I know it’s wrong to feel jealous but as I looked out at the crowd that had gathered for the Swansea City Academy Awards it brought back so many memories and I thought to myself… I wish I could do it all over again.
Back in the day we didn’t have a Swans Academy, but we had plenty of other teams and competitions. The first call went to the school team. In my case being a member of the Brynhyfryd School Team was the ultimate badge of honour. I knew how important it was because my older brother Gareth had represented the school when I was at the bottom of the ladder in what we used to call J1.
My dad would ferry Gareth and the rest of the team to every game and I would hop in the back of the car as well. It had been a very good season culminating in an appearance at the Vetch Field for the Junior Cup Final.
The whole school got involved making rosettes and flags in our school colours. Even my Gospel Hall, pump harmonium playing Grandmother went along to cheer on the team. Her photograph subsequently appeared in the ‘Herald of Wales’. I think she bought every copy on sale in the Manselton and Brynhyfryd area to make sure none of the ‘sisters’ from church found her out.
Brynhyfryd Junior Team – Cup Final at the Vetch
The good thing about having a big brother was that even as a 7 year old I often found myself playing against the ‘big boys’. And we played all the time. We would club together to buy a ball for the playground. We would head to the park after school to play until tea time. The weekends were school games in the morning and ‘Colt’s games in the afternoon.
Outside of school football the Christchurch League was a collection of afternoon sides that quite often were affiliated to the senior teams in the Swansea League. I have no idea why Gareth and some of the players from Brynhyfryd had been asked to join Brynmill Colts but everywhere he went I went too.
Robbie James and his Cousin Anthony James
The school sides had the limitation of only being able to select players from the locality. The Colts side was different bringing together players from all over town. It was there that I first got to play against a young lad who even as an 11 year old had a big reputation. We all knew Robbie James was going places and he had a rocket of a shot even then.
It wasn’t long before some of the Brynhyfryd dads came together to form Cwm Albion Colts. We would meet at lunch time on a Saturday in a Club House at Ewart Street. There was a definite pecking order. The club house had a full size snooker table but as I was one of the younger kids, I never got to play.
As well as the school team and the colts sides there was the Swansea Schoolboys. All through Brynhyfryd I dreamed of being selected for the Schoolboys. Trials were held at Cwm Level Park and from that 2 boys from our school team were added to the squad, me and Timothy Duffy. We were ecstatic.
Swansea Schoolboy’s Under 11’s
And so began a school lifetime of adventures travelling across Wales playing with some incredibly talented players. During my schoolboy years the team boasted future Professionals such as Jeremy Charles, Steven Lovell and Russell Coughlan. We might not have had an official Swans Academy but when we crossed that line wearing our White shirts we felt that we were representing our City and our football club.
The other thing that made it special was that we often played on the same pitches as our heroes. Many of our home games were played at the Old Vetch Field and over the years I got a chance to play at Somerton Park the old home of Newport County and The Racecourse in Wrexham.All of this was going through my mind as I stood in front of the Academy players, the Coaching Staff and the families and friends who have supported the players all through the year
Now in my time the only real record we have of our time playing football is the old newspaper cuttings or the team photos we bought at the end of the season. I did find some very short cine camera footage of Swansea Under 13’s versus Afan Nedd but that’s about it. These days whole matches are videoed, some are even broadcast live.
We started the evening honouring the Under 8’s who that morning had been given their new Kits in time for them to move up to the Under 9’s next year. Each group had their own ‘Goal of the season’ and ‘Save of the season’. Awards. It was my job to cue in the video highlights. What an amazing record these kids will have of their time at the Swans.
As we went through the year groups something strange happened, the coaches appeared to get shorter. Those who towered over the Under 8’s soon found themselves looking up to talk to the Under 15’s, 16’s 18’s and 21s.
The wonderful thing for me to see was how the system works and encourages continued excellence. In the Swansea Awards at the Brangwyn last week we honoured Thomas ‘Woody’ Woodward as the Under 21’s Player of the Season. Last Saturday Woody made his debut against Charlton. He came on looking right at home, never putting a foot wrong and registering his first assist of his career when he set up Adam Idah for his second goal of the game. It wasn’t that long ago that Woody was one of the little kids himself.
They say if you can see it you can be it. One of the great things for me was hearing the Under 8’s saying under their breath ‘Woody’ as he took his place with his teammates for a group photo.
Before the night was over I encouraged the boys to enjoy every moment. I also told them to look around at their team mates. In 20,30,40 even 50 years’ time they will meet and talk about some of the games they played in when they were kids.
How did I know? Because that’s what I do when I meet up with my old teammates from those beautiful halcyon days. It was a great night and maybe jealousy was too strong a word, but as I looked out I thought I caught a glimpse of me and my mates in the faces of the kids smiling back at me.