, De facto how kindly strictures have proved very beneficial to this article, as several persons of renown in the history of the game locally ought to have come under greater review, and I am constrained to mention a few here and apologise for their omission the previous week. Through the courtesy of Mr. W. R. Lewis, decorator, etc., Pontmorlais, I am able to give the name of the very first team who played for Merthyr. As it was formed previous to the year of my nativity. I obviously can make no comment on their achievements, but a few of them I remember in later years. The Merthyr Football Team in 1877 consisted of T. Bryant (captain), J. Forrester (secretary), Bob James, Geo Gunson (brother of Mr. Robert Gunson), A. P. James, David and John Thomas (older brothers of Mr. Gomer Thomas), Lewis Brothers, three of whom were in the team and a fourth a member, Johnson, Jenkins, Ross Beynon (Abercanaid), Chris Bedlington, G. F. Matthews, W. Morgan (Dowlais), Ben Rogers, Tom Flooks (hairdresser, High Street), T. Williams, Tyrrell, Sam Thomas, Jack Richards, Tom Gameson Harris (Lloyds Bank), Albert Harris (solicitor) and Ireland (Cyfarthfa). Who in later days doesn’t remember Gus Jenkins (Dowlais), D. W. Evans (brother of J. B.), Harry Davies (an excellent half-back), Alf Hansard (he of the mighty punts to touch), D. J. Gould, (coal merchant, who played for both Cefn and Merthyr, and, who I believe, captained Merthyr for two or three seasons), Willie Harris (Aberdare), and W. L. Harris (Abercanaid), the latter of whom is now the agent for the Marquis of Bute). During the friendly discussion referred to above, the merits of various players were discussed and after various pros and cons the consensus of opinion seems to point to John Ben and W. L. Harris (Abercanaid) as being the best pair of half-backs that have ever represented Merthyr.
I concluded my article last week at the point where the Merthyr Athletic Club had just come into being. At that time the Football Club was very healthy financially. As a matter of fact, we had a fairly substantial balance at the bank. We had fixtures at home with Newport, Swansea and Cardiff (each of whom appeared on Penydarren Park), Llanelly, Penarth – home and away. We had the satisfaction of defeating Llanelly at Llanelly by three points to nil – a difficult feat at any time, but especially at that period, when they were one of the strongest teams in Wales. I attribute a good deal of the success now attending the team to my brother George, who, at this time was Captain of the Newport XV, and at the height of his career as a Welsh forward. (He represented Wales on 19 occasions.) He very kindly came up from Newport one evening in each week of the football season and gave the members of the team some training in “packing” and other phases of the game. For this purpose, we hired the Drill Hall, and I have no doubt we received many valuable hints from this source.
In this case, as in so many others, our success was really our undoing. The Northern Union game, which had been established in England for a number of years, was beginning to find adherents in South Wales. Mutterings and rumours of what it might accomplish in Merthyr were in the air, and then the blow fell, swiftly but none the less surely, for it was proposed at our next annual meeting of members that we go over to the Northern Union game and so become a professional club. This, happily, after a very stormy meeting, was defeated on a vote, but so small was the majority that it made us, who had been fighting for the old Rugby Club, sit up and gasp. Had we been defeated on the poll it meant the assets of the club, the ground (which had now been improved to practically what it is to-day) and the balance at the bankers going over to the new formation. Thus, it came about that two camps were found in the town: one for the Northern Union, and the one to keep the old guard going.
Here, Mr. Editor, I am going to transgress for a moment and trust that if any of my friends, in reading this, should think I am indulging in recriminations, please banish the thought. In giving this short history, it is necessary to refer briefly to those times of strenuous combat between the rival factions and the bitter enmity it engendered. Happily, this feeling has quite passed away, and now is all harmony and peace.
With commendable energy, the Northern Union section, headed by Messrs. J. B. Evans, the late Bill Harris (schoolmaster), Sam Adams, J. R. Jones (baker) and others got to work to secure a ground, and succeeded in obtaining from the Bolgoed Estate through the Agent (Mr. J. T. Vaughan) the portion then known as the College Field (within a stone’s throw of Penydarren Park). It has ceased to have any attraction for winter sport, but in the summer is a veritable hive of “industry.” It is now the home of that very successful bowling club – the Merthyr West End.
Well, the playing pitch was improved; fixtures were arranged with the leading Northern Clubs, and those were names to conjure with in those days – Halifax, Oldham, Leeds, Huddersfield, Wigan etc., and the few South Wales clubs which went over at the same time. I don’t think they were many, and if my memory is not at fault, I can find them in Aberdare, Barry, Ebbw Vale and Mid Rhondda. These, I believe, comprised the whole. The game took on in Merthyr to a surprising degree, and was, no doubt, a very open and fast game which appealed to all spectators.
To be continued…..