Lee Trundle – what a great character!
Lee Trundle is well-known in Pembrokeshire Football, but not only for his short stint with Haverfordwest County but from his time with Swansea City and a range of lesser teams like Llanelli and Neath towards the end of his career.
When he was at the Bridge Meadow with The Bluebirds, he was always ready to chat with me for the Friday Night Sports Show, which I took part in at Radio Pembrokeshire, for many years with my old friends Ben Stone and later James Southon - and on one occasion he popped up playing in the West Wales Cup for Mumbles Rangers as they took on Goodwick United.
Eager to please – although it offended his coach
I arrived a little later than usual and the teams were already late into their warm-up sessions when he spotted me and gave me a little wave of recognition - and I signaled that I would like to interview him later and I had the cheerful smile and thumbs up before he carried on.
When the other players trooped off to the changing room for the final few words from the coach before kick-off he trotted across to me and said “Right, Let’s Go!”
So, I hastily pulled out my good old dictation machine (no mobile phone recording in those days) and we were half-way through when his absence was spotted and out came an assistant coach to yell for him to get in straight away.
I daren’t tell you what his answer was but he just turned to me again and calmly told me to carry on - and gave me far more than the full five minutes I asked for and shook hands before trotting the 50 metres to the Phoenix Centre changing room!
A real ‘scouser’ and much-travelled player
Lee certainly was an interesting character who was born in Liverpool and managed to retain his rich ‘scouse’ accent after coming to Wales to play for Rhyl in the Welsh League after previously playing for the likes of Stalybridge Celtic, Southport and Bamber Bridge.
Lee grabbed 15 goals in 18 matches to catch the eye of Newport County before his game really flourished at Swansea City, where he stayed for four years, played 146 times and scored 78 goals.
Then it was on to Bristol City and an on-loan spell at Leeds United before eventually coming back to Wales with Neath, where he was a star striker - and after a short spell with Chester and Marine he bounced back in style at Llanelli Town where he grabbed an amazing 86 goals in only 59 games.
Loved at Haverfordwest County, where he started with a bang
In 2018 he came to Pembrokeshire on a match-by-match basis with Haverfordwest County, where he started out in style with four goals in a 10-1 win over Pontypridd - grabbed a stunning goal in his first match at The Bridge Meadow Stadium but left because of other work commitments meant the travel was difficult.
Since then, his travels have taken him to Trefelin Boys Club, Ammanford and Mumbles Rangers, scoring his share of goals en route, and also coached juniors back at Swansea City, where he is still revered, and at one time was an ambassador for the 9- to 19-year-olds.
More recently he has turned out for Pure Swansea FC, formerly known as Swansea University FC, in the Ardal South-West League and still scoring a few goals for Jack Midwinter’s team as he rapidly approaches his 50th birthday.
And finally . . .
He has always been a larger-than-life character and although a much-travelled player I think he always gave his all wherever he played – and was a great favourite with their fans, on and off the pitch.
He made people feel important and for me that was so evident that day at Goodwick as his team won and Lee scored a goal. I haven’t seen him since that day - but I will never forget one of the most interesting interviews I ever had, because of its context and his being so ready to please!