Object Lesson, number 3 by Chairman Mao

A few years ago, a Wales shirt appeared on eBay with some astronomical bid amount included. The shirt was advertised as match-worn during the disappointing 2-0 defeat against England at Old Trafford in October 2004. The bid amount looked to increase as fans bid to get their hands on a piece of football history, but the shirt had a flaw, although in this case it was more about a lack of flaw, which confirmed it as a fake.

The shirt seemed genuine enough with the match details embroidered as was the style for Wales games during that era. Sadly, for the seller their sewing skills and more importantly their knowledge of the Welsh language was better than the FAW staff at the time as the words Lloegr v Cymru were spelled correctly whereas the actual match shirts had advertised the game as Loegr v Cymru. The original match shirts were wrong, and the advertised item was right which made it wrong. A fake.

There are 29 letters in the Welsh alphabet which includes “ll” and it’s a letter that creates a few issues for BBC newsreaders across the land.  

We can admit though that even our town name has been murdered over the years, how many times have you seen Merthyr Tydvil or even Merther Tidvil used to describe the Pearl of the Valleys?

The spelling blunder by the FAW kit staff twenty years ago proves that everything needs to be checked and checked again and that’s what should have happened to our next item of MTFC memorabilia.

The eighties had a few trends running through the decade on the terraces, we had the inflatables craze (you may recall penguins and pigs displayed by MTFC fans in Malta), the competition between fans of different clubs for the best clothes and trainers and from that movement came the double-sided ski hat that was seen everywhere for a number of seasons.

One half of the ski hat would usually be either Celtic or Rangers, depending on the fans’ political views at the time, for example Liverpool / Celtic or Chelsea / Rangers hats were all over the terraces at this time.

Merthyr Tydfil FC came, as always, late to this trend. I don’t even know who produced ours but whoever it was they also should have checked on the spelling.  

The ski hat is very good though, a black hat with a MTFC badge on each side but with the club’s name Merthyr Tydfill written underneath each crest. As we all know in Wales, that additional letter changes the way we say the word. I don’t think many people spotted the error to be honest but it’s there, literally, in black & white for everyone to see.

It’s still a great fashion item nonetheless and still deserves to be seen on the terraces at Penydarren Park when the temperatures start to drop. Another piece of football culture from yesteryear which arrived eventually at our club.

Chairman Mao