Around the Touchline - John Codd

John Codd – a Johnston ‘Legend’

Talk to old timers in Pembrokeshire Football about very strong and committed defenders they had faced and there is a very good chance that one of the first centre-halves they would nominate is John Codd, who was unrelenting in his defending for Johnston when they were at their peak - and was also a danger at attacking set-pieces with his ability to use his power in the air to score vital goals.

Known to all simply as ‘Coddie’, he won more than his fair share of medals in league and cup competitions but told PembrokeshireSport.co.uk,

“For quite a long time my work took me to Sierra Leone and there were problems there with security at a high level because of the fraught political situation but we were occasionally allowed to go into Freetown, albeit with armed guards.

Attitude-changing moments

“One day we were walking along the lovely seafront and there were hundreds of kids kicking footballs in made-up matches where enthusiasm was high and skills just a little higher as the games were played at a high pace.

“But just along the beach there were a lot of others playing with equal enthusiasm and amazing skill since all of them had lost limbs from the many land-mines outside the capital.

“It was a moving moment for all of us and it changed my approach to playing football back here because it is not really important - more a means of relaxation; something I thought I would never hear myself saying.

Today’s footballers are wimps – and some are cheats!

“When I watch local football on odd occasions now, I can’t help thinking it would do some of the present players, who dive around on the pitch to get opponents sent off, or constantly harass referees, or supporters shouting abuse who make it hard to understand why anyone would take up reffing, it would do them good to see football in that pure form being played out there in Africa!”

Now that’s powerful stuff from someone who played the game hard but he would argue that he gave knocks and took knocks in a man’s game where he never gave an inch or expected one back - but never ‘cheated’!

Early start at Glebelands – and great successes followed

Big John Codd started out playing football at Glebelands, in Johnston, where he and the likes of Steve and Richard James, Glyn Griffiths and Dai John had a ball with them at every opportunity and at 15 he was part of a Wiltshire Youth Cup team which beat Monkton Swifts 4-2, with those youngsters joining Mark Falzon, Dai Gibbon and others picking up silverware for ‘The Tigers’.

Two years later they were back again in an epic tussle against St Clears where they drew 3- and 2-2 but lost the second replay by 6-0 against a very good Saints’ side!

“By then I had played a few games for Johnston first team at the end of the season as we gained promotion to Division One - and I then we had two years struggling to avoid dropping back down.

“But then things clicked as we won the league three years on the trot and runners-up three times in the next five years.

“In one of them championship years we beat St Ishmaels in the Senior Cup Final but missed out on the coveted West Wales treble as we lost to St Joseph’s, Swansea, on the old Vetch Field – and it’s no surprise we were gutted.

“We also competed in three other Senior Cup Finals as we beat Solva, lost to Saundersfoot and Merlins Bridge, where there were no goals in the first 80 minutes and we went down 4-0.”

Carrying coal – a madhouse challenge . . .

If you wanted a true indication of ‘Coddie’s’ strength, determination and willingness to accept challenges then it could be found outside football, where the old saying ‘Carrying coals to Newcastle’ could be substituted to carrying coal from Bethany Corner, Pembroke Dock, to the Lion Hotel Pembroke - and back.

Doing such a feat by a local coal man was featured in the local press and someone jokingly said to big John that he ought to try it - and one Sunday morning soon afterwards there he was, with his hundredweight sack of coal, ready for me to start him off and time the event.

Now that jaunt included the steep Darklyn Hill, leading to The Lion Hotel and the on the way back the very long Bush Hill to test aching legs and sore shoulders from the sack rubbing them (he said it was the same shape as Chris Walters but not as soft and easy to move around!) - but he not only completed the challenge but broke the previous record.

. . . And was still a madhouse when it continued!

But the story doesn’t end there because when the afore-mentioned coal man improved on John’s time it was another test for ‘Coddie’ that he had to undertake - and he took it on after Johnston had played in a West Wales Cup match in Swansea and he had arrived home at 1am.

I expressed my concern it might make him ill but after dismissing my concerns he went off again - we chatted at the Lion Hotel (the half way mark) and then he was off again, smashing the record and trotting off for a deserved pint in The Railway Inn in Johnston!

Loved the Maenclochog Summer Six a Side

Going back to his football, John might surprise you if you asked him what one of his favourite competitions was - because he would quickly nominate the Maenclochog Summer Six Asides, which attracted loads of entries, plenty of matches and the chance to play with new team mates.

“I really enjoyed playing for Prendergast alongside the likes of Simon Clarke, Ruby Reynolds and Gordon Thomas, who is involved with PembrokeshireSport.co.uk with Mr Carne and was a very good all-round sportsman indeed.

“In one season, we played six games on a hot day, I scored a hat-trick in the final and ended up as top scorer - and was amazed when I was chosen as player of the tournament,” he says with a typically huge chuckle!

Enjoyed a tough tussle too!

Ask him about players he enjoyed playing against and names like Kevin Hughes, Brian Cutler, Bernie Armstrong and Benno Jones. “They were all handfuls,” he admitted, “and it took a step ladder to try and beat Stuart ‘Matey’ Wilson,” but he still loved the challenge - and a pint or two afterwards.

Ask him to nominate his favourite team-mates and they would include forwards Martin ‘Truck’ Davies and Chris Walters up front, and Steve James in goal – and says that when they were playing they were all the same shape – although ‘Jamer’ was a little slighter!

‘Coddie’ played his last game at 45 but knew he was on borrowed time with dodgy knees and ankles - and had started to work away from home, and he missed his involvement for a while but now says he doesn’t: as simple as that.

But everyone who played with him or against him uses terms like ‘a hard man’, ‘big hearted’ or ‘a pain to play against’; descriptions he would take as compliments - but we fortunately never had the pleasure to be roughed up on the field by him.

But we have always enjoyed ‘Coddy’s’ company since his time at Milford Haven Central School and regard him a terrific footballing character and as a very good friend who it has always been a pleasure to take ‘a walk down Memory Lane’ with!