Dial M for Merthyr

A century ago the Southern League was being played under very difference circumstances to how we are able to watch the Martyrs in 2014. The world was beginning a global conflict which most people thought or maybe just hoped would be over by Christmas. Merthyr Town continued to play, the Southern League season of 1914/15 was completed before being suspended for the remainder of the War. The professional football players at Merthyr Town were affected by the war in the same way as every other tradesman in the country, they were working class men who joined to fight for their country. We’ve looked into the records to note as many Merthyr Town players who would have fought and sadly died in that catastrophic war. The following list is by no means complete and if you have further information on the players listed or of other players or even staff from Penydarren Park who served then please get in touch. William Kirby William Kirby was born on 21 st June 1882 in Preston. H...

Just Say NO If you don’t want to buy Dial M for Merthyr, then take a leaf from the book of Samuel “Zammo” MacGuire and JUST SAY NO. Whilst selling the issue 48 of our low brow publication it became our mission to make sure we maximised our sales. There was a lot of the feel good…. well you know at MTFC at the end of last season so we wanted to spread a little happiness and donate a few quid to the clubs coffers. The proceeds of the last issue paid for the Ex-Players Day – so thanks if you purchased. So with this aim in mind our sales network of yours truly, Wingy and Jack Hodgkins hit the terraces with the aim of hitting 200 sales. For the most part selling the rag is boring, it is pretty much a slow process. Crowds are down on the halcyon days when Dial M was in its pomp. Today’s sales days are interspersed with games of Kerbsy or even Pitch & Toss. If you are interested Pant beat Trefechan last time out and are the reigning MTFC Kerbsy Champions. The sales process...

What do they expect of us? Merthyr Town has a tradition, probably more a culture, of its supporters following them home and away. Whether it’s walking up Park Terrace, cycling to Cossham Street, trains to Sholing, cars to Yate or the tried and trusted Travel Club bus to almost everywhere the Martyrs will take fans to an away ground no matter the distance. In fact it’s a rarity in our division for any club to bring fans to Penydarren Park, even Paulton only brought a mini bus to CF47 for the play-off final last season, notable exceptions have been Poole Town, Mangotsfield United and Leamington in recent years. So we’ve established that we take a few supporters away with us. Next would be the fact that we also like a drink or two. So we finally come to the conundrum of the fan/drink/profit equation for every clubhouse in the country. Once a season, unless you’re unlucky to pull a midweek game against the Martyrs, you get about sixty to a hundred very thirsty Merthyr folk ...