Davies Thomas Image 1 Ton Pentre 1910

Description

It’s hard to know exactly, but this could well be Welsh international amateur footballer Thomas Davies who played at half back for Druids. Davies was one of five brothers from Cefn Mawr who played for the local Druids side, then one of the top teams in Wales. He was a stalwart of the Druids side between 1890 and 1910 and later became a member of the club committee. He had a reputation for strength and fitness and is reputed to have never left the field of play as a result of injury; he put his longevity down to “the entire abstention from tobacco and alcoholic drinks”. In view of his finishing his time playing with Druids in 1910, he could well have moved to play for Ton Pentre, although he would have been already 38.

Despite being only a few inches over 5 feet tall, Davies was described as a “glutton for work”; the England international, C.B. Fry commented that he was “astonished to find a man of such diminutive stature capable of so much effective work”. During his Druids career, Davies played in five Welsh Cup finals, being on the winning side in 1898, 1899 and 1904 and finishing as runners-up in 1905 and 1901.

Davies made his international debut for Wales in a 2-1 defeat by England at Portsmouth’s Fratton Park on 2nd March 1903 and retained his place for the next two matches, a 1-0 defeat by Scotland and a 2-0 defeat by Ireland. His fourth and final international appearance was in a 1-1 draw with Scotland on 12th March 1904. Three of his brothers also played for Wales: Joe (7 appearances), Lloyd (16 appearances) and Robert (1 appearance).

It could also well be a completely different Thomas Davies.