If we forget who will remember us .... by Chairman Mao

By -




The idea for the Rees Williams Project came from a communication from the Everton former players’ group who are looking to renovate the last resting place of former Wales international player Charlie Parry. Immediately we looked within our own football club to see if we could give the same attention to our former international players. We only have two players in our history that played for Merthyr and Wales and our research soon found that the first of that duo Moses Russell is buried near Chepstow (any info on this grave site would be greatly appreciated) so we turned to a more local hero in Rees Williams.

We’ve covered the career of Rees Williams in this fanzine in previous issues but it’s worth remembering a remarkable player who played for two of the great Football League clubs in Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester United but of course he started on that journey from our own town.


Rees was born in Abercanaid during 1900 and his first club is probably Pentrebach but in April 1919 he made the move into professional football by signing forms for Merthyr Town who would soon enter the newly formed Third Division of the Football League. Rees, known locally as “Rhysi Tafarn” as his parents ran a public house, was one of the stars at Penydarren Park and made 65 football league appearances and was soon noted by many scouts including the FAW selectors who picked Rees for his first cap for Wales in Aberdeen against Scotland in 1921. He would gain 8 caps for Wales and score 2 goals.

Rees was seen as the successor to the great Billy Meredith which was a heavy burden on him but his clever play and ball control was admired throughout the professional game and many scouts came calling at Penydarren Park seeking his signature and eventually Sheffield Wednesday succeeded where Manchester United, Aston Villa and Sunderland had failed.

Rees was a great success at Hillsborough and only missed one game as the Wednesday won the Second Division title in 1926.

 

Rees Williams lost his place at Sheffield Wednesday after 160 games and in October 1927 Manchester United finally got their man but he could not reproduce his earlier career form and after only 31 appearances he was on his way back to Merthyr Town via Thames and Aldershot. His final club was Glenavon in the Irish League in 1933.

Rees returned to Merthyr and worked in the Hoover factory and coached the site football team but sadly he took his own life in December 1963 while worried over his health.

The challenge for us was to find his last resting place and to see if we could improve the grave of one of our most important players. Luckily we had an invaluable source of information in former club secretary, FA councillor and MTFC stalwart Anthony Hughes who was able to use his contacts at Merthyr Council to find the grave site in CefnCoed cemetery very quickly.



Anthony rose to the occasion and after a quick site visit he looked into the required steps for us to renovate the grave site. He also contacted local stone masons to see if they would be happy to support the project. 

A social media appeal for funds to pay for the renovation was made and we received many promises of help especially from local Sheffield Wednesday fans and even the band Reverend & The Makers but for the first stage of the project we are indebted to one of Merthyr favourite sons Jonathan Owen for providing the vast bulk of the funding. An amazing donation to ensure we cover the initial costs of the renovation.

A month or so later and Anthony is on the phone to confirm that the stone masons had completed their work and what a difference they had made too.



Dial M TV was brought in to provide a quick video blog on the project and John Smith of SameOldSmith photography did Rees proud by producing a brilliant eulogy to the player’s career and achievements.


The project isn’t quite completed yet as we still have plans to add an additional memorial plaque to confirm the career statistics of Rees Williams. Further funds will be required so please help if you can.


As stated in the video blog you can still view one of Rees’s Wales international shirts in the snooker room at Hills Plymouth cricket club and it’s well worth a visit.


CHAIRMAN MAO

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

25 years of Dial M For Merthyr Fanzine

By Chairman Mao -
I was actually there when he came up with the name. It was Walsall v's Sunderland in '88 and we were talking with the Editor of the new Sunderland Fanzine, Wise Men Say.. 'So, what's your called then?' Asked the Mackem... 'Dial M for Merthyr' replied Wolvesy. The guy laughed. I laughed. He turned to me and said, 'I just made that up'. 'It's good mate. Not sure how many people on the Wank Bank will be aware of Hitchcock's brilliant suspense masterpiece but it's better than my idea for the name'. (I was all for 'You sexy Merthyr F*ckers' as Prince was big with the song at the time). And so that was it, 'Dial M for Merthyr' was born. The rest, as they say, is a mystery...   The one thing about Mark Evans is that he's a born leader. It's true. He may get 'all shucks' about it but his legacy is astonishing. I'd never be doing what I'm doing now if it wasn't for
Read more

Showing your support by Wolvesy

By -
Image
“Badges, we don’t need no stinking badges!” is one of the best lines in the classic Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles but we all need badges, don’t we? Something personal that shows both who or what we support and what our values are to the outside world. I wore this Merthyr Tydfil AFC badge on the lapel of my Vaynor & Penderyn school blazer every day I was in that fine establishment of learning. I probably wore it firstly because the chance of getting any MTFC merchandise in that era was virtually nil. The club shop operated out of the tea hut at the end of the grandstand and it was never open in the seventies and when those wooden boards were ever open then every kid in the ground would flock there to buy anything available but it was always the same stuff – key-rings, rosettes and badges. So even a badge was a rarity and such a rare item could never be allowed to rest somewhere in a drawer to be lost in some clear out years later. It had to be shown off, it was a family heirloom
Read more

Great Expectations by Guardy

By -
I’m probably being a bit harsh with the title, as at the beginning of the 2022/23 I would have taken a mid table spot. Unfortunately, due to this new manager in charge, a certain Mr Paul Michael, he has definitely changed supporters expectations, and not making the play offs seemed strangely disappointing. Something I don’t think any of us were thinking about in August 2022. I’ll let you into a little secret, after the year when the club mothballed due to the pandemic, I was thinking of jacking it in. The message came from nowhere, and as an owner, at the time I was really narked that no one had given me the chance to have a say, what is the point of being an owner? Looking back, it was obviously the right decision, at the time being stuck in, no pubs open and Pingus zoom quizzes had an adverse impact on my mental health, and looking forward to watching a bit of football was a light at the end of the tunnel. So, no football for a few months, well albeit there are some international gam
Read more