Welsh caps and playing Brazil - Alan looks back (From Penarth Times)

Welsh caps and playing Brazil - Alan looks back

A COGAN lad who was at the heart of the last Cardiff City team to play top-flight football - and the only Wales team ever to have qualified for the World Cup - spoke to The Penarth Times this week about a glittering 14-year career at the top of the sport football.

Alan Harrington, now aged 72, grew up in Cogan and was offered a professional contract with Cardiff City at the age of 17 after graduating through the club's youth ranks.

He went on to play first team football for Cardiff City for almost 16 years and won 14 caps for Wales.

The wing half made his debut aged 17 against Tottenham Hotspur in 1951.

He said: "In each of the first four games I played for City, I was marking an international. There was Eddie Bailey (Spurs), Jimmy Hagan (Sheffield Utd), Doug Lishman (Arsenal) and Wilf Mannion (Middlesbrough).

"I played under the salary cap of 20 a week. Most of my schoolfriends were earning around 7.50 a week so I was doing OK!

"We used to get a 2 bonus for a win and 1 for a draw.

"The players didn't have cars then and I used to take the 1.50pm train to Grangetown from Cogan on matchdays.

"The train would be packed full of supporters and on the way back, if you hadn't played well, they certainly let you know.

"Nowadays players can slip away in their cars if they've had a stinker."

Alan was at the heart of the last Cardiff City team to play in the top flight of English football.

City finished second behind Aston Villa in 1959/60 to get promoted to Division One but were relegated in 1962.

Alan was also a key member of the Cardiff side that played in the First Division from 1952 to 1957.

He said: "The support we received in those days was tremendous. They would flood down from the valleys to Ninian Park.

"We were getting gates of at least 30,000.

"I remember playing Tottenham in 1960/61 on a Saturday evening in front of a crowd of 60,000.

"Wales had played Ireland at rugby in the afternoon and a lot of people came to watch us afterwards."

Alan won 14 Welsh caps and played for his country in the vital qualifier against Israel which secured Wales' passage to the 1958 World Cup.

But he dislocated a shoulder in the build-up to the tournament and was unable to join Jimmy Murphy's squad in Sweden.

He said: "I was terribly disappointed at the time - but that's just the way it goes sometimes. Because we did so well against Brazil in Sweden we were invited to play two games against them the following year, which I did play in.

"We lost 3-1 both times. They had a fantastic side including Pele and the Santos brothers. One of the games was played in Rio in front of 120,000 fans.

"I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to have made a career out of doing what I loved doing - playing football.