News - 100 Years Ago - Wales Play At Aberdare
Posted: 15 April 2008
Looking back through the FAW archives, we find that in April 1908, Wales played an international against Ireland at Aberdare.
The match was part of the International Championship and was played at the Athletic Grounds and was the final game in what had been a low-key season for Wales.
Defeats had come in Dundee to the Scots 2-1 and at Wrexham to England 7-1. For the final match, it had been decided to continue spreading the football word to the south of Wales with the match with Ireland.
So, on 11th April 1908, some 6,000 fans saw the Wales team run-out, including local debutant Tommy Daniel Jones from Aberaman, a forward who had already played for the Welsh amateur side that season.
Sadly for him and Wales, he was not able to reverse the trend of the season, and the Irish went home with a 1-0 win and gave Wales the wooden spoon.
The team is below:
Back: (Players Only) Maurice Parry, Billy Meredith, Horace Blew, Haydn Price.
Front: Ernie Peake, Jeff Jones, Dicky Morris, Mark Watkins, Bob Evans, Tommy Daniel Jones, Bert Hodgkinson.
