Real treat for Nigel and Matthew Morgs

 


Nigel Morgan and his son Matthew have graced Pembrokeshire cricket fields for a number of years but perhaps not so well known is the fact that they are both fanatical football supporters. So when they had a family holiday in Barcelona it provided them with the chance of a lifetime – a visit to one of the most iconic venues in the world!
 
There was a real treat for Nigel Morgan, the popular cricketing all-rounder with Haverfordwest and his son Matthew, who plays for Cresselly, as they enjoyed the sporting treat of a lifetime on a recent city break in Barcelona.

Nigel, his wife Gwen, daughter Laura and Matthew were abroad for the first time on such a break and on a city-centre tour that included a look at the outside of the Nou Camp Stadium. Whilst there they spotted that people were queuing for a few tickets left in the world-famous 100,000 seater stadium for their Champions’ League game against AC Milan.

Now it is fair to say that watching football wouldn’t feature highly on Gwen or Laura’s list of things to do but for Nigel and Morgan it was the chance of a lifetime to watch such a game. They asked about tickets but needed their passports, back in the hotel, so it meant a hurried trip back to get them, booking on-line at the hotel and then an underground train back to collect their treasured tickets.

They had a memorable match to watch – and the ladies? They made sure they spent a few euros shopping!

 

Johnny Cash at Phoenix Park

 
Every club needs its off-field workers and at Phoenix Park one of those helping Goodwick United for quite a while was John Deason, who doubled up for sport in general with his regular day job . . .
 
John Deason has been well known in local sporting circles as the former manager of Sport Pembrokeshire at County Hall for many years but he has also been a prime mover of the Phoenix Project in Goodwick as well as being a great supporter of Goodwick United, where one of his roles is to take the collecting box around at half time in matches to raise a few bob for Goodwick.

He’s even got his own little wooden box, neatly emblazoned with the name of the club on it, and as a result of his efforts has been dubbed ‘Johnny Cash’ by the old-timers who stand on the touch line and dutifully cough up their money because there is no denying Mr Deason. So well done Mr D – and there’s not many clubs who can say that they have Johnny Cash sitting on their management committee!
 

Micky shows Gary how to tango

 
Two of my favourite characters who were good players but now enjoy watching football at the Bridge Meadow Stadium as Micky Algieri and Gary Stephens – and they can be counted on to provide some humour about their reminiscences, on and off the field.
This ancient one really had me, and the other nearby supporters like Barry Vaughan, John Munt et al in fits!
 
 Gary Stephens and Micky Algieri are best known for their footballing exploits with Johnston and the Pembrokeshire over 45s but it seems that both are great fans of ‘Celebrity Come Dancing’ with Bruce Forsyth ( is he a contemporary of theirs?). Gary and his wife Linda had tickets bought for them to watch the spin-off show from the television programme and thoroughly enjoyed the occasion but before the trip they had a visit from Mr Algieri and the topic of conversation inevitably turned to dancing and Micky said that he was a more than useful tango dancer.

Gary was rightly disbelieving so Micky swept Linda in his arms and proceeded to dance his version of the Latin dance in the Stephens’ family hallway. It must have been something to behold because Gary admitted afterwards that he had seen Micky in some very different situations but never one as funny as that.
And Mrs Stephens? She really enjoyed the show and saw how the tango should be danced!

 

Be sure your sins will always find you out!

 
Unfortunately, I’ve built up a reputation for having a sweet tooth and got caught out when I went to the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium to watch a Senior Cup semi-final some years ago – and this story popped up in the local press. They didn’t name me but everyone knew who it was!
 
Prior to the start of the Senior Cup semi-final a journalistic friend of ours nipped into the officials’ changing room to wish them all the best but they weren’t there – and he noticed there were Jaffa Cakes placed there for the refs to have with a cup of tea. Having a very sweet tooth he couldn’t resist temptation and put two of the chocolate biscuits in his jacket pocket, to enjoy when he bought a cappuccino.

But he forgot all about them until late in the match, when he was talking to Gordon Thomas (Sports Editor of the Western Telegraph) in the press box.

It had been a warm evening and he put his hand in his pocket to proudly show GT his new camera and pulled out fingers covered in sticky goo that had enveloped not only the camera case but also his pens, keys, notepad and everything else in the large pocket!

Apparently the air was blue as the major clean-up commenced and Gordon was weak with laughter at what happened when his pal tried to ‘borrow’ a couple of Jaffa Cakes. So beware – your sins will always find you out!

 

Derek's not hot on ironing

 
Derek Brazil was very popular amongst the regular Bridge Meadow crowd when he was manager there and the popular first team boss had them and the players in fits one day – but showed he had some home skills (or perhaps not!) as well as  being a football manager . . .
 
Derek Brazil is renowned for his smart appearance and healthy good looks but recently attracted attention as he turned up at the ground on a Saturday with a big plaster adorning his right hand between thumb and fore-finger.

He tried to tell tales of fighting off lions to help a stranded meercat at Bristol Zoo, using his own version of Irish blarney – and stuck firmly to the story despite the inevitable disbelief amongst those who know he can spin a yarn.

But a couple of post-match pints loosened his tongue and a little gentle investigation from the local gutter press revealed the truth – he’d got his finger caught in the folding mechanism of the family ironing board when he was pressing one of his smart shirts!

He also had his leg further pulled about performing such mundane tasks once the truth was out but as Western Telegraph sports editor Gordon Thomas told him, at least he knows that when time comes for him to depart  his job at the Bridge Meadow Stadium he could always get a job at Widow Twankey’s Laundry, just up the hill in Prendergast!