2013 POPPY APPEAL PRIDE
This Saturday at Villa Park, Cardiff City players will proudly wear poppies on their shirts ahead of Remembrance Sunday on November 10th – the shirts then being auctioned to raise funds for the Royal British Legion 2013 Poppy Appeal.
Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November, is the day traditionally put aside to honour all those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom we enjoy today. On this day people across the nation pause to reflect on the sacrifices made by our brave Service men and women.
For more information on the 2013 Poppy Appeal and great work done by the British Legion, click HERE.
The past few weeks have seen tributes to those who gave their lives or were harmed when serving the country in various conflicts. On Saturday we will take part in Aston Villa’s tributes. At 11am on Monday November 11th, Cardiff City will also pause to silently pay tribute those who have fallen in the line of duty.
The club is honoured to retain close links with the armed forces, seeing regular visits from those in service at Cardiff City Stadium, in particular members of Welsh regiments. This season Tan Sri Vincