Prince Philip: Welsh Football League remembers 'excellent patron'
- Published
The duke attended the league's centenary dinner at Cardiff Castle in 2004
The Duke of Edinburgh has been remembered as a "jovial and decent chap" by members of an organisation where he was patron for over 60 years.
The Welsh Football League's former secretary Ken Tucker said the duke had been "technically the oldest living member of the league" after becoming its patron in 1957.
He said he was "one of the men" and would be missed "tremendously".
"He's been an excellent patron - we're very grateful to him," he added.
The Welsh Football League covered all of south Wales and was made up of 50 clubs across three divisions, before its final season in 2019-20, when the Football Association of Wales (FAW) took over the running of the league.
Ken Tucker said the duke would be "tremendously missed"
Mr Tucker recalled the duke attending the league's centenary dinner at Cardiff Castle in 2004: "He was tremendous at dinner - there must have been well over 100 people there and he met every one and had a word to say to everybody… which went down very well.
"Everybody I've spoken to since has commented how nice it was to meet him.
"[He was] a very jovial character, very easy going and liked to be in the company of men - altogether a decent bloke."
Former league president Kieran O'Connor met the duke several times. "He's was a very pleasant, funny man," he said.
"The first time I met him was at the centenary dinner.
"He said to me then... 'this is going to cost you a few bob'.
"I thanked him for coming and said 'no it's not actually sir - because you're here, Cardiff city council are picking up the entire tab so we're very happy thank you'.
"He thought that was wonderful."
Kieran O'Connor says the duke was a "lovely, lovely guy"
He said the duke had not been keen to leave the event at the end of the evening: "There was a lot of security. We had guys with rather large guns on the parapet of Cardiff Castle.
"He was due to arrive at a specific time and he was due to leave at a specific time.
"The departure time came and went and - there was no way he was going.
"You could see the security guards were getting extremely anxious but he didn't care."
Mr O'Connor said he would remember the duke for his humour: "He was a funny guy, he could have made a career as a stand-up really, in the right circles," he said.
"His presence was felt whenever he was about and we'll miss him.
"He was a lovely, lovely guy."
- Published9 April 2021
- Published9 April 2021
- Published9 April 2021
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