Dial M for Merthyr

My first experience of a pre-match pint was in the Lord Nelson. The pub was closed shortly after me and my mates started drinking there, I suppose if you’re serving 14 year-old skinheads from Trefechan every Saturday morning your business is not exactly running to plan. A few pints of Allbright and off we went up the Pontmorlais Steps to watch our heroes. Pontmorlais has changed a lot since those days. The gradual economic decline of the area has isolated the football club, as the number of pubs has reduced so did the reasons for people to visit Penydarren Park for a beer en route to town. You either went to the football club for a function or not at all. The news that two of our local boozers are back could be seen as a threat to the football club, especially on a match day, but to be honest the increased choice of pubs will surely enhance the supporters’ match-day experience of Merthyr Town FC. The Tiger Bar, our first ever clubhouse back in 1909, isn’t exactly reopening but wi...

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 ...