Dial M for Merthyr

I’ve just finished reading the excellent book “And the Sun Shines Now” which studies the impact of the Hillsborough disaster and the advent of the FA Premier League on how modern football has developed. The book is worth reading if only for the first and final chapters which describe the author’s survival on the fateful day in 1989 and then the final vindication of the families’ campaign for justice for the 96 innocents who died that sunny afternoon. The Taylor Report was a catalyst for change in the game and the book details the chances spurned along the way. The journey from the late eighties certainly sparked some memories for me. Those days are now in sharp focus with how the current game is set up, many of us of a certain age will sometimes look around us on a Saturday afternoon and wonder if the product has become a little sterile, has the match-day atmosphere improved as the stadium facilities have over the years? It’s easy to become nostalgic for how we first watched foot...

Sad news has reached us at Dial M For Merthyr. Bobby McIlvenny who was one of the matinee era boys from the early 1950s sadly passed away in Exeter on 15 th May aged 89 years. Bobby was an inside forward who developed in wartime Irish League football. He was born in Belfast on 7 th July 1926. He played for Balmoral United and then both Distillery and Glentoran during that era. He then joined Merthyr Town (alongside his brother Paddy) where he again shone helping the Lilywhites to win both Southern League and Welsh Cup culminating in a move to Oldham Athletic in March 1950 for £3,000, later helping them win the Division Three North title in 1952-53 by scoring 8 goals and laying on a lot more for Eric Gemmell. He went onto to play for Bury, Southport and Barrow, taking his tally of Football League appearances beyond the 250-mark and earning a reputation as one of the most skillful players of his era playing in the lower divisions. After leaving senior football he played for Yeov...

I’ve just heard that the supporters’ bus scheduled for Kings Lynn (or KL as we say in the tea houses of Vaynor) has been cancelled. Apparently we didn’t manage to impress 34 of my fellow Martyristas that 8 hours on a bus was worth it just to see Jon Brown take KL Town United Athletic (or whatever they’re called these days) apart. It’s the first game of the season. Come on. The … First … Game … Of … The … Season and we can’t run a bus. What has become of us? What happened to our away support? We used to run a bus to every game back in the day, so have times changed that much? I’m asking a lot of questions here. I probably need to add some answers. We have to face the fact that the average age of our support is getting older by the season and those of us heading north of forty have other stuff circling our lives; where are our loud, boisterous, frankly annoying adolescents who should be using Merthyr Town trips as a rite of passage? You know the score, trips to dull towns, watchin...

The idea to name the roundabouts in Merthyr Tydfil after Welsh football heroes from the town is a great idea and we hope that the Borough Council will support the idea emanating from the football club. Whoever thought up the idea deserves a medal for grasping the opportunity of celebrating the Welsh football team in this their greatest year but also twisting it to promote the local players who have worn that red (and not grey) shirt that represents our nation on the worldwide stage. So who should be commemorated on the thoroughfares of the Pearl and also where? Gordon Davies (Penydarren) Dai Astley (Gwernllwyn) Steve Jenkins (the roundabout outside Trefechan shops of course) Rhys Williams (Abercanaid) Moses Russell (Dowlais Top A465) Bryn Jones (Dowlais flats) Ivor Jones (Penyard) Charlie Jones (Troedyrhiw) Gavin Williams (Pentrebach/Hoovers) Jason Bowen (Gurnos) Kath Morgan (Twynyrodyn slip road) Brian Law (the new bus station?) Mark Pemb...

The Hospital Cup used to be a big deal in Merthyr Tydfil between the wars. I’m not really sure of the rationale behind the tournament or even the teams that competed but it was a fine trophy that Merthyr Town won on a few occasions. I got to thinking about this old competition during a recent weekend break in Cornwall where a few of the local clubs play in a pre-season charity tournament called the Brian Biggin Cup which last season raised over £1,000 for Help for Heroes. I watched Newquay win 5-1 at Perranporth’s ground in the competition which was well supported whilst the game itself was competitive. So could we do the same in the Taff valley? A pre-season competition based on our artificial surface at Penydarren Park over the duration or perhaps a week in mid-July to raise money for Prince Charles Hospital. 8 teams; 2 groups of 4, culminating in a Final. As for clubs to join Merthyr Town, well the obvious ones would be Penydarren BC, Merthyr Saints, Aberfan SDC and Trehar...

Amberleigh House has finally been demolished. It was an island of decay in our sea of revitalised commerce for a while but now the final remnants of that mythical pleasure palace Strikers have disappeared into history. Many of you will remember the place as the Jubilee Club, one of the first commercial avenues explored by the good burghers of Park Terrace back in the 70s. It was part of my youth, cans of Top Deck and bags of crisps after home games with my Dad who probably had an Allbright. The clubhouse was basic but it belonged to us and it was the Football Club, the darts teams have kept that moniker ever since those early days, after all it does what it says on the tin. This is about football. Pop and crisps post-match and if I was lucky then we’d still be there when the Football Echo was delivered which gave me a chance to analyse the day’s results and update the league tables for my Dad. It was a safe environment but in the old sense that everyone knew each other so the la...

Great to see so many Merthyr Town fans in France. We know how to party in Merthyr and we're bringing it to France this summer.

Merthyr Town is a fan owned co-operative as everyone knows. We’re registered as a Community Sports Club in effect. We’ve visited this idea before in the pages of the fanzine but should we look to adopt a more continental approach to how we use Penydarren Park for the future? In essence we’re talking about becoming a sports club rather than solely concentrating on football. Clubs throughout Europe have a wider portfolio of activities available to their members and it’s true from Barcelona to Istanbul via Stockholm. The opportunities for members can be varied and eclectic and most would be out of our scope due to both capacity and facilities but should we be looking to attract other sports or hobbies to Penydarren Park to further enhance our position as the best community venue in the Valleys? If we use Galatasaray as an example, we’re not expecting to provide motorsport, water polo or swimming along Park Terrace but could we not use the new facility (why don’t we have a name for ...

Would you play petanque for Merthyr Town FC if we built a piste at Penydarren Park? Theatre End would be perfect if you know where it is. We could even play at the above piste one day against Hammarby FK in Stockholm.

We all know that Saturday feeling, something experienced by football fans up and down the country in a very different but at the same time in an all so familiar way. Whether it’s a flutter or two in the betting shop before heading to the club to see the lads before a home game or waking up early and grabbing the cans before a trip to an English town which you previously had no knowledge of to represent your town and its people in some sort of battle. Well, this was the usual routine for me season after season, until deciding to move to University in deep mid Wales, almost two years ago. After two years in the seaside town of Aberystwyth and meeting people from all over Cymru, and not forgetting the numerous nights out in Aber and even a few in Bangor and Caernarfon, it is hard to argue with the popular belief that “university is the best years of your life.” But, if there is one thing in life that gets worse after moving to uni, then it’s the Saturday. A day that has always se...