Phil Stoddart – a genuine character loved by supporters

 
In his long career as a rugby player, there was no more extrovert a character than Phil  Stoddart, who started out as a nipper at Haverfordwest, played for Llangwm and Narberth– and was very popular with clubs’ supporters because he loved engaging with them, on and off the field!
 
He set out at under 13 level, coached by Keith Fleming, whom he regards as one of the toughest opponents he ever met when they later crossed paths when he was with The Otters and Keith was playing at Tenby United – and he captained The Blues’ Youth and played for a ‘Welsh President’s XV’ in special games, like when Taibach RFC was celebrating its centenary.
 
But he joined Llangwm at senior level because he had so many friends there who were genuine characters and still regards it as going back to his roots when he visits Pill Parks.
 

Undoubted highlight

 
One of his undoubted highlights was playing for The Wasps in a Bishop Cup match against Haverfordwest in their traditional encounter where The Blues had been dominant for a long time – and Llangwm beat them at Haverfordwest to take the trophy. “Boy did we celebrate,” Stodds told us, as we did at our club dinner when guest speaker Bill Carne read out a poem about the game called ‘I Was There’!”
 
“But I wanted to see if I was good enough to play at a higher level and so I went to a Narberth trial, only to be told I wasn’t up to it but to come back again the next year.
 
“Of  course I was very disappointed but I’ve always been a battler and so returned 12 months later, when coach Richard ‘Stag’ Jones still wasn’t convinced I could make the step up, but said he’d put me in their large squad to see how things went.
 

Proved he could play at a higher level

 
“I spent a fair bit of time on the fringes but got my reward when I was on the bench against South Wales Police when Glyn Jones was injured – and suddenly found I was being picked to start some games in front of a brilliant crowd who really took me to their hearts because they could see I was a trier!
 
“I even played for a short while with a broken hand because I was afraid I might not get picked again!”
 
“I prided myself on my fitness because in my tyre company I was always shifting huge tractor tyres and on the farm I humped big bags of fertiliser, which proved to be my downfall when a lifted two together, slipped in a muddy field and badly damaged my knee.”
 
“It was the end of my time with Narberth but I did return to play and coach at Pill Parks, with my last game at 46 and one season where I said  I’d play for the seconds if they were stuck and ended up not missing a game all season!”
 
That just about sums up Phil Stoddart’s willingness to play and he wanted us at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk to say to young players
to do the same because it is such a great game to be involved in!