International tournament fails to impress
The Semi-Professional Four Nations tournament held in Wales last week was not organised as well as it could have been and the withdrawal of several players affected the quality of the football.
Of the Hereford players involved, both Michael Rose and Tony James gave good accounts of themselves. Rose played in all three English games and was unlucky not to score against Scotland when he hit the side netting. Many of his crosses were on target and had the English strikers been on better form, several goals could have resulted.
Matt Baker only played in the last game against Scotland and gave a penalty away soon after the start, when he brought down Ian Murray. Afterwards he was equal to anything that came his way and in the second half made two outstanding stops.
Tony James also gave a penalty away against England's Roscoe D'Sane who then scored from the spot. Otherwise his defending was as competent as ever, and he was made captain for the England game but near to the end had to come off as a result of an injury sustaining while defending close to the penalty area. He was on the bench for the last game but did not come on. Wales were a poorer team without him.
Paul Parry seemed under par in his first game against Scotland and was replaced during the second half. However against England he made several good runs and crosses but the conditions were not helpful for him to show his real potential. Against Ireland he did not stand out until switched to the right wing.
It was thought that there would be up to fifth scouts at the Tournament. Both Graham Turner and Richard O'Kelly were at Merthyr on the Thursday evening but it would be surprising if they were that impressed with any of the performances to enquire further. Former Bulls player-manager Phil Robinson, now with Stafford Rangers, was also seen.
It is difficult to understand how the FAW could have picked Merthyr as a venue for the Tournament. The pitch was a disgrace and the organisation awful. The whole place looks run-down and would almost certainly fail to meet Conference standards should the club ever get promoted. Before the game the officials had to break into the PA announcement box and so failed to announce the teams before half-time, let alone play the National Anthems.
The other venues, Carmarthen and Haverfordwest, both had reasonable pitches and the facilities were adequate. Haverfordwest had the better gate as their goalkeeper played in the Welsh squad for that game and the club had even managed to persuade Tesco to take four advertising boards. Every little helps so why no Tesco's boards at Hereford?
Again on the Saturday the FAW were again at fault for scheduling the two games so close together; the game at Carmarthen started at 1pm and at Haverfordwest kick-off was 3.30pm. So fans wanting to see the two games had about forty minutes to drive thirty miles on the A40. Nobody saw the whole of the two games, but an extra fifteen minutes or half an hour would have been sufficient. What a farce.
On the plus side, the refreshments were good value for money!
Next season, England boss Paul Fairclough wants to expand the tournament. If this is the case, the organisation will need to be much better so as not to humiliate ourselves in front of our European neighbours.