Farewell to a true gent and genuine giant of Welsh football – Mel ap Ior Thomas

Welsh football has lost a true giant and a real gent with the passing this week of Mel ap Ior Thomas, aged 71.

Author, statistician, champion of numerous causes, historian, football fan and friend to so many, Mel was a proud son of Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Mel studied engineering at St Helens Mining College from 1970 before in 1979 beginning a 37-year working career at Rehau Ltd.

Founded in the Bavarian town of Rehau in 1948, Rehau Plastics Ltd formed in the UK in 1962, opened its first North Wales factory at Amlwch, Ynys Môn in 1975 and a second at Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1979, which is where Mel’s involvement began.

The Rehau Group is a family-owned polymer business, which develops, manufactures and markets products for the automotive, construction, furniture, materials, medical and industrial sectors.

It employs 20,000 people worldwide and Mel was an employee until his retirement in 2016.

One of Mel’s main passions was always football.

His good friend and fellow author and statistician IAN GARLAND paid the following tribute.

“Mel was a massive and dedicated supporter of the League of Wales from the off and even appeared as a witness for the FAW in the High Court hearing involving the Exiles.

“He took on the LoW/WPL/CPL weekly newsletter from 1992 and coordinated the results, kept the media informed and massively increased the league’s profile. Mel issued his newsletter uninterrupted until he retired in 2022. Contrast that with the poor fare that came after him

“Mel set up the Welsh Football Data Archive in 2004, got funding from his good friend Alun Evans to establish a website intended to be a historical resource for the FAW, the media and anyone else who followed soccer in Wales.

“He gathered together a number of like-minded individuals who were passionate about recording the history of the game in Wales. He enlisted over 20 enthusiasts who represented the cream of Welsh football researchers and historians, covering all regions.

“Amazingly, he established that there had over the years been at least 90 league competitions in Wales.

“The site continues to this day and although it has not reached the level of comprehensiveness that Mel envisaged, the intention is to eventually re-launch the site which much more information

“Mel researched and wrote the ‘History of the Cambrian Coast League’, the now largely forgotten competition that was the home to teams like Aberdovey, Aberystwyth, Dyffryn, Barmouth, Town, Pwllheli, Porthmadog, Criccieth and, for many years, Bala Town, the last ever champions in 1963.

“Mel also located the Championship Shield which hadn’t seen the light of day for years.

“Mel was also a driving force behind Cofio Cwmorthin Remembered, a voluntary group dedicated to the preservation of Cwmorthin’s heritage and the history of its people.

See http://www.cwmorthin.com/introduction.html

Asked to put his thoughts on Mel into words, Ian added: “Mel was my great friend and a kindred spirit. We shared a keen interest in the history of the game in Wales.

“Yes, a couple of nerds, but with a great affection for our soccer heritage.

“I’ll miss his regular and informative telephone calls in which he seemed to know everything that was going on at the FAW, all the gossip and what was happening at every Cymru Premier club.

“To me Mel was a largely unsung hero of Welsh football, a true enthusiast who cared deeply about the game and played a big part in getting the recognition the league needed.”

CONTRIBUTIONS TO WELSH FOOTBALL

Mel ran a results and stats service, Soccerfile Wales, freelance for the Welsh Premier League since its outset in 1992, and continued to do so until 2022.

He also supplied the Press Association with data as well as covering Wales for the German Kicker Sportmagazin.

Mel also wrote features for the prestigious World Soccer magazine and supplied UEFA‘s European Football Yearbook with the copy and stats for Wales.

His data was used on websites world wide.

Mel produced three books: African Football Handbook in 1988 – the first to cover the continent – a Welsh Football Almanac in 1991 with Adrian Dumphy and Dave Collins and History of the Cambrian Coast League in 2009.

He also compiled various media guides for the WPL and was editor of the League‘s weekly Welsh Premier Times.

TRIBUTES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Phil Stead, author of ‘Red Dragons: The Story of Welsh Football’ and a sport columnist for Golwg since 2007.

“Mel collected invaluable stats and kept records for many years. He was a great servant to Welsh football. An unsung hero.”

David Collins, editor and publisher of Welsh Football magazine – “an independent magazine for an independent football nation”.

“Mel did a great deal for the Cymru Leagues over the years and it was he who first convinced me of the case for publications dedicated to Welsh football.”

Tim Johnson, friend and football enthusiast

“Shocked to see the news. Spoke to him last week about us coming up to Caernarfon. Did a fantastic job as the JD Cymru Premier League statistician including the weekly newsletter. Proud to call him a friend.”

TRIBUTE: Dave Jones – Grassroots North Wales

I knew Mel for more than 30 years and it was he who was responsible for one of the highlights of my career.

Back in 2011, Kicker Sportmagazin were involved in the organisation of the UEFA Best Player in Europe award.

Rather than go for the traditional TV or radio football experts, they decided the 52-strong judging panel representing the UEFA member nations should comprise newspaper journalists.

Kicker correspondent Mel was asked to pick a suitable Welshman and he chose me. I was both humbled and proud that he thought I was worthy of such an honour and told him so many times over the years.

As a result, I represented the Welsh media at the awards in Monaco for two years running in 2011 and 2012. All thanks to Mel.

I spoke with the great man many times over the years, both of us able to help one another out on occasion. For people like myself, a sports reporter since 1988, he was absolute gold dust.

With his longish white hair and beard, Mel cut an eye-catching figure, but most charming of all was his warm personality and wonderful speaking voice and knowledge.

Mel married Mary in 2011 and the couple lived in Llandudno. Mary is a fantastic character herself, always great for a chat if I phoned for Mel and he wasn’t home.

Mel ap Ior Thomas will never be forgotten. A true champion of Welsh football.

Rest in peace dear friend.

Mel’s funeral will be at Colwyn Bay Crematorium on Thursday, December 7, at 2.45 pm.