Supporters at the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium will often see a man with his camera at pitch-side without realising that John Perrott could be nominated for an award as the most dedicated football lover in the country because he goes to extraordinary lengths to get to Haverfordwest, as he does to a host of other matches, taking great action pictures as a photographer accredited with the Football Association of Wales.
John (57) hails from Rudry, near Caerphilly, and readily admits to being something of a dedicated follower of Welsh football, because a leg injury prevents him from driving and he has to use public transport to all matches, with some clever use of rail and bus time-tables getting him to destinations, plus a willingness to walk as far as it takes.
Early start for Girls’ match at the Conygar
Take a recent match at the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium when Wales Girls (under 19s) played their counterparts from France in the European Cup on a Sunday. John would normally have spent quite a while walking from Rudry to Caerphilly rail station but there were no early trains from there on the Sabbath so he had to be up at 6am for a walk of almost three hours to Taffs Well, between Pontypridd and Cardiff, to get a train into the capital, and then another train to Haverfordwest.
From there it was a walk across town to the Conygar Bridge Meadow, where he was able to take official photographs on a lovely day, enjoy a chat and a pint and then back to the station, back to Cardiff and then Caerphilly before another longish walk saw him arrive home just before midnight!
Even more complex trek for the semis
But that pales into insignificance compared to the lengths he had to go to, in order to attend the semi-finals of the European Girls under 19s, which were held on the following Wednesday at Stebonheath, Llanelli, and Richmond Park, Carmarthen.
He left home at 5am and caught the 7.10am train from Caerphilly to Cardiff then on to Llanelli station, followed by a 45 minute walk to the ground before enjoying the match. Then it was another 45 minute walk back to Llanelli station, a train to Carmarthen and another longish walk to Richmond Park, via the bookmakers because he had won £2.46 on his previous visit there and had some time to fill in!
Typical under-statement
He had to leave this tussle with 20 minutes to go so that he could catch the train back to Cardiff to connect with the last train of the day to Caerphilly. He managed that feat, got back to Caerphilly and then his two-hour trek home saw him arrive in Rudry at 1.30 am, a 20-hour challenge.
“Still,” says John with typical under-statement, “it beats staying at home and just hanging around the house!”
He also watches other matches in the Welsh Premier and Welsh Leagues at venues like Cambrian and Clydach, Porth, Goytre and Port Talbot, having become a little disillusioned with football at the very top club level in the English Premier.
“There is far too much money involved and players have become greedy, often cheating to win games and rarely thinking of supporters,” said John. “It happens to a lesser extent at the games I watch but not at the same intensity and I enjoy meeting people I have got to know on my travels.”
Amazing travel around the footballing world
And travel he certainly has because he supports the Wales Football team and although he doesn’t travel to away games as much as he used to because of the cost, when he went to Lichtenstein a while ago it was his 55th country visited to watch football. Ask him about the most memorable and he would nominate extremes, starting with his first-ever trip to little Luxemburg as long ago as 1974 because whilst on a tour of Radio Luxemburg they met DJ David ‘Kid’ Jensen, dressed in a QPR shirt!
At the other end of the spectrum there was a visit to mighty Brazil, where he had the chance to take pictures at the game after three nights staying in Sao Paulo and then two nights in the capital of Brasilia where the game finished at midnight and was an epic experience!
Young supporter of Cardiff City
John’s love of football began when he was a youngster and he played as a left winger for his local team in Caerphilly and a season with the Cardiff City Supporters’ Club after he had started watching the Bluebirds in 1969. He always had to play in spectacles:
“I had a pair of national health frames which had real glass lenses so heading a ball was never easy,” says John with a chuckle!
His Uncle David started taking him to Cardiff City matches where the train took them straight to Ninian Park Halt prior to the short walk to the ground. His idols were unlikely characters like striker Alan Warboys and Robin Friday alongside the better-known John Toshack, and a little later it was Tony Rees and Aussie player Adrian Alston. At that time he also worked at Ninian Park on match days, selling programmes, which meant that he got to watch most of the game for free!
Memorable matches
He was there for the match when Cardiff beat Real Madrid by 1-0 in the European Cup-Winners’ Cup and can still recall Brian Clarke scoring the winning goal!
He was also there when Cardiff City got to the FA Cup Final a few years ago against Portsmouth but sadly there was no fairy-tale ending as the Bluebirds lost – but he still has some great pictures of the epic day out.
Cricket another sporting love
Outside of his football, John is also a very keen cricket fan and regularly watches Glamorgan play at the Swalec Stadium. He also helps out with Glamorgan’s ‘Cricket in the Community’ scheme where he takes pictures of up to eight matches at a time being played on the hallowed turf. He enjoys photographing the sheer joy that comes out from primary school children in Cardiff just taking part for fun, with cracking pictures of catches taken with eyes tightly shut or determination written all over young faces as they go for a big hit.. It’s a similar story with the Asda Softball Cricket at the same venue, where Glamorgan players help out.
Welsh FA accreditation
Back on the football front, John enjoyed taking pictures on his early trips abroad and decided to play for accreditation with the Welsh FA, which meant filling in an application form and submitting a portfolio of pictures. He was delighted to be given the green light and since then he has enjoyed taking close-up photographs of a whole range of games. At first the snaps were on rolls of film but now that digital photography is in use he has literally thousands of action photographs on external hard drives.
Loves visiting Haverfordwest
Talk to him for a short while and it is easy to see the enthusiasm that he has for football, especially at venues like the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium.
“I get a really warm welcome from supporters at Haverfordwest County,” he said, “and I really look forward to my treks there.
John was quickly back at the Conygar Bridge Meadow because when his brother took part in the ‘Iron Man’ contest in Tenby, he went along to support and stayed in Lydstep with him for the weekend. It left him with spare time on the Saturday so what did John do? Caught the bus in to Haverfordwest and watched the County lose on penalties to Goytre – an easy, gentle trip compared to most he takes to photograph football all over South Wales and even further beyond!