Dial M for Merthyr

It was Lyn Mittell who started it all off in the autumn of 2003. We were enjoying a couple of pre-match pints in Strikers when he dropped an envelope on my lap and told us to investigate this new idea of a Supporters Trust as it could help the club, he was certainly right with that prediction but not in the way he probably imagined. The envelope contained a circular from Supporters Direct looking to promote a new way for supporters to engage with their clubs. The premise being that funds raised for the club should be matched with representation in the Board Room. A steering committee was required to take the project forward and all groups within the Club were contacted to be part of it. Very soon we were able to contact Supporters Direct to confirm that we would seek a mandate from the supporters of Merthyr Tydfil FC to form a Supporters’ Society AKA the Trust. The title of “Martyrs to the Cause” was adopted in the first steering group meeting which was a perfect statement...

Two world wars and the debut game for the Town It can be pretty tedious trawling through registration books and newspaper microfiche when researching Merthyr Town players who may have served in the First World War but some of the stories need to be told to a new generation. One of the characters that was rediscovered was Williams Sebastian Carrier who was known as just Bill Carrier throughout his life. Bill Carrier was born in Huyton on 20 th January 1885. He was a labourer at sixteen years of age but started his football career with Stretford in the Manchester League before joining Manchester United in September 1906, it didn’t seem to work out for him though as he returned to Stretford within a year. Bill seems to now have moved to South Wales to live and to eventually take up the challenge of registering for the fledgling new professional football club at Penydarren Park called of course Merthyr Town FC. He signed contract forms in August 1908 and made his debut in the c...

When Merthyr played at Highbury Arsenal 3 Merthyr Town 0 – FA Cup First Round 1915 Nowadays the news that your club has been drawn against Arsenal in the FA Cup is the signal to celebrate the prospect of a financial windfall and massive TV exposure. However a century ago the reality was somewhat different. At this time World War One has fossilised into a line of trenches stretching from the French Channel coast to the Swiss border and many of the eager volunteers of the summer of 1914 were getting an unfortunate taste of what the reality of war was all about. Frank Costello who had worn the red & green of Merthyr Town in only the previous season had been killed in action only a few weeks before the third round was played. Although many footballers had ripped up their contracts in order to enlist in the armed forces, the decision of the football authorities to continue with a league and cup programme led to the game being subjected to mounting criticism from many sectio...