From the publisher:
The Rhondda Valleys and the people who live there are unique for many reasons – and when it comes to sporting excellence, the undoubtedly punch above their weight.
From boxing legend Tommy Farr to infamous football referee Clive Thomas, they have produced a wealth of talent and larger-than-life characters.
The talents of footballers such as Alan Curtis and Nathan Jones were nurtured there too, on school playing fields and in local leagues.
Every weekend, on football pitches across the Rhondda Fach and the Rhondda Fawr dedicated sportsmen and women still play real football – the grassroots game: where you have to pay to play, hope a referee turns up, change in a shed, play on a rain-sodden cabbage patch and take your own kit home to wash.
Here they find a special camaraderie that is difficult to match elsewehere. This is a story – a celebration – of those Sunday League footballers; a million miles away from the pampered prima donnas of the Premier League, but whose defeats are just as painful and whose successes are every bit as glorious.
A revealing and humorous insight into the world of Sunday League football, where you have to pay to play: truly a million miles away from the Premier League. The book recounts the story of four eventful seasons for the Maindy Con Football Club as they ply their trade in the Rhondda Valley & District Sunday League in South Wales.
The author:
Peter Roberts has lived in the Rhondda all his life, and has worked at the University of South Wales (previously University of Glamorgan) for the last 25 years – he is currently a student disability adviser. He has been playing 11-a-side competitive grass roots football for almost four decades, predominantly in the Rhondda Valley, and currently plays for Ferndale and District Veterans in the Wales veterans' league.
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