Finally!

10 Responses to Finally!

1. Geoff Lewis says:

   October 11, 2015 at 5:55 pm

   Hi Paul,
   You are still a youngster at 60. As usual, a very good report, it brought back memories of Wales being undone by by the hand of God and poor refereeing and missed penalties. Paul, you have done your homework.
   Being 11 years older than you and 14 years of age at the time I can recall Wales being in the World Cup in 1958. It was a great time with Wales just being edged out by a Pele goal to make it 1-0 to Brazil.
   I think in the squad besides John Charles, Ivor Allchurch etc was an ex Cardiff player namely Ron Hewitt played inside forward for Cardiff a great trier and favourite with the crowds. I remember him always winding the opposition “up”.
   Good luck to Wales into Europe 2015.
   Regards
   Geoff
2. Geoff Lewis says:

   October 11, 2015 at 5:56 pm

   Getting carried away old age should read 2016
3. Dai Woosnam says:

   October 11, 2015 at 10:25 pm

   Thanks Paul, for your reports on all the Welsh qualifying games.
   I too, also congratulate the Welsh squad. But at the risk of seeming a Jeremiah, I am not fully convinced Wales will get out of their group in France. And even if we are drawn in the weakest group there…with the likes of Northern Ireland, Iceland and Estonia/Turkey as possible group members!
   Just not direct enough for my liking. Did not test Begovic much yesterday.
   Give me a goal like Ireland’s winner against the Germans.
   I am still on a high from that Shane Long goal.
   One long ball took three defenders out, and Shane finished with aplomb.
   The ball did all the work.
   And now a word to Geoff.
   Yes I too recall Ron Hewitt with much affection. The best regular penalty taker I ever saw playing for City.. Never missed. Always the same place: high to the goalkeeper’s left. Richard Statto Holt may be able to tell me if I am right re his 100% rate at Ninian Park.
   I cannot google* something else re Ron Hewitt, because when I click another app (like Google) on this iPad, I invariably lose all my composed text when I get back to Mauve & Yellow !!!
   So I will take a flyer here, and say that my memory tells me that Ron died a few hours before the terrible events of 9/11.
   [And what is that supposed to prove Dai?]
   Well…nothing. Why does it have to prove anything? Just one of those strange facts I have in my head.
   I guess though, dates of death always fascinate me.
   Take Geoffrey Howe just dying. Can it be a coincidence that he dies within a day or two of his great adversary Denis Healey? The man who famously said of his criticism that it was “like being savaged by a dead sheep” !?
   Will sign off now. Thanks again Paul for all the reports during the qualifying games.

   * deliberate lower case.
   Kindest,
   Dai.
4. The other Bob Wilson says:

   October 12, 2015 at 7:57 am

   Thank you both for your replies.
   Regarding Ron Hewitt. He gained five caps (which all came in 1958) and scored one goal for Wales. His debut came against Israel in what I presume was one of the games we played against them to qualify for the tournament. He was in the Wales squad for Sweden, but did not feature in the first two games – his first chance came in the 0-0 draw with the competition hosts which ended the “regular” fixtures in Group C and he kept his place in the team for both the Play Off match with Hungary and the Quarter Final with Brazil.
   Dai, your memory is not quite spot on as to when Ron died – it was twelve days after 9/11 according to Wikipedia.
   One other thing about Wales’ 1958 adventure. Apparently, when Mel Charles arrived home from the tournament and got out of his train at Swansea station he was greeted by a friend with the words “Hello Mel, I’ve not seen you for a while – been on holiday have you?”! Youngsters today would be amazed that Wales’ participation in one of the biggest sporting tournaments in the world could pass by unnoticed by some – in fact, as someone who was 2 at the time, I’m amazed by it!
5. Dai Woosnam says:

