Alfred Thomas Sherwood (13 November 1923 – 12 March 1990) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. Between 1947 and 1957, he gained a total of 41 caps, the first on his 23rd birthday, against England in 1946. Known as the King of the sliding tacklers, Sherwood was an ex-miner who threw his all into the game especially when facing the England forward,

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while stil ...

, who described him as ''"the most difficult opponent he ever played against"''. His qualities were pace, sureness of tackle and a great positional sense. Sherwood also captained Wales to a famous win over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1955.

Early life

Sherwood was born in North View Terrace, a short distance away from the ground of his hometown club Aberaman Athletic. As a youngster, Sherwood was a youth international for Wales at both

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, playing alongside

Trevor Ford Trevor Ford (1 October 1923 – 29 May 2003) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a centre forward for Swansea Town, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Cardiff City, PSV, Newport County and Romford, as well as for the Wales national tea ...

and

Gilbert Parkhouse William Gilbert Anthony Parkhouse (12 October 1925 – 10 August 2000) was a Welsh cricketer who played in seven Test cricket, Tests for England in 1950, 1950–51 and 1959. Parkhouse was a right-handed batsman who spent most of his career as a ...

, before becoming one of the

Bevin Boys Bevin Boys were young British men conscripted to work in coal mines between December 1943 and March 1948, to increase the rate of coal production, which had declined through the early years of World War II. The programme was named after Erne ...

, a scheme created by former

Minister of Labour and National Service The Secretary of State for Employment was a position in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In 2001 the employment functions w ...

Ernest Bevin Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in the years 1922–19 ...

, in which young men aged between 18 and 25 were drafted to work as miners during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Career

Sherwood joined

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

in 1942, from Aberaman Athletic after impressing then manager

Cyril Spiers Cyril Henry Spiers (4 April 1902 – 21 May 1967) was an English association football Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper who played for Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wandere ...

in a wartime friendly. He originally played as a

wing half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

but during a match against

Lovells Athletic Lovell's Athletic F.C. was the works team for Lovell's sweet factory in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, which played professional football from 1918 until 1969. History Lovell's joined the Western Football League in 1923 and won the title in t ...

the club was short of defenders so Sherwood was moved to full-back where he was so impressive that he played the position for the rest of his career. In total he played in 140 wartime fixtures for the club. The

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

returned for the 1946–47 season and Sherwood missed just one match as the club finished top of the third division south. Following the departure of

Fred Stansfield Fred Stansfield (12 December 1917 – 30 March 2014) was a Welsh international footballer. Career Stansfield, a centre-half, had been playing for Grange Athletic when he joined Cardiff City in 1942 as a part-time professional. He was immediat ...

, he formed a full back partnership with another Cardiff City great,

Ron Stitfall Ronald Frederick Stitfall (14 December 1925 – 22 June 2008) was a Welsh professional footballer and Wales international. A one club man he played his entire career for his hometown club Cardiff City. Career Born in Cardiff, Stitfall was a kee ...

, and in the 1951–52 season Sherwood was appointed captain of the club, leading them back to the first division that year. Sherwood was also the stand in goalkeeper for both club and country, due to substitutes having not yet been introduced. His greatest goalkeeping moment came on 17 April 1954 in a match against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Goalkeeper

Ron Howells Ronald Gilbert Howells (12 January 1927 – 29 December 2011) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was capped by Wales and played in The Football League for three clubs. Playing career Howells began his playing car ...

fractured his thumb while making a save during the match and Sherwood took over in his place, facing a penalty from Scottish international

Billy Liddell William Beveridge Liddell (10 January 1922 – 3 July 2001) was a Scottish footballer, who played his entire professional career with Liverpool. He signed with the club as a teenager in 1938 and retired in 1961, having scored 228 goals in 534 ap ...

from which he performed a double save to all but assure Liverpool of relegation. Sherwood went on to become one of the all-time appearance leaders for the club in all competitions before he was allowed to leave the club by manager Trevor Morris, to join Newport County, in 1956 at the age of 33. He went on to confound critics by playing in over 200 matches for Newport as well as adding his last two Wales caps at the club. He was selected to play in the Third Division South representative team in 1957. After leaving Newport in 1961 he had a short-lived spell as player-manager of Barry Town. In 2006, he was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.

After football

After retiring from football and working for the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...

as a security officer. He died of a heart attack at Llantrisant & Pontyclun golf club on 10 March 1990.

Honours

;

Football League Division Three South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to o ...

Winner: 1 :: 1946–47 *

Football League Division Two The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

Runner-up: 1 :: 1951–52

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherwood, Alf 1923 births 1990 deaths Cardiff City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Barry Town United F.C. players English Football League players Wales international footballers Welsh footballers Welsh football managers People from Aberaman Sportspeople from Rhondda Cynon Taf Aberaman Athletic F.C. players Bevin Boys Association football fullbacks