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Alf Sherwood

Alf Sherwood

Rob Cole

King of the sliding tackle, Alf Sherwood was one full back who could tame Stanley Matthews. The great Sir Stanley confessed that the Welshman was “the most difficult opponent he ever played against”. Not a bad tribute for the former miner from Aberaman, who joined Cardiff City from his home town club after winning Welsh Schoolboy honours at both cricket and football. He played 110 times for Cardiff City during war time and then made 354 league appearances all tolled between 1942-1956. At Ninian Park he won the Division Three South title in 1947 and then, after taking over as Cardiff City captain, led the club back into the First Division by finishing as the runner-up in Division Two in 1952.

Cardiff City manager Cyril Spiers signed him as a tenacious wing-half, but then moulded him into the perfect centre-back. He also showed he could turn his hand to playing in goal in the pre-substitute days. He took over in goal for both club and country and notably saved a penalty against Liverpool at Anfield in a 1-0 win that helped to condemn the Merseysiders to relegation from the First Division.

In 1956, Sherwood joined Newport County at the age of 33 and went on to play more than 200 league games. He also won the last couple of Welsh caps from Newport. He joined Barry Town as player-manager in 1961, but retired from football two years later.

His international career started with a 1-0 defeat against N. Ireland in Cardiff on 4 May, 1946, in a War Time international. He then won the first of his 41 caps against England at Manchester in a 3-0 loss on 13 November, 1946 and only missed two games before his final appearance against England at Wembley in a 3-1 defeat on 14 November, 1956. He played in the World Cup qualifiers against the Home Nations in 1949-50 and 1953-54, but then missed out on the World Cup finals campaign in Sweden in 1958. He played in the three matches in the 1951-52 British Championships in which Wales shared the title with England and was also in the side that beat the Rest of the UK 3-2 on 5 December, 1951 in Cardiff. His best international victory came when he led his country to a 2-1 win against England in front of a 60,000 crowd at Ninian Park.

Alfred Thomas Sherwood (Footballer) Born in Aberaman on 13 November, 1923; Died in Cowbridge on 12 March, 1990