   October 12, 2015 at 9:47 pm

   Thanks, Paul, for putting me right re Ron’s date of departure from this world.
   I remember reading an obit at the time and thinking “golly he leaves this world with the thought in his head that Armageddon has arrived!”. And this morphed 14 years later into me thinking of him dying just BEFORE the cataclysmic event …instead of just after.
   Still, I should not be too hard on myself, eh? After all, I can leave that option to my many critics! (Weak joke!)
   No, I should be proud of my memory! It is pretty good for 68. It works in all the IMPORTANT aspects…that is to say that I remembered this morning to put toothpaste on my toothbrush and not Nivea Cream, and put my socks on before I put on my shoes.
   And it works with laser-like forensic intensity re the summer of 1958.
   I had just passed the “11 Plus” exam to the local Dotheboys Hall. That summer of 58 is etched in my memory in exquisite detail.
   And trust me, there was mega publicity in Wales for the World Cup. Us kids could talk about little else.
   Now, we never got our first telly until the late autumn of 1958, so I cannot say with 100% certainty that the games were not televised live. But I would bet my shirt on the fact that they were not.
   So, my eyebrows were raised somewhat listening to Bobby Gould on Talksport last Friday night, say that he watched the Pele winner live on his family’s “12 inch TV with its grainy picture”, in his boyhood home in Coventry.
   Is he fibbing? No, not really…for he genuinely BELIEVES that he did.
   But trust me…he did not.
   Had the games been televised live, I would have made a beeline for friends’ houses with TVs: that was how I saw the FA Cup Finals from 1955-58 live.
   For the record, I heard the Brazil game broadcast live on the Welsh Home Service with Alun Williams commentating. I heard it in a house next door to the first family home of my late parents, at 17 Troedyrhiw, Porth, Rhondda. The family (Mr and Mrs Blake) had been next door neighbours of my folks.
   Amazing that I have never been back to that street in the 57 years since! Not only are the Blakes there no more, another thing that will have gone was a massive piece of painted graffiti. In white paint on a wall at the bottom of the hilly street, were these words in big letters: “Welcome Home Sid and Alec”.
   On inquiring, it appeared that these were two young men from the street, who had survived the hell of WW2, to make it back to the UK (and Porth) from POW camps in Germany.
   But enough of my memories. I can bore for Britain and get at least a bronze or even a silver!
   Now, before signing off, let me say Paul that I laughed heartily at the Mel Charles anecdote in your last comment above.
   Why?
   Because I reckon it is a sublimely droll joke: an example of Swansea humour at its best.
   How come?
   Well…the guy asks Mel if he has been on holiday, precisely BECAUSE of all the World Cup ballyhoo throughout Wales at the time! It was impossible for anyone to escape it.
   Hence the joke. A bit like that High Court Judge at the height of Beatlemania famously asking “Who are The Beatles?”
   Kindest,
   Dai.
6. Anthony O'Brien says:

   October 15, 2015 at 2:59 pm

   Wonderfully expressed and incisive comments as usual from everyone. Looking back, as I tend to do, the 1958 team was certainly “a golden generation”. Jack Kelsey of Arsenal in goal was like a bullet from a gun when he came out to throw himself at an opponent’s feet. Stuart Williams (WBA) and Mel Hopkins were both excellent full backs, and we even had a couple of steady Cardiff wing-halves in the squad (Derek Sullivan and Colin Baker). There was also Dave Bowen of Arsenal as captain (who, as I’ve written before) grew up in my very street in Pontypridd). At inside forward was the incomparable Ivor Allchurch, with Roy Vernon also available as a striker. On the left wing was the veritable flying machine of Cliff Jones who was also blessed with outstanding heading ability coming onto high crosses at the far post. Terry Medwin on the right wing was no mean performer, too. Then there were the brothers Mel Charles and John Charles, both equally at home as centre-half or centre-forward. John Charles, in particular, was absolutely world class – and a gentleman to boot. Though “to boot” is perhaps the wrong term – because that’s what happened to him 1958.
   Most of the players I have mentioned would walk into today’s Welsh team, but my big fear is that our one world class star, namely Gareth Bale, will suffer the same fate as John Charles against Hungary in 1958 and be kicked and kicked and kicked, until he is unavailable for selection. I hope I’m wrong but referees need to be warned!
   I enjoyed the anecdote of Mel Charles being greeted when he arrived back in Swansea after the World Cup, but I totally agree with Dai Woosnam that it was typical ironic wit rather than lack of knowledge that underlay his welcome back. Incidentally, when he joined Arsenal (so I was once told) the players were given a long lecture on what used to be called “the wall pass”. Mel might have missed the point, however, because when the players were then told to go and practise the wall pass, he ran to the end of the training ground and practised kicking the ball AGAINST A WALL!
7. The other Bob Wilson says:

   October 16, 2015 at 12:04 pm

   You and Dai have the advantage of me Anthony because you saw the 1958 team play. Certainly, John Charles and Ivor Allchurch would be realistic candidates for the title of best Wales player ever and I know my Dad rated Jack Kelsey very highly, while Cliff Jones’ role as a very prominent member of the Spurs double team is a testament to his quality.
   Derrick Sullivan had left the club by the time I started watching City – I saw Colin Baker play a few times, but it was ten years later when I worked with him for a year in Cardiff Law Courts that I became a confirmed fan of the man. Colin was a lovely bloke who would only talk about his football days if asked and although, as a 20 year old City fanatic, I could have done that with him all of the time, I found him to be intelligent and interesting company anyway and so I never really got to bore him with endless questions about City – he was probably the best friend I made in my time in that job.
   I’m going to defend the current team a bit though – you acknowledge Gareth Bale as a world class player, but I’d say Aaron Ramsey, Ashley Williams and Joe Allen would join him as being good enough to get into most, if not all, Welsh sides I’ve seen. Going 575 minutes without conceding a goal and ten competitive games unbeaten are outstanding achievements for a country like Wales and, although it would have been good to see some more attacking sharpness, this squad is as spirited and resilient as they come.
   Regarding the Mel Charles remark, once again you and Dai have the advantage of me because you not only lived through the 1958 campaign, but also are old enough to remember it. However, I read the comment in two separate places. I can’t recall who told the story the first time, but it was Cliff Jones who recounted it a second time and, on both occasions, it was offered as an illustration that the team’s exploits had hardly captured the imagination of those back home. Now, to me, what you and Dai say makes sense and sounds like it could be the correct interpretation to put on what was said, but it seems that a few who were around at the time have got the wrong end of the stick as well.
8. The other Bob Wilson says:

   October 16, 2015 at 12:07 pm

   59 and three quarters please Geoff!!
9. Dai Woosnam says:

   October 25, 2015 at 10:39 pm

   Excuse these belated words.
   Just put my brain into gear and realised that Bobby Gould was talking cobblers when he said on Talksport that he “saw the whole game in grainy black and white on the family television in Coventry”.
   How do I know the 1958 Brazil game was not broadcast LIVE ?
   Easy.
   I recall the Joe Meek TELSTAR single that got to the top of the hit parade in the early 1960s. That celebrated the launch of the Telstar satellite…circa 1962.
   I remember watching a special programme to mark its launch on our 14 inch TV at home. And seeing a ghostly live picture of Calais Town Hall…and then BOSTON in Massachusetts, and thinking – along with Richard Dimbleby – that it was a miracle.
   So live pictures from Sweden in 1958 were just not technically possible.
   Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield will not be surprised that Bobby Gould got a bit carried away with this story…I seem to recall that when he was Wales boss, they were his biggest critics, and they always suggested that he was not telling it as it was.
   I guess he got that job on the strength of living in Portishead…!!
   DW.
10. The other Bob Wilson says:

    October 26, 2015 at 10:02 am

    I can still remember how I took an awful lot of persuading that Bobby Gould had been appointed as Wales manager Dai. It took the person who told me around two hours to get me to acknowledge that they weren’t winding me up – to be fair to Gould, his club management career up to then had been quite successful, but he struck me as totally unsuited to managing at international level, especially when Wales had prominent players like Hughes, Rush, Saunders, Giggs, Speed and Southall who had probably never encountered anything like him before in their careers. There are plenty of good managers who have their eccentricities, but I think a manager of Wales who arranges friendlies against Leyton Orient (we lost!) and Cwmbran Town who brings himself on as a sub in the latter at the age of fifty odd is taking things a bit far!

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