St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future
Ten
Transcript:
This is part ten in the audio trail on David ‘Dai’ Samuel. This object, a cap, is on display at St Helen’s alongside all other objects that this trail has explored thus far.
This cap is burgundy, with the Glamorganshire County badge on the front. It has silver tassels, but no date on the brim. We do however know the date it was awarded as we can confirm it as Dai Samuel’s only cap for the county side.
The Samuel brother’s first and only game for the Glamorgan side was played versus Lancashire at St Helen’s on the 18th March 1893. This was the first time the recently formed side had played a home match, fittingly staged where the brothers had turned out so often before. The game ended in a scoreless draw, unfortunate for the first county match played in Wales. County sides from Glamorgan, Monmouthshire and Carmarthenshire were all begun at this time, with varying degrees of success, the reason being that the senior teams within the counties were often reluctant to release their best players to play for the county. However, those county sides were later selected to face touring teams, increasing the interest of clubs and players for county honours.
Glamorgan County played in red, white and blue hoops.
This audio trail is concluded in the next part, a short entry on Dai Samuel’s life after rugby football, after Swansea, Welsh internationals, and innovative county sides. Don’t forget to click next to follow on to the end.