Ep.128 – In conversation with | Mewn trafodaeth â Dave Smallman (Patreon only/yn unig)

Patreon only episode | Rhifyn Patreon yn unig

We were hoping our first ever Patreon only episode would be an interview with the Wales legend Joey Jones. Unfortunately, Joey has been unwell so we have had to reschedule that chat. It means we have brought forward the first in a new series on those players whose Wales careers are perhaps a little under the radar with fans.

It will draw on different eras and for the first episode we head to the mid 1970s when former Wrexham and Everton striker Dave Smallman won seven caps for Wales.

Dave chats about how his ascent to the Wrexham first team at the age of only 20, the club’s famous FA Cup runs and successful u23 caps helped alert Dave Bowen to his promise. But upon arriving at Wrexham General station to sign as a 16 year old, nerves almost got the better of him.

Although he won only seven caps Dave figured in two of the greatest wins in Wales’s history: the famous 2-1 win in Hungary’s Nep Stadium in April 1975; and the 1-0 win over Austria at The Racecourse in November that year. But Dave explains why he was the only Welsh person inside The Racecourse that night not to celebrate Arfon Griffiths’ winner which secured the only time Wales has topped a qualifying group.  

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Roeddem ni’n gobeithio y byddai ein rhifyn Patreon cyntaf erioed yn gyfweld â’r cawr Cymro Joeu Jones. Yn anffodus, mae Joey wedi bod yn sal felly bu rhaid i ni il-drefnu’r clonc yna. Ond mae wedi ein gorfod ni i ddod ymlaen y rhifyn cyntaf mewn cyfres newydd ar y chwaraewyr hynny y gyrfaoedd Cymru rheini and yw’n amlwg ymhlith cefnogwyr. 

Bydd yn tynnu ar gyfnodau gwahanol ac yn y rhifyn cyntaf rydym ni’n mynd i’r 1970au pan enillodd y cyn-blaenwr i Wrecsam ac Everton, Dave Smallman, saith cap i Gymru.

Mae Dave yn sôn am sut dynnwyd sylw Dave Bowen i’w addewid wedi iddo esgyn i’r tîm cyntaf Wrecsam pan oedd yn 20 oed yn unig, o achos rhediadau enwog y clwb yn y Cwpan FA a chapiau o dan 23 oed llwyddiannus. Ond pan gyrhaeddodd y llanc 16 oed orsaf Wrecsam Gyffredinol i lofnodi i’r clwb, cafodd bron ei orau gan ei nerfau.

Er ennillodd saith cap yn unig chwaraeodd Dave mewn dau o fuddugoliaethau mwyaf mewn hanes Cymru, y ddwy ym 1975: y fuddugoliaeth 2-1 yn Stadiwm Nep yn Hwngari; a’r fuddugoliaeth 1-0 dros Awstria yn y Cae Râs. Ond mae Dave yn egluro pan oedd e’r unig Cymro neu Gymraes tu fewn y Cae Râs y noson honno i fethu dathlu gôl ennill Arfon Griffiths a sicrheuodd am y tro unig safle ar frig grwp rhagborofol i Gymru.