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Chris loves to watch Wimbledon AFC
If there was a special award for the most devoted football supporter in Pembrokeshire then there is no doubt that one of the prime candidates would be Chris Thomas, who travels all over the country supporting his beloved AFC Wimbledon.
Chris originally hails from Clarbeston Road but after many years as a policeman in London watching a range of good football but especially the ‘Crazy Gang’ at Wimbledon until they moved to Milton Keynes and Chris joined many other supporters in switching his allegiance to AFC Wimbledon when they were formed in the aftermath of that controversial time involving Sam Hamman and the Norwegian owners before the final switch of venue. Not for him the ‘Glory Boys’ of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United because he has followed them ever since and has watched them start out in the Combined Counties League, the Ryman League, the Blue Square (South) League and now the Blue Square Premier League, where they are just one more promotion away from the Football League.
Plenty of train travel to support his side
Chris travels to as many matches as he can, including plenty of away games where he enjoys the company of old friends Ric and Jerry, who are respectively a professor of science and a police officer. They recently met up for a recent away game at The Racecourse, in Wrexham, and although his team lost 1-0 he enjoyed the return train trip to North Wales and everything else about the day – other than the final result!
There is inevitably lots of travel involved for Chris because even home matches mean that he catches the train from Clarbeston Road to London at 6.15am and after a four and a half hour journey meets up with Ric, Jerry and a few others for lunch before joining the 3,800 or so other AFC Wimbledon fans at the games, which take place at Kings Meadow, and which they share with Kingstonian Football Club. Then he has time for a couple of pints and a chat about the game, gets back on the train and arrives back at Clarbeston Road Station at 1am, where his wife Anne can be counted upon to pick him up and take him home!
Clarbeston Road and Met Police keeper
Chris started his footballing interest as a lad, when he played in goal for Clarbeston Road Colts in a side that also included Alan Vaughan, David and Terry Owens, Michael ‘Dickie’ Thomas, Brian Manning, David Jenkins and John Lewis. He then graduated to the Clarbie senior side where he played alongside John Brown, Mostyn Phillips and John ‘Ianto’ Williams, amongst others. He then joined the Metropolitan Police Cadet Corps in 1965 and represented the cadet corps in the FA Youth Cup against Tooting and Mitcham. From there he played in police senior football from 1966 on and if he thought Pembrokeshire Football was tough he had a real eye-opener because inter-station matches were fiercely contested and on one occasion the referee was forced to abandon a match!
Policing big games
There was also the chance to police football matches at Stamford Bridge (where there was once a massive punch-up when the visiting West Ham fans tried to take over The Shed!), Craven Cottage and Loftus Road before he changed stations and helped at games involving Crystal Palace at their Selhurst Park ground, and he was at Charlton for their final match at The Valley before sharing at Selhurst Park. Chris occasionally helped police games at Wimbledon matches at Plough Lane and there was little trouble there because the crowd seemed to disappear into the night club situated under the stand.
His big mate was a Brentford supporter but they both enjoyed the atmosphere in Wimbledon that in 1995/6 they became season ticket holders – until daft changes took them almost 60 miles away to play at Milton Keynes!
New allegiance
Chris then started supporting the club that grew out of the changes but it was difficult for him to get to watch AFC Wimbledon on Saturdays because of work commitments but he used to attend all the midweek matches. It was a great time for the newly-formed club because they went three seasons without losing a match and after two seasons in the Combined County League there was further success in the Ryman’s League. It was at this stage that Chris retired from the Met but he maintained his allegiance and is still there, cheering his side on.
There have been some interesting moments, like a home match against Chelmsford where he arrived at the ground to find a full hose already there and so he had to wait until half time to get himself in. The highlight this season was watching them play Millwall in the FA Cup because he used to walk past The Den when he was working in London and had pleasant memories there.
Top players
Ask Chris about players he watched during his time in London and he would plump for John Burridge as the best keeper when he was at Palace because just his warm-up was worth going to see as he did walking hand-stands and all sorts of gyrations. Neil Sullivan was also a very good custodian at AFC Wimbledon whilst Malcolm McDonald (Newcastle) was his favourite striker. Talk about hard men and he would nominate Ben Thatcher, with Alan Hudson as a classy midfield and David Ginola as the play with the most silken skills. But, as Chris says, he saw some amazing players from quite close range as he attended games with the police.
And finally . . .
So what of the future for Chris and his involvement with AFC Wimbledon? So far this season he has travelled to Altrincham, near Manchester, Tamworth, Luton, Wrexham and Millwall, whilst attending home games on a regular basis. His next trek off is to watch his boys, managed by Terry Brown, playing against Forest Green Rovers and he is already anticipating that match.
It really is nice to see such loyalty to a small club and we hope to catch up with Chris again soon to see how AFC Wimbledon is getting on. And if you should chance to visit County Hall in Haverfordwest in the near future then you will know if it is Chris Thomas directing you into a parking space because he is the one who will be wearing the blue AFC Wimbledon hat with such pride!
