For a small country with very few professional players, Wales have had more than their share of quality players, and a few that have been truly outstanding:
John Toshack
A top quality striker for Cardiff City, Liverpool, Swansea City and Wales, who was undoubtedly one of the top target men of his day, but with the happy knack of being in the right place at the right time. A great team player who brought the best out of his team mates, most notably some chap called Kevin Keegan at Liverpool. Despite being a target man, Tosh still recorded a respectable goals per game average, with 75 goals from 162 Cardiff appearances, 95 goals from 246 Liverpool appearances, 25 goals from 63 Swansea appearances, and 13 goals from 40 Wales appearances. He won a string of honours with Liverpool including the First Division Championship three times, the UEFA Cup twice, the FA Cup and Charity Shield.
Gary Speed
Possibly the most consistent midfield player in the history of the premiership. In 2006 he became the first player to play 500 premiership games, and in September 2006 he also became 1 of just 2 players to have scored in every premiership season. At just 5′ 9″ he was unbelievably good in the air and a constant threat at set pieces. Capped 85 times by Wales, more than any other outfield player, Gary won the First Division Championship with Leeds United in 1991-92, and also gave great service with Everton, Newcastle and Bolton, before dropping down a division to join Sheffield United.
Ian Rush
A Liverpool legend and their all-time top scorer with an incredible 346 goals in just 660 appearances! Bought from Chester for£300,000, a record for a teenager, he also played for Juventus, Leeds United, Newcastle, Wrexham as a player coach, and Sydney Olympic in Australia. Everton fans must have been delighted when he eventually retired as he had scored an amazing 25 goals against them. His striking partnership with Kenny Dalglish was just about as good as it gets. He won Europe’s Golden Boot in 1984, was a double Footballer of the year, captained Wales scoring 28 goals in 73 appearances, won 1 European Cup, 5 First Division Championships, the FA Cup 3 times, the League Cup 5 times, the Super Cup once, and the Charity Shield 4 times ( but with 2 of them shared).
Neville Southall
An Everton legend who was widely regarded for many years as one of finest goalkeepers in the world, if not the very best. With an excellent all round game, Neville commanded his area and I’m convinced intimidated most strikers. He made a record 578 league appearances for Everton, played more than 750 times in all competitions winning 2 league championships, the FA Cup twice, the European Cup Winners Cup once, 93 appearances for Wales, and was Footballer of the Year in 1985, which was very rare for a goalkeeper. He continued playing until he was 43 spending time at a variety of clubs, but he will always be remembered as one of the greatest Evertonians.
Ivor Allchurch
Possibly one of the great unfulfilled talents of Welsh football, choosing to stay with his home town club, Swansea Town in the old 2nd division for a large part of his career. The president of Real Madrid called him ‘the greatest inside forward in the world’ after seeing him play for Wales, and he eventually moved to the old first division with Newcastle United. An old fashioned inside forward, Ivor had a great shot with either foot, was very good in the air and was excellent running with the ball. He left Newcastle to join Cardiff, but ended his league career back at Swansea and there is now a life sized statue outside the Liberty Stadium. He played 694 league games, scoring 245 goals. He was the first player to reach fifty caps for Wales, eventually gaining sixty eight caps.
Ryan Giggs
Footballers normally only become thought of as world stars when they’ve had exposure at major tournaments, but Ryan Giggs is one of a very small group with a world-wide reputation, having never appeared at the finals tournament of either a European or World Cup. Widely regarded as the model professional footballer, Ryan has not only been an outstanding footballer, initially as a winger with brilliant ball control and blistering pace, and latterly in midfield where his tackling back and astute flicks and passes, but has also shown amazing consistency over so many years.
Ryan has, to date, won 10 premier league championships, 4 FA Cup winners medals, 2 Champions League winners medals, 1 UEFA Super Cup medal, 1 Intercontinental Cup medal, 1 FIFA Club World Cup Medal, 2 League Cup medals, and 7 FA Community Shield winners medals, but these figures are likely to change by the end of the season. He was young player of the year twice and is the only premier league player to have scored in every season since its inception, has won a host of other awards, but amazingly has never been either Footballer of the year or Sports Personality of the year.
John Charles (Gigante Buono, the Gentle Giant)
John Charles was a prodigious talent who was not only a legend in the UK, but also in Italy where he spent 5 years playing for Juventus. If he had been playing today he would have been the richest player on the planet and would have smashed the record transfer fee (and yes, he would be my choice) . I can only recommend that you visit the excellent player history on the mighty leeds site to see just how amazing he was. I would just like to include one quotation by journalist Tom Holley who recalled praised from England’s top centre forward and centre half of the time, and wrote “Nat Lofthouse was asked who was the best center half he had played against and without hesitation named John Charles. The same week Billy Wright was asked who was the greatest center forward he had faced, and he again answered John Charles”
He scored 29 goals in his first season in Serie A, won the Italian Player of the Year award, 3 championships and 2 cups. In 1997 he was voted the best ever foreign player to have played for Juve, and many people have regarded him as one of the greatest players the world has ever seen!
I have been to watch Ice Hockey, Rugby Union, Rugby League, Aussie Rules and Football, and football nowadays has far less physical aggression than any of the others. Yes there is plenty of shirt and arm pulling, but the full on “Tommy Smith” or “Norman Hunter” challenges are sadly a thing of the past.