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The Welsh Wizards - The Midfield

Billy Meredith 1895-1920 Caps 48 Goals 11 NE

The first big name in Welsh football. While alive described as "finest right winger living, an awkward customer to tackle, as slippery as an eel with shooting powers extraordinary."

In 1907 Billy and his team mate Leigh Roose were the duo who won Wales the Home International Championship for the first time. Exciting on the pitch his career was lively off: a bribery scandal involving fixing a game with Aston Villa, a founder of the Players' Union and he campaigned hard to scrap the Maximum Wage. He was truly a footballer in the modern sense.

John Charles 1950-65 Caps 38 Goals 15 SW

"Il Gigante Buono" John Charles symbolises the golden year of Welsh football - 1958 and is perhaps Wales' greatest ever footballer. He was the first player to cross the line between football and fame. In 1957 he moved to Juventus from Leeds in a then record £65,000 deal. He thrived in Italy so there were a few sleepless nights before Jimmy Murphy, the Wales manger, got him released to play in the World Cup. His injury in the play off Vs Hungary meant he missed the Brazil game. That game is still the "What if" of Wales' football history.

Bryn Jones 1935-49 Caps 17 Goals 6 S

Bryn played on the Inside left. His quality meant Arsenal were ready to pay Wolves £14,000 in 1938, then a record fee, for a transfer. His independence of character meant Wolves were ready to sell. Second generation of the Footballing Jones family.

Mark Hughes 1984-99 Caps 72 Goals 16 NE

Mike England knew he had picked a winner when "Sparky" scored on his debut at the Racecourse up the road from his home town, Ruabon. Voted PFA Player of the Year twice in 1989 & 1991, supporters still remember his stunning volley goal against Spain in 1985. With Manchester United, Barcelona and Chelsea he won the honours denied him internationally. His trademark was holding the ball up for his fellow forwards. Very much a team player, he has continued to contribute to Wales as manager.

Ryan Giggs 1991 on Caps 33 Goals 7 S

The pundits say a British football team would be England plus Ryan Giggs, but really they mean Ryan Giggs with England to make up the numbers. A key player in Manchester United's dominance of English football in the 1990s, he is the only person to win PFA Young Player of the year twice. The way he outmanoeuvres the opposing defenders and pace of his game mean he has lived up to all his early promise as "the most exciting talent in British football today".

Cliff Jones 1954-70 Caps 59 Goals 16 SW

The third generation of the Jones family to serve football in Wales. Probably the fastest and most feared winger of his generation. The family even had their own traditional position: Inside Forward.

Billy Meredith only took up chewing a toothpick when the Man. City laundry complained that his chewing tobacco was ruining all his football jerseys.

How wages have changed.

Football and big money have not always gone together. Robert Evans, a Welsh International in 1900 was given two turnips a week as expenses by his club. Billy Meredith got £2.00 a week in season in 1894. He continued to work down the pit throughout his early career. It is no surprise he opposed the Maximum Wage which the Football Association enforced on all football players. Everything changed in 1961. Wage restrictions were scrapped and top footballers broke open the bubbly...

Football in the Wars

No international games were played during the First World War. Footballers too answered the call to serve. Many served in the "Footballers' Battalion" in the 17th Middlesex Regiment. Leigh Roose, Wales' goalkeeper, used his goalie skills in August 1916 to great effect throwing grenades to hold off a German counter attack. He received the Military Medal for his bravery. Sadly, he never played for his homeland again as he was killed in October 1916 at Ligny-Tholloy on the Somme in France. How many of them thought in 1914 that the strip for the next four seasons would be khaki? The Internationals during the Second World War were all for charity.

Swansea was the venue for the first home international in South Wales. The game was so new the Western Mail published a guide to the game in case the local spectators wondered why no one was running with the ball. Wales won 4-1 but the Western Mail's commentator remarked "The game was fought out with an almost entire absence of those dirty tricks which come only too handy to the players of the dribbling code." Later he did admit the match was a warning shot across the bows of Rugby Union revealing a sneaking admiration for the dribblers.

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