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Former Cardiff City star Gary Bell visits our Penarth Club

Our Penarth Club held another session with a special guest recently as they invited former Cardiff City defender Gary Bell to join them for their weekly meeting.

Gary enjoyed a 15-plus year career in football, playing for a range of Clubs across England and Wales, but was most known for his time with the Bluebirds in the 1960s and 1970s, where he made over 200 appearances for the Club.

With a captive audience of football fans, including some Cardiff supporters who remember watching their team from as far back as the 1950s, Gary recalled moments from his career in the Welsh capital, including the famous win against Real Madrid in 1970.

Gary also shared many personal recollections of interacting some of the greats of the game at the time, including legendary manager Brian Clough. He also shared stories playing against former England midfielder Tony Currie.

There was also a close connection to Cardiff City within our group as well, with Club member Paul Giles having played for Cardiff in the 1980s. Inspired by Gary’s memories, Paul also shared his own stories from his playing career including training alongside Robin Friday, who was known as one of the best players to play in the lower leagues.

Reflections

Rob Baker, Project Coordinator for Wales, reflected on Gary’s visit: “It was a great session with Gary and our members certainly seemed to enjoy his stories from his playing days in the 1960 and 70s.

“That was shown by the fact that Paul also shared his own memories of playing for Cardiff, which brought so much to the conversations that everyone had at the session with Gary.

“A lot of our Penarth Club members are Cardiff fans, so there was plenty of interest in what Gary and Paul had to say, so it was a really enjoyable and engaging session for all.”

Our Penarth Club runs every Wednesday at Penarth Rugby Club between 10am to 12pm. If you’d like to find more about the sessions or our other Clubs in Wales, get in touch with Rob via rob.baker@sportingmemories.uk