Alan still loves being a ‘Viking’

at The Observatory

Alan Roach has rightly earned the reputation of being one of the best administrators in local football and he can also lay claim to being one of the longest-serving workers as he has just completed his 41st year with Hakin United at the Observatory Field.
In that time he has been a player, linesman, chairman, treasurer and, more latterly, secretary of the Vikings as he has watched them grow from a small club which had a wooden shed to change in on the Obs to one of the top clubs in Pembrokeshire, with its own purpose-built changing rooms and clubhouse, a string of local titles and two wins in the West Wales Intermediate Cup.
Alan has been heavily involved in all that the club has achieved off the pitch (he still runs their part of the United Sports Clubs Tote) and has also been a long-serving member of the management committee of the Pembrokeshire League, where he was honoured with the vice-chairmanship, chairmanship and presidency for his long service – and he is rightly proud of the fact that he has been made a life member of both club and county set-ups.

Started at 16

Coincidentally, Alan set out in local football as a 16 year old playing for Hakin Juniors at right half (that’s the right hand side of midfield to you youngsters!) and was part of a team which played well in the Wiltshire Cup. But then work commitments took over until he was 26 and working at Esso, where his supervisor, John Davies, had just taken over from the legendary Billy Jewells as secretary and persuaded Alan to buy a new pair of boots and help out a Hakin side which had Terry Scutt as manager.

Back in action ten years later

He joined the likes of Derek Owens and John Tollett, plus Gareth Morgan in goal from Haverfordwest, in a side which stayed together for almost a decade and when he decided to step down he was immediately roped in to serve on the committee, followed by a spell as chairman soon afterwards. That was around 1975 and Alan is still going strong at Hakin – and in many ways is even busier now than he was then.

Successful chairman

The club constitution says that chairmen are elected for two years but Alan stayed in the role for almost 20 years and enjoyed working with Duggie Jones until Duggie had to work in Holland and Alan took over the reins as treasurer for eight months.
Chris Tansey was certainly involved as the club’s most successful manager of a very talented young team and after four secretaries in a very short time Alan took over the role – and is still going strong today. He was also linesman throughout the period and although he has recently stepped down with the first team he still takes his flag to seconds matches so he can help out there by running the line.

Marauding Vikings

The Vikings had won the league title once in the 1950s and again in the 1960s but with Tansey at the helm and Gary Dawes as his lieutenant on the pitch, things really took off. They were runners-up to Merlins Bridge in 1995/96 and then won the next seven titles on the trot to complete a new record before coming second to Monkton Swifts in 2003/4.
They were also runners-up last campaign and are currently in top spot in division One again so Alan and Co are hoping for some more silverware for the clubhouse. They also won the Senior Cup four times and are in the last eight again this year, with two wins in the much-coveted West Wales Cup as a real bonus. They beat West End and Ragged School, both finals at the Vetch Field, and also lost to West End to prevent a hat-trick. The 3-1 victory in the first final against West End was the best season for Alan, especially in an earlier round, where they beat top Swansea-based side St Joseph’s after extra time to show that the Vikings could battle it out in away games.

Off-pitch memories

There are also great memories off the pitch at The Obs, not least when the new clubhouse was built at a cost of £3,000, small beer now but a huge commitment when it was undertaken with lots of help from members in the construction. An even bigger commitment was the building of the changing rooms, which cost £120,000 because even with substantial grant-aid from the Lottery Fund and elsewhere they still had to find £30,000. Chris Tansey, Jimmy Yeomans and Paddy Wheeler joined Alan in setting up a life membership scheme which helped bring in a proportion of the cash needed and it was a very proud moment for the club when the changing rooms were completed.

Range of roles

Not content with that considerable involvement, Alan remains busy since he takes the minutes at the committee meetings, collects cash for the United Sports Club Tote on Fridays, takes both senior teams’ kits to the launderama on Mondays and collects it on Thursdays – and on Saturdays helps put out the goal nets and checks that the pitch has been marked. He also helps sends the results in to the league sec Brian Hawkins, who joins him on the management committee with old chums like Roy Holman, Keith Scourfield and Eddie Oliver.

Still going strong

Alan admits to being a sprightly 67 and says that he has no plans to step down from the action for as long as he is fit and able because he really enjoys being involved with the talented young players at the club who are ably managed by Gary Dawes, now using the great experience he gained as skipper of the Vikings for a decade to look after the talented young players under his wing.
“I couldn’t have wished for a better club to be involved with than Hakin because it is a close-knit community where we all work for each other,” says Alan, “and I’ve had a great deal of pleasure from my involvement.”
That may well be so but he under-estimates his value to the Vikings and as former manager Chris Tansey told us recently,
“Alan represents all that is good at Hakin because he is hard-working, reliable, and conscientious and has a great sense of fair play. I count myself fortunate to have had Alan so heavily involved when I was manager and I’m sure Gary (Dawes) feels the same way now.” Pembrokeshiresport.co.uk could pay Alan no higher compliment, other than to add that in our dealings with Pembrokeshire’s sporting administrators we have never come across a nicer man than Alan Roach.