Ian first went to the Racecourse aged just 3, … lifted over the turnstile by his mum. 70 years later he is still a devoted Wrexham AFC fan. This is his incredible story 🔴⚪
Ian was only 3 years old when he went to his first match and he still remembers his mum, Gwyneth, an ex midwife, lifting him over the turnstile because he was too small to walk through it. It hadn’t taken long to walk to the Wrexham AFC ground on his little legs, because he lived in Jasmine Way, one of the post-war pre-fabs on Maesgwyn Estate just off Mold Road.
Whatever it was about that match it made an impression on the three-year-old and since that day in 1955 he has been a devoted Wrexham AFC fan.
A Privileged Postion In Wrexham AFC
But Ian wasn’t your usual supporter of Wrexham AFC, thanks to his mother his family had a privileged position in the club and he shared with me his ‘behind the scenes’ experiences of the club at that time.
Somehow, at some point, Ian’s mother had begun washing the kits for the players every week. Eleven kits, not just popped into a washing machine, but washed by hand, scrubbed, mangled, and somehow, dried. Eleven shirts, numbers sewn onto them that had been cut from old sheets, eleven pairs of shorts, and 22 socks hanging on the line – there were no substitutes in those days, if a player was injured the team was down to ten men.
But though clean, the rough and tumble of the game, football studs wreaking havoc on the fabric and general wear and tear, especially in the socks, the kit always had holes and rips, and so Ian, wearing shorts as boys did in those days, would climb with his mum onto the bus on Mold Road, his bare legs sticking to the plastic seats, and they would take the mending to his Gran’s who lived in Gwersyllt.
Official Photographer For Wrexham Leader.
By the following Saturday Ian and his mum had picked up the Wrexham AFC football kit again and it had been dropped back off at the Racecourse, or sometimes one of the players, maybe Albert Parker or Ali McGowan would pick it up. And Ian would watch everyone walking into the ground, including the players, – only the directors arriving in their cars.
The reward for this hard work and diligence? Ian and his mum would sit in the ‘The Stand’ built of wood, next to the directors’ box with the players’ wives, on a bench with an arched piece of wood as a back support, rain drumming on the corrugated metal roof. For form’s sake a policeman stood at the bottom, cup of tea in hand.
After the game some of the wives would come back to Ian’s house for a cup of tea, waiting for their husbands to fetch them and so Don Weston, Fred Davies and Johnny Anderson became regular visitors to Ian’s home.
1959 was a big year for Ian. Floodlights were installed at the ground in the September and Ian watched as an engineer high on the pylons aimed each individual light at a lid from an old crisps tin, held by a man on the pitch, until every single light was correctly positioned.
Ian’s Most Treasured Memory
For Ian though, his highlight was a knock at the back door on Christmas morning. His mum sent him to open it and there stood Albert, Ali and Fred Davies holding presents for him. As Ian opened the presents, being careful not to rip the paper they were wrapped in, he discovered a football kit – a Wrexham AFC football kit in his size with number 7 on the back of the shirt. They had thought of everything, shirt, shorts, socks, boots and a leather casey with a rubber bladder inside. Later on Jack Jones, the trainer, blew it up for him.
The next day, dressed in his kit, Ian, now six-years-old, was taken by Mrs Fay the secretary over the road to the Racecourse where all the players were waiting for him to have a ‘kick around’. When Ian took a penalty against Billy Waters he scored and he smiled so hard he thought his face would crack. And for the rest of that season he was their mascot and every home game Ian would be on the centre circle when the teams tossed the coin.
Growing A Bit Older As A Wrexham Fan
As Ian grew into an older boy things changed, instead of sitting with his mum and the players’ wives in The Stand, he went instead to the ‘Boys’ Pen’ – ”keeping all the trouble together,” says Ian.
Life Behind The Scenes At The Racecourse
And he began to help out at the Racecourse too. His aunt and uncle ran little red kiosks serving refreshments for the fans, all the men wearing shirts, jackets and ties with either a flat cap or a trilby on their heads.
Ham rolls and pork pies would be served with tea and coffee prepared in big urns and poured into porcelain cups, with two jugs of milk, one with sugar in and one without for the fans to add to their drinks. Or you could get a little bottle of pop from Border Breweries where Wickes stands now. Then after the game Ian would help his uncle and his cousin collect all the bottles and cups from the ground for them to be washed.
Ian was so well known, the visiting players’ bus would stop on the Mold Road where he was standing waiting, pick him up and take him into the ground with them and he would be able to get the autographs of all the visiting players.
‘You Can Take The Man Out Of Wrexham …’
Ian was a regular at every home game of Wrexham AFC until he went to study music in London but as he says, “You can take the man out of Wrexham, but you can’t take Wrexham out of the man.” He never stopped supporting Wrexham AFC, excitedly waiting to see the scores on a Saturday and helping his father with the Gold Bond Lottery when he returned to Wrexham in the 1990’s. Now he lives in Pembrokeshire, where it suits him to be close to family. He thinks it is amazing what Rob and Ryan have done in elevating Wrexham AFC to international status and is a massive fan of Phil Parkinson, he says he has proved himself.
His only regret, and it is one that has popped up from time to time from those fans who were back there, in the ‘boys pen’ in the ’50s, 70 years ago, fans that are now in their 70s and 80s, is that they have been unable to watch Wrexham play this season due to the shortage of tickets. They understand the new stand has to be built and the reason for the ballot, but these are the supporters who have been with Wrexham AFC through the good, the bad and more than any of us have ever seen. It’s a shame they have to miss the some of the team’s most glorious days.
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