Dial M for Merthyr

W 1947 roku w październiku klub pilkarski Merthyr Tydfil znalazł wolną sobotę. Ze względu na pierwszeństwo angielskich pucharów hrabstwa, zwyczaj nakazywał w tamtych czasach, aby rozegrać mecz towarzyski. Celem było zaspokojenie głodu rewalizacji w powojennym mieście i dostarczeniu ludziom rozrywki. Dlatego w południe 11 października Merthyr Tydfil przyjęła wyzwanie i zagrała z Karpatami mecz towarzyski. Wydaje się, że sam mecz został zapomniany przez historię. Szkoda, bo tło zespołu gości było hołdem dla nowej Wielkiej Brytanii wychodzącej z globalnego konfliktu. Wydaje się, że publiczność Merthyr również zlekceważyła drużynę odwiedzającą Penydarren Park, jako że program meczowy na nastęny tydzień rozgrywek FA Cup przeciwko Athletic Lovellsa ubolewał: „Ci kibice, którzy zostali oszukani przez nieodpowiedzialne plotki dotyczące składu polskiej jedenastki przegapili piłkarską ucztę, a „klasa” naszych gości zadała kłam „konikom”, którzy rozpowszechniali pogłoskę, że zespół powstał z po...

A few home games ago I was wandering across the Theatre End en route to the magnificent Holvey’s Tea Bar to make my life worthwhile by buying a cob & chips with curry sauce. As usual at Penydarren Park there were the usual chats, nods and banter on the way but what united most of the talk was the health of the club and to be honest the negative outlook of a few of my fellow Martyrs. Now it’s no secret that we’ve faced a few challenges over the years with a couple of proper financial wobbles even as recent as a year or so ago. Our reputation as a fan-owned club has taken a bit of a battering as the source of our financial woes were our own decisions. There aren’t enough pages in this fanzine to list all of the crazy avenues that we’ve driven our club down over the past ten years. Lessons have had to be learned of course. We’re no different to hundreds of semi-professional clubs all over this island in that we’re operating in a very challenging entertainment market with new cust...

You will know that Merthyr Town FC as a community club has other teams within our brand. Walking football is very successful with a major European tournament being hosted at Penydarren Park in the summer and our Women’s team provide a welcome option for live football on a Sunday as they battle for a place in the Welsh Premier Women’s League. We’ve even got a darts team which is currently top of Division 4 to support on a Friday evening. Now we have a Futsal team competing in the Welsh Elite League on a Sunday afternoon. The game of Futsal is still in its infancy in Wales although the National Team has competed at UEFA level for over a decade. There are 5 players but it’s faster and more aggressive that its traditional weekly kickabout version, it’s 20 minutes each way but with the match clock stopped each time the ball leaves the court a game can take almost 90 minutes to complete. A team has been pitched into the league in order to hopefully provide another way for people to wear ...

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Wales penultimate qualifying game was in Azerbaijan.  Even though I’d never been to any of the countries we were drawn against, Azerbaijan was the country I looked forward to visiting the most.  The flight was via Kiev with a bit of a stopover, but that did not put off the Merthyr boys. Prior to flying I had to navigate the Azerbaijan visa process.   Pretty straight forward in itself, until you had to attach a photo of your passport page.   Yours truly not only had to sort out the size of my photo but 4 other people as well.   We may have to get used to the visa process going forward. But let’s avoid talking about Brexit shall we, because let’s be honest who knows as its being made up as we go along, and what was said yesterday is probably a lie today anyway. We landed in Baku, in a smallish but immaculate airport.   A Bolt taxi (think Uber) from airport to hotel cost us £4.50, and was around 8 kms.   Now you may have heard Azerbaijan i...

The current season won’t exactly live long in the memory. I’m not exactly expecting to sit down and tell my grandkids about the 2019/2020 season in the future although it’s probably an average campaign for us really. Mid table safety and another reminder that we should probably save the entry fee for the FA Cup and save us all the bother. It’s been a season so bereft of excitement that it’s only the promise of cob & chips that gets me through the turnstiles most weeks. Yet still we go every other Saturday, very much martyrs to the cause, and of course we know that next season will be different, we just need to have faith and buy that early-bird season ticket. I’m here to tell you to have that conviction and to prepare for a season of anniversaries and celebration as we stride confidently into the unchartered waters of the 2020/21 season. Next season will definitely be the one; a promotion campaign and a FA Cup third round tie beckons because we’ll be so busy reveling in our ...

Here’s a short video to celebrate the 400th issue of When Saturday Comes. https://youtu.be/tnBOYa0YjJY  Wolvesy talks about the history of DMFM and what role WSC played in the profile of the Fanzine and Fanzine culture