Visitors to the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium to watch Haverfordwest County's matches in the Dafabet Welsh Premier League might well see Malcolm Phillips cheering on the Bluebirds as he sits watching intently from the stands.
 
But what they won't know is that Malcolm, who is a septuagenarian now, played for Haverfordwest County when he was 16 and 17 year old under the watchful eye of manager Arthur Willis - and since then has always kept watching out for the team's scores, wherever he has lived.
 
In the intervening years he played rugby in Birmingham and Jersey,   playing at outside half or full back to a high standard and was coach to the island's schools' team, played cricket and once featured in a huge stand of 189 in college cricket with the legendary Barry John (and Malcolm scored nine of them!).
 
He refereed local rugby for a spell, was a member of the St David's lifeboat crew for two decades, and took up golf at Haverfordwest, where he now plays off 17 after previously being lower at 11.
 

Wide range of sporting interests

 
Malcolm was originally a Penycwm boy and attended St Davids Grammar School, which he represented in county competitions in football, rugby, cricket and athletics. He also played for school and St Davids RFC at outside half or full back, kept wicket for school and the St David's men of that time, with an unusual claim to fame that when they played the Steel Company of Wales in a friendly he stumped Euros Lewis, the Glamorgan keeper of the time, who had scored 70 runs.
 
In athletics he ran the 100 and 220 yards and was once the school's victor ludorum by dint of the fact that he had a point for taking part in the 880 yards which edged him home
 

Bridge Meadow-bound

 
But football was Malcolm's main sport as a youngster, perhaps because his father Kim was a fanatical Haverfordwest County supporter and used to take him along to the old Bridge Meadow, where he collared Mr Willis to tell him how good a player his young son was.
 
As a result, Malcolm was invited along for a trial and he must have done well because before he knew it he was training alongside the club's second team squad - and joined John Gwyther in training with the first team in Swansea.
 
"We used to be driven to Swansea by Mr Tom Thomas, the club chairman, to meet up with the rest of the first team, who were all based there at the time.
 
"I played against the likes of Merthyr Town, Aberystwyth, Lovells Athletic (a factory side who were known as 'The Toffeemen' because that's what they made), and really enjoyed being involved before I went off to college."
 

Switching to the oval ball game

 
Malcolm eventually found himself teaching in Jersey and when he was coaching the island's schools' rugby team with John Stapleton they played against Aberavon Schools, run by Clive Shell and John Bevan, and beat them.
 
"It was a memorable trip for the lads because they were hosted out by opponents' parents," Malcolm told us, "and apparently celebrated their success by watching 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner' in the cinema in Aberavon, a film that had actually been banned in Jersey!"
 
Malcolm also played rugby for Jersey and there were lots of touring teams going to the island, some very good top club teams and others who were pub teams and played Jersey's third and fourth teams.
 

Playing top sides

 
“We played the Pontypool team that had the famous front row of Graham Price, Bobby Windsor and Charlie Faulkner and lost 46-12 - and when Aberavon came across for some rest and recuperation a week before playing in the Welsh Cup Final, with Messrs Bevan, Shell and Allan Martin playing, they only scraped through by 6-3 against us!
 
"We also beat Moseley when I had an immaculate day with the boot, landing four penalties and converting both our tries, and we always had tough matches against the likes of Headingly, Penzance and especially the Gordon League, as well as playing the likes of French clubs Paris, Cherburg, St Brieux and Nantes.
 

Memorable moments in a mini – and crates of beer galore!

 
It was in Jersey that Malcolm met his wife Barbara, now a very good golfer in the senior section at Haverfordwest, playing really well recently to qualify for the finals of the @@@ at St Andrews with Malcolm going along to give support.
 
Barbara was then a physio in Jersey and when the Penguins paid a rugby visit (they were the Lions of the time under another name!) the chairman held a reception at his big house in Gorey - and Barbara ferried huge Scottish forwards Gordon Brown and Alistair McHarg in her 850cc mini!
 
"We also played in the Heineken Sevens in Amsterdam, where we played a Voyagers team that included all the top London Welsh players of the day, like John Taylor and Clive 'Billy Whizz' Rees - and in Belgium we took on the British Bulldogs army team and the Antwerp Antlers, who took us around the city at night in a bus to show us the lights and we found enough crates of beer in the back to sink a ship. From what I remember it was an amazing evening!"
 

Injuries cause a change of tack

 
Malcolm returned to the mainland in 1976 to marry Barbara in her home town of Worthing and for a short while he played for Chichester before a dislocated shoulder caused him to think about retiring from the game - and started to think about staying in the game by refereeing.
 
When he returned to St Davids at the age of 39 he had a few games with the city team and says he finished at the bottom when his last game was against Cardigan and The Saints lost by 70-odd points!
 
It was then that Keith Bryant persuaded him to take the referee's course, with Clive Norling as his tutor in Cardiff and Bill Hitchings as his assessor locally.
 

Tough tests to start off with the whistle

 
"My first match was a foggy Friday evening floodlit match between old rivals Whitland and Laugharne, where an old feller in a cloth cap slagged me off throughout - and then I was soon back at Whitland to ref them against Tenby,
 
"As time went on I officiated a match between Pembrokeshire and Middlesex at Haverfordwest, and also took charge of a Griffiths' Cup Final at Neyland between Neyland and the Quins where I was the only person on the ground to miss the only try of the game.
 
"I was accidently tripped by a home player and crashed to the ground but both teams helped with the decision - would that ever happen today, I wonder?"
 

Wonderful work with the lifeboat

 
Malcolm was also a member of the St Davids Lifeboat crew for two decades after starting out almost by accident when he used to pilot a boat around the islands for pocket money and on a couple of occasions helped launch the lifeboat in emergencies.
 
"I was invited to help on a more regular basis and did all the training sessions before one day they found themselves a man short and TK Williams, the assistant coxwain, called me on to the boat and I was out on my first rescue before I knew it!
 
"I then took a radio course and in the 20 years and three weeks I was involved the lifeboat saved 78 lives, although I wasn't on board for all of them!"
 
"I was very proud to receive my medal and framed certificate on retirement, which now has pride of place in the Phillips' household hall."
 

Great days at golf

 
Golf was another sport that Malcolm took to late on, and was twice captain of St Davids Golf Club and was Hon Secretary for a while. His handicap has been down to 11 but is back up to 17 now at Haverfordwest Golf Club, where he plays as often as he can.
Malcolm has won a few trophies in the club and his fondest memory is of winning the Pembrokeshire Past Captains' Cup in Haverfordwest some time ago.
 
He still derives a great deal of enjoyment from his golf and watching football at the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium in Haverfordwest, and this true gentleman of sport has a host of memories and photographs to liven up quiet days - and long may Malcom Phillips continue to enjoy his sport in Pembrokeshire!