I don’t know how many of you take part in this quiz, I suspect not too many, but someone who I know did was Tony Holloway who used to post under the name Cardiff 55 on one of the Cardiff City messageboards I use. Tony would often post messages in the threads I’d start on the board that featured the quiz and I’d say that 90 per cent of the time, at least, his answers were right.
Besides his quiz answers, Tony was a regular contributor on the messageboard and in many cases, what he said was backed up by the large collection of Cardiff City memorabilia he had built up down the years – memorabilia which he was happy to offer as help in my research for The Journey Back and Real Madrid and all that.
Although I’d only met him once or twice, it still came as a real shock to learn about Tony’s sudden death on Monday and I pass on my condolences to his family and friends.
RIP
So, sadly, there’ll be one less person trying to get the answers to this week’s quiz about our next opponents as Championship fixtures resume after the latest international break – in recent years, South Wales derbies have tended to be matches with a bearing on the top of the table, but, although it’s too early to be talking about relegation six pointers yet, the outlook will be pretty bleak for the losers on Sunday.
Here’s seven questions dating back to the sixties on Swansea City, I’ll post the answers some time on Sunday or Monday.
60s. Name the one time Arsenal man whose mood must have matched his surname following his one and only appearance in a game against City in the short period during this decade when he was with the jacks.
70s. Having provided an unwitting assist for one of the great Cardiff City goals, he went on to be transferred to a team of blues and he was to play in the same colour at his next club as well. His time with the first blues was infinitely more successful than his one with the second and he was to leave them under something of a cloud. Swansea were his next club and he renewed acquaintances with City, not too successfully, while he was with them during this decade, who am I describing?
80s. He was the first English born player to captain Wales and was twice in a Swansea team that played against us during this decade, name him.
90s. Vet, osprey and Spielberg film in collision somehow produce a derby regular for Swansea during this decade (5,6).
00s. Man who took the wickets of, among others, Viv Richards, Carl Hooper and David Boon in test cricket while playing for England, also turns out in south Wales derby? Surely not?
10s. Enliven a Stone?
20s. He has type one diabetes, has scored ten international goals in nearly forty international appearances and saw a loan spell at Swansea terminated after injury, can you name him?
Answers
60s. John Black never played for Arsenal but was a regular in their side which won the old Football Combination in 63/64. In December 1964 he returned to the country of his birth to sign for Swansea and stayed with them for a year before signing for Worcester City. One of his fifteen first team appearances for the jacks came at Ninian Park when he was in goal for their 5-0 defeat in April 1965 which did them no favours at all in their unsuccessful attempt to avoid relegation from the old Second Division.
70s. George Smith was playing for Middlesbrough when his mishit, very high, clearance was volleyed into the net from out on the touchline by Peter King in City’s Frank Parsons inspired 4-3 defeat at Ninian Park in October 1970. Smith later signed for Birmingham and was a regular in their team which won promotion to the old First Division in 71/72. City signed him for what was a big fee by their standards of the time of £45,000 just before the start of the 73/74 season, but his two year stay with us did not go well and in one of the last appearances for us he reacted badly to being substituted in a dismal 0-0 home draw against relegation rivals Sheffield Wednesday. Both teams went down and Smith was released in the summer of 1975 to join Swansea. A few months later he returned to Ninian Park as part of a jacks team that drew 1-1 in a Welsh Cup match, but he couldn’t prevent his side being beaten 3-0 in the replay a fortnight later.
80s.Paul Price won twenty five caps for Wales between 1980 and 1984 and was captain of his adopted country from 1982 onwards. Price was in the Swansea side beaten 1-0 at Ninian Park on Boxing Day 1985 and when they gained revenge with a 2-0 win at the Vetch in March 1986.
90s. Steve Torpey.
00s. Steve Watkin was a Glamorgan seam bowler who was in winning teams against the West Indies and Australia in his three cap England test career, his namesake was in the Swansea side beaten 1-0 at Ninian Park in the Final of the TAW Premier Cup in May 2002.
10s. Jazz Richards.
20s. USA international winger Jordan Smith saw his loan spell with Swansea for the second half of last season end early when he suffered an ACL injury at Huddersfield in February.
