The South Wales Evening Post has reported the death of Norman,who played for The Swans' in the late 1950's.alongside the likes of Ivor Allchurch,and Mel Charles,to mention but two. Condolences to his family and friends. No mention,however,of this sad event on the BBC Wales Site. RIP.
I have met this gentleman a few times years ago and he was always at the vetch at match days. A wonderful genuine man who loved all sports especially football and cricket. sad that he has passed away...RIP
I knew Norman well. He was briefly manager of Pontardawe Athletic and we were in business for a time together. He loved his cricket and, although he hailed from the North East, he did play cricket for Wales - amateurs or seniors whatever. I believe at one time he was married to the sister of Cliff Jones the legendary Swansea, Spurs and Wales winger but I stand to be corrected on that one. We lost touch with each other when I moved overseas for a while then, coincidentally, we met out of the blue at Malaga airport whilst waiting to pick up our respective friends. We chatted for several minutes promising to re-establish contact but we never did and that was the last I saw of him. Very sad to hear of his passing. RIP, Norman.
As a PS to my post, Norman was on the same FAW coaching course as I was - Len Allchurch was also there with his cry of "lace away" when he crossed the ball.
Ivoralljack - did you ever play football professionally and if so, who for? Just interested, no need to give too much away
Well before my time is Norman, its still very sad to see another of our former players passing away, I am a bit shocked though that the Swans have nothing on the official website about this - shocking!
Aswan, I wish!!!!!!!!!!!! I was never considered good enough. I mean, I thought I was good enough but no one else did. I did play as a semi-pro in that I was paid but to be honest it was little more than expense money. I have played with and against a lot of pros and made some good friends though. One of the strangest stories was that I was asked to guest for a team in a friendly when I was living in London. The other team was pretty strong and included Hughie McIlvanney (famous journalist, author, ex First Division Wolves and Scottish amateur international) and Mike Pinner. Strangely, Pinner, an England amateur international who was a decent keeper with league experience at Man Utd, Chelsea, Villa, QPR, Wednesday and one game for the Swans, actually played midfield and, hell, he was good! His understanding with Hughie Mac was telepathic and the main reason my team got a tuning. After the game we all went to a well known hostelry where we duly got bladdered but my abiding memory is the conversation I had with the two of them - sat with them all evening. HM still writes for The Times I believe, is an award winning journalist and regarded by many of his peers as the greatest ever British sports journalist - rightly, he is regarded as a living legend in his field particularly on the subjects of football and boxing, my two sporting loves. It was a privilege to play against him and even more so to discuss sport for hours with such an informed, intelligent and entertaining guy. If this was a boxing forum I could have told you of the debate we had about Ali - it got really heated but never nasty and by the end of it we had virtually the entire pub listening to us and joining in. A GREAT night!!
Nice memories there,Ivor. Hugh McIlvanney is my favourite sports journalist.The man is pure class. I didn't know that he played for Wolves. I vaguelly remember Pinner playing for The Swans. Would have loved to have been part of the Ali debate.
Ivor,your mention of the great H.M.inspired me to google him. At 05.30,how better to spend one's time? Terrific article on him from The Independent,2005,entitled; "Hugh McIlvaney:A giant among sporting greats". http.//www.independent.co.uk/news/media/hugh-mcilvaney-a.
Vetch, I tried briefly to find reference to HM's association with Wolves but failed to do so; it might be that my sources were mistaken. The game in question was a friendly and I was invited to play to strengthen our team because of the calibre of the opposition. Whether I did or not is a moot point. I would say not because we were stuffed. It was a couple of my team mates who mentioned Wolves a day or so before the game. Alan Norman, our young centre half who had just been signed by Spurs, pointed out HM's name to me gloomily pointing out his credentials and rightly predicting that he and our defence were in for a tough time. Mike Pinner was an enigma. I believed he played as an amateur but might have reached the very top if he had concentrated as a full time pro. Why he didn't, I just don't know. The bulk of his league games were for Leyton Orient, 80 or so, but he played the odd game for some top sides. A strange situation that you wouldn't see in today's game. As you know he was a goalkeeper but he was also a highly talented attacking midfielder and, imo, easily could have played league football in that position. As you say, nice memories.
I seem to remember Pinner as an amateur,Ivor. In fact,the amateur game was very strong in those days,and the Amateur Cup Final was one of the big games of the season,boasting such teams as Bishop Auckland,Hendon Town,and many others whose names I can't remember.
damn, never met anybody good bar Billy Ritchie, Jack Charlton and Ian Botham, maybe i need to expand my horizons
You've "met" a lot of "good" people on here,musty.Not big names like the ones you listed,but good people for all that.
