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Herbie boys are happy in Cardiff
When Herbrandston Football Club made it into the first division of the Pembrokeshire League they had several talented teenagers from the village who helped them there, including Matthew Price, Richard and Adrian Jenkins, Oli West, Carlo and Nico Giannuzzi, plus Rhys Thomas.
These lads are now in their middle 20s and occasionally return to their home village to play but are all domiciled in Cardiff, where they work, and are the hard core of a football team called the Roath Park Galaxy which is doing very well in the Cardiff and District Sunday League, with their home matches now played on Llanrumney Playing Fields.
They also enjoy city life in general because there is so much to do and were last month at the final day of the England versus Australia test match in cricket, where they met up with Neyland cricketer Scott John, another school pal, and bumped into one of their old teachers, Bill Carne. They talked about days gone by and their current football, with Scott (24) able to tell his Herbie chums that back home he has helped to take Neyland Cricket Club into the semi-final of the Harrison-Allen Bowl and that he is looking forward to starting his teaching career in London.
All working hard – on and off the pitch
Matthew Price (25) has already started his teaching career at Fitzalan High School in Cardiff whilst Rhys Thomas (27) is now a qualified dentist and is teased by the other members of this close-knit group that he will soon be on his way to being a millionaire with the current price of dental care, whilst Richard Jenkins (27) works as a town and country planner. Oli West (25), Adrian Jenkins (25), Nico Giannuzzi (27) and his younger brother Carlo (24) all work for Swalec and clearly enjoy what they do in and out of work.
They have already enjoyed success in their football as they have reached two cup finals in as many years and gained promotion. They set out in Division Four and came second – and caused something of a stir by battling their way through to the final of the principal cup competition, beating a couple of top division outfits en route. They took on a team from the premier section in the final and only lost in the very last minute of extra time – and went one better last campaign as they won their divisional final.
Key positions in ‘Herbie Exiles’
So who plays where? Oli West is the goalkeeper after previously playing in midfield for Herbie, with Richard and Adrian Jenkins at right and left back respectively and Carlo Giannuzzi as the real strong man at centre half. Matthew Price runs the midfield with Nico Giannuzzi as his ‘enforcer’ whilst Rhys Thomas scores plenty of goals in his role as striker.
With so many players from one village what do the others in the side make of it?
“They just turn up and help us out – they know how close we all are and so it couldn’t be any other way,” says ‘Pricey’ with a smile, “It’s just a branch of Herbrandston in Cardiff and perhaps we ought to just change our name to ‘Herbie Exiles’ because that is what we all are!
