Dad makes record-equalling appearance for club on day of his son’s debut!

On the day a 16-year-old debuted for his village football club, his father made a record-equalling appearance for the same side.

Dad Kyle Williams and son Cedri created a unique piece of history for CPD Llanystumdwy recently,

Cedri turned 16 at the start of July and signed for the club. His first game for Llanystumdwy, a season-opener at Llangefni Town in the Welsh Cup on July 25, also saw Kyle made a record levelling 527th appearance for the club, sharing the pitch with his son for the final 20 minutes

Then in last weekend’s tie at NFA in the FAW Amateur Trophy, Kyle made his record-breaking 528th appearance for the club, this time being replaced by his lad for the final 15 minutes.

Kyle Williams made his senior debut in 2004, and in September 2024 became the third player to reach 500 appearances for the club after Meirion Pritchard (527 apps) and Arfon Jones (509).

This season’s Welsh Cup meeting with Llangefni made Cedri and Kyle Williams the fifth father and son duo to share the pitch in a competitive game for the club, after Steven and Emlyn Griffiths, Sion and Dylan Parry, Meirion and Owen Pritchard and Iwan and Mason Lloyd.

Llanystumdwy manager Sion Parry said: “First of all, a massive congratulations to Kyle. His service to this club over the years has been phenomenal, not just on the pitch but off it too.

“Whenever the club have needed help in any way, Kyle will always help out. He volunteers to help out for club events, any repair work needed at our pitch, cuts the grass, marks the pitch – obviously the men play at Bangor currently but he still does all this for the women’s matches still played in Llan.

“Going back to the record, I’m not sure it’ll ever be beaten, throughout all of last season we were counting down the games and working out how much he’d finish on, by about April we realised he needed to play all remaining games to match the record, the only issue being he was 1 yellow card away from a suspension. He promised me, he wasn’t getting another yellow, and would play all games, so as you can guess in the next game he got a yellow card and then missed a game through suspension!

“But straight away I realised what it would potentially set up – matching and then breaking the record while sharing the pitch with his son who’d turn 16 in time for the new season. So it felt like a passing of the torch moment, Kyle making his 527th appearance and Cedri making his first… but trust me, Kyle isn’t finished yet!

“For them as a family it must feel like a special moment, and the way it all ended up playing out has been perfect for them, I know them well enough to know they’ll still be disappointed with the result (2-0 defeat), but that shouldn’t take anything away from this achievement.

“The word legend gets thrown about these days but without a doubt Kyle deserves that status, he’s the club captain, he leads by example every single game, and at the age of 37 he still covers every single blade of grass on that football pitch.

“Finally, not just congratulations, but a thank you, from myself, the coaching staff, the players, and everyone involved with the club.”

“Llongyfarchiadau, a diolch yn fawr Kyle!”