Ethan’s making his name in sports photography!

 


Ethan Ellis plays football for Clarbeston Road Under 16s and he has also made his first team debut alongside his father Matthew, who has been a stalwart of the club who skippered them to their only Senior Cup Final success and has since done a great job of managing the first team, along with some excellent coaching at junior levels.
 
But we first met Ethan at the Ogi Bridge Meadow Stadium where he was taking action pictures of play in the Welsh Premier League and relaying them live onto a podcast he runs with his pal Ben Lovell - and when chatting with them in the press box we discovered that he also supplies excellent images for Dan Metcalf’s ‘Connect’ web-site, which serves the county in a range of activities - but more of that later.
 

Four generations of the family covered

 
What this writer discovered when I started to chat to him about his wanting perhaps to pursue a career in sports photography when he leaves school - and inviting him to feature on PembrokeshireSport.co.uk’s web-site, was the fact that in doing so he would help me create a ‘first’ since my entry into sports journalism, alongside my role as an English teacher at Milford Haven School.
 
Because it meant that in the past 40 years or so writing about local sport, I had not only interviewed Ethan and dad Matthew but his grandfather Mickey Ellis and his great grandfather Gus Ellis. To complete a unique family four-timer - which could even be considered to be a quintet because his maternal granddad, Mark Edwards, has been a brilliant sponsor of our site and has completed an amazing 28 ‘Iron Man’ events around the world!
 
Micky is still going strong as a coach with the Bluebirds and was previously regarded as one of the best players involved in local football for many years, whilst Gus was a superb goalkeeper and a larger-than-life character with a wicked sense of humour.
 

So how did Ethan start taking an interest in sports photography?

 
“I have always gone to games to watch dad play,” Ethan told us, “and when he bought a nice new camera, a Sony A7 with wide-angled lens and 300mm long-range lens, I ‘pinched’ it and started to play about with it at home - and then took it to a match when I discovered that one of the facilities was a multi-shot feature.
 
“I took quite a few and when I showed them to dad he said he thought they were good and we put some on the ‘Clarbie’ web-site, which attracted a lot of interest.”
 

Gaining good experience – at the Principality Stadium

 
“Since then, I have spent time learning all about how to get the best out of quite a complex piece of equipment and have been asked to take photographs at other games and rugby matches - but one of the highlights so far came when my mum Danielle (who has been a brilliant help and taxi driver!) was taking some children from Llangwm School to watch Wales play at The Principality Stadium.
 
“So, I wrote to the WRU to see if I could take photographs pitch-side - and to my surprise they agreed and I had some smashing shots to put on line.
 

Ethan enjoys helping Dan at ‘Connect’- and gaining more experience with his podcast

 
“By this time, Dan Metcalf had started up his ‘Connect’ publication and asked me if I would like to help him do some work - and I also went to Chester AFC when he was researching for a documentary called ‘Metcalf v Puskas, where his grandfather had played in a match against Feranc Puskas, the world-renowned Hungarian forward who inspired Real Madrid to their early European Cup glories.
 
“I also ended up going to watch my favourite team, Manchester United, and Dan being pleased with the photographs was the icing on the cake!”
 
“From there it was on to The Bridge Meadow to take pics there for Dan on the web-site as I also started on Instagram with my pal Ben Lovell, whereby I take the pics and he puts them live on the news account we started up, which we have called ‘Bluebirds News’. That means that people unable to watch the game live can be at home or doing something else and still able to keep up with play.”
 

Ethan loves playing for Clarbie

 
Going back onto his own football, Ethan started out in junior football with Prendergast Villa, with Ian Morgans and Mark Corby as coaches who give their players every encouragement- but when the team folded after under 14s it was an obvious step for Ethan to join Clarbeston Road under 16s, coached by Matthew ‘Chicken’ Davies.
 
“I play at centre half and we have improved a bit but still can’t quite match the top teams - but it has prepared me for senior football, which I have discovered is far more physical. But I’m learning to adapt and I have also had a go as running the line but I admit it is far more difficult than playing because of the reactions of some opposing supporters!”
 

And finally – Huw plays him a real compliment

 
Ask Huw Bevan, one of the stalwarts at Clarbeston Road AFC, and he would say,
“Ethan Ellis is a chip off the old block in the sense that, like Matthew, he is ready to take on any job for the club and he has already earned the respect he deserves for his involvement at any task he can help with.
 
“He is very modest, with a lovely sense of humour, and all the boys really look forward to seeing his photographs, which he places on our web-site after matches.
 
At 16 years of age, we hope that we will have him involved for a long time and with teenagers like him so involved we can only go from strength to strength.”
 
PembrokeshireSport.co.uk  can do no better than endorse Huw’s sentiments but add that having seen the quality of his sports photography, Ethan Ellis is always going to be in demand, alongside his love of watching Haverfordwest County and playing for Clarbeston Road!”