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Eifion’s still going strong at Crickmarren

Eifion Powell is one of those unsung heroes around the county who help keep clubs going in a variety of ways and his current role at Pembroke Rugby Club is to look after the WRU Lottery and publish each week’s match programme, after previous lengthy spells as a player and Hon Secretary, plus an unofficial stint as press officer at their Crickmarren ground.
But he is also a great supporter of the club, watching almost all their games, whilst his wife Margaret has been a wonderful help on the ladies’ committee for more years than she cares to admit – and can still be found walking the touchline at every home match, selling raffle tickets to all and sundry with the cheerful nature of hers that makes it impossible for anyone to say no!

Early learning process

He learned his duties in the front row when he took over from Norman Gale as hooker at Gowerton Grammar School, which also produced legendary players like Lewis Jones and Onllwyn Brace. He then played for Pontarddulais in the West Wales League and after four years teaching in Walsall got a job as science teacher at Pembroke School – and first turned out as hooker for Pembroke in their local derby against Pembroke Dock Quins on 3rd November 1962 (he’s good at such facts!) where they won 3-0 thanks to a Johnny Jones dropped goal. In 1965 the Scarlets reached the final of the Knock Out Cup and Eifion played tight-head prop alongside the youthful Morgan Lewis and Guy Thomas in a gritty front row. But they lost 6-0 to Tenby at Bierspool as Derek Smith-Wrench had a try disallowed – and it proved to be the last time that Pembroke managed to reach the final.

Great characters and special celebrations

The team in those days used to drink in the Eastgate Hotel and he played until he was 34 alongside real characters like John Shanklin, George Hulbert, plus Morgan, Eddie and Ivor Lewis – and will always remember when the club finally had its own bar because on the day of the official opening in 1965 he broke his nose playing against Cardigan and had to go to Glangwili Hospital to have it reset! By then he was social secretary of the club and when the late Glyn Cook stepped down as secretary in 1981/2 he took over the role and remained in office until 1997, when he organised the club’s centenary celebrations that included dinners where Ray Williams (WRU) and Dai Vaughan (Dunvant) were excellent guest speakers.
He rightly regarded being made a life member as a great honour, as was his receiving an engraved silver salver at the club dinner in 1992 to mark his efforts for the club.
In his younger days Eifion also played cricket across the road at Treleet and was a strong opening bat for Pembroke who doubled up as a superb left-handed spin bowler on his day, especially on damp wickets where his changes of pace and variations of spin caused chaos to opposing batsmen as he worked in tandem with another cracking left-arm bowler in the late George Hulbert.

Special present – a cricket ball!

Eifion’s involvement with cricket also began when he was a nipper in Pontarddulais, where his father Dai played the game and Eifion had a leather cricket ball as his reward for passing the 11-plus so he could practice his left arm slow stuff under the careful guidance of Islwyn Griffiths, one of the old-timers at the club and a fine exponent of spin bowling himself.
His determination to succeed paid dividends at Gowerton Grammar School where his main claim to fame was the fact that he had Tony Lewis, who played for Neath Grammar, later captained Glamorgan and England, caught by Gwyn Beynon for a duck! He first showed Pembrokeshire folk his all-round skills when he played for Pontarddulais Youth against our county and scored 75 of the Bont’s 139 for 8 and then in 11 overs tormented Pembrokeshire’s young players like Evan Martin (Hook) and Alun Davies (Llanrhian) to such a degree that he finished up with 7 for 6 as the county were shot out for 42 paltry runs!
When he was teaching in Walsall he played alongside top West Indian spinner Alf Valentine and when he moved to teach at Pembroke Grammar School he enjoyed opening with club skipper Derek Hayward and in a match at Pontypridd the pair shared an opening stand of 85 Eifion reached 67 after earlier bowling 25 overs unchanged for 30 runs!

Memorable moments

He played alongside son Jeff for a while until a bad back forced him to retire at 45 with two losing Harrison-Allen Final medals (and Jeff went on to pick up two winners’ medals during his time at Pembroke before his work took him around Great Britain and now in Australia!).
He also scored a century in a friendly against Newton, from the Gower, but his most memorable moment came when he was selected for Pembrokeshire to play in a two-day match against Barbados at the old MHPC Ground in Milford Haven.
Derek Hayward and Tony Tuckwell (Llangwm) opened the batting but Eifion was at the crease to face the fourth ball of the match after legendary fast bowler Wes Hall had shifted Tuckwell with a brute of a delivery. Eifion can vividly recall seeing Mr Hall in the distance but only two fielders at sill mid-n and mid-off -  because all the other fielders were in the slip and gully cordon! When lunch was taken, 75 minutes later, Eifion was five not out and that proved to be his final score as he was shifted after lunch – but he did take two wickets on the second day and might have had three but test player David Holford was dropped twice off his slow left arm stuff!

15 Carew wickets – in less than 24 hours!

Eifion’s best cricketing performance came in the space of 24 hours  where he grabbed 15 wickets against Carew as he took nine wickets in a Muir Cup match at Lawrenny on a Friday evening and another six scalps on the Saturday as they took on Carew in the league – no mean feat against top batsmen!
His son Jeff followed Eifion into the Pembroke side as a key batsmen and also played for Pembrokeshire in both cricket and rugby, where dad has to admit that he was yards faster in both games! Jeff now lives in Sidney, Australia, where he works as a civil engineer whilst daughter Linda, who lives in Clydach and is a ward manager at Morriston Hospital, was also was a good hockey player, like mum, and now there are grandchildren for Eifion and Margaret to enjoy.