Happy birthday to an Ynys Môn football great!
Happy 33rd birthday Danny Brookwell – one of the greatest players ever to hail from the Isle of Anglesey.
Born in Bangor on March 9, 1993, Daniel Paul Brookwell is a native of Llanfairpwll. Married to Elin Hâf, the couple have a young daughter Thea.
The left-wing wizard currently plays for Tier 3 Ardal North West club Porthmadog, whom he joined at the start of 2024-25.
He has made 84 appearances for Port, scoring 36 goals, including a double in last season’s Ardal North League Cup final, which saw the Traeth men beat Brickfield Rangers 4-1 at Rhyl.
Danny’s first goal for Port came in a famous Nathaniel MG Cup win over his former club Caernarfon Town in August 2023.
Before joining Porthmadog, Danny spent two seasons with Cymru North club Llandudno, netting eight times in 48 matches.
The islander has also competed for Ynys Môn at the international Island Games and played for the Royal Navy at under 19 and under 23 level.
He twice represented the service at the Dallas Cup in Texas and in 2012 was nominated for the Royal Navy’s Young Sports Person of the Year award.
One of his greatest achievements was to represent Wales C in a 2-2 draw against England C at the Peninsula Stadium, Salford City, in March 2019. Wales manager Mark Jones gave him his international debut as a substitute.
On the club scene, Danny played for island teams Llangoed and District, Llanfairpwll, Glantraeth and Menai Bridge Tigers before joining Caernarfon Town in 2015/16.
He was brought to the club by Iwan Williams and made an immediate impact, helping the Cofis scoop the Cymru Alliance league and cup double.
Brookwell was a key figure again when Town repeated the tier 2 feat in 2017-18, this time leading to their promotion to the Cymru Premier after a 10-year absence.
The top league looked tailor-made for the flying wide man from the moment he made his debut as a second-half sub in Caernarfon’s opening day 1-0 victory over Cefn Druids in August 2018.
His first CPL goal came in a 3-0 win over Llanelli the following month, and seven days later he netted again in a 1-1 draw at Cefn Druids.
Probably Danny’s finest hour that season came at Bala, when he scored twice in a 2-2 outcome.
In 27 appearances in 2018-19 he scored six league goals, the best a magnificent volley to put the Canaries 2-1 up in another contest at Bala.
Although hampered by injury in a shortened 2019-20 campaign, Danny still featured in 23 CPL matches and played a part in Town sealing back-to-back top half placings.
In December 2020, Danny left The Oval and the following month signed for Llandudno, where he played a regular part in the Seasiders’ promotion-chasing campaigns before switching to current club Porthmadog, where he is a highly-popular figure.