page revision date: 11th August 2008

Irish charmer Fintan finds St Davids to his liking

The name of St David’s Rugby Club has become synonymous with a group of players from the area who love to play the game for its own sake and one of those involved for a number of years has been Fintan Godkin.
Fintan arrived from Wexford in Ireland with his family, which included a dad with the same Irish name and mum Elish, when he was just seven and, apart from a short trek to Australia to play and time spent away with work he has been a Saint ever since then. He took up coaching when he was injured a few seasons ago and although he is back playing as well as ever he still coaches the first XV alongside old friend Barry John – and the pair have certainly worked hard to help the Saints lose their ‘cheerful losers’ label.
They still enjoy their rugby as much as ever but last season saw them work much harder in training, especially pre-season, and they had their best-ever campaign in National League rugby since they actually won nine of their 20 matches, easily their best overall performance ever! There has been further hard work prior to this new campaign and Fintan is hoping that St Davids RFC can again move up the table.

Junior coach and football ref

Fintan also helps the likes of Gerwyn Richards (who revamped the Saints’ junior coaching set-up), Jonathan ‘Benny’ Davies and Colin Reynolds, and has sons Harvey (8) and Alfie (5) already setting out and enjoying the oval ball game, with every encouragement from his wife Ann. Fintan looks after the under 9s and readily admits that they sometimes run around like headless chickens and the biggest job is to settle them down – but they are great fun and show a huge rate of progress, which is very satisfying for Fintan and Co!
Fintan played football for Solva and St Davids when he was a teenager but reached the age when he had to choose sports and opted for the oval ball game. The wheel has turned full circle now, though, since Harvey plays for the Solva under nine side coached by Colin Reynolds – and Fintan has been roped in as the team’s official Saturday morning referee.

Youth and seconds spell

He played rugby for St Davids Youth with the likes of Barry John, Carwyn James, Richard Morris, Mike Prickett, Lynas Mortlock and Eddie Bolger, his Irish cousin who stayed in the area and has captained the club well for a couple of seasons. Then he had a short apprenticeship with John James, Dai Bennett and Mark Shuttleworth in the seconds being promoted to the first team and enjoying not only the matches but the post-match entertainment led by big Jack Dudley.
There has been no silverware in the intervening years but some memorable matches, not least when they entertained table toppers Pontarddulais after losing by 89-0 in the Bont. The Saints played their hearts out and actually beat a team expecting to celebrate promotion that night – and it was perhaps appropriate that it took place on March 1st – St David’s Day!

College and Southern Hemisphere

Fintan has been at St Davids ever since, apart from spells at Llanelli College, Southampton Institute and North Sydney, in Australia, where he played in the fourth and fifth grade alongside Carwyn James and Barry John in a huge club which ran six senior teams and included star players like flanker Keith Gleeson and centre Richard Toms. It was very competitive and very fast and Fintan certainly learned a great deal in the season he was there.

Police journey home

On his return he joined the police in Surrey, came along the M4 to Bristol and finally found his way back to Pembrokeshire, and rejoined St Davids, of course. He has played with them ever since and his only time off was when he sustained a nasty leg injury. That was when he took up coaching and after passing his level one moved successfully on to his level two coaching badge – and will try another level at some stage. He took over from Randal Evans, who had done such a good job in raising expectations, and was lucky to have John James as a wonderful team manger. When he took over the reins he roped in Barry John, back teaching in the area and they have both been involved since. Key matches each season are the local derbies against Fishguard for the Seagulls’ Cup and one of Fintan’s ambitions is to see his lads grab the silverware long held by their closest rivals.

Rugby hopes

He is also hoping to build on last year and is delighted that as well as talented young players beginning to make a mark he can rely on vets like Jack Dudley, Gareth Charles, Carwyn Richards and Colin Reynolds, surely the oldest player still involved in first team rugby in the county. There is no doubt that Fintan Godkin has a great love of his club and St Davids is in good hands with genuine people of his calibre at the helm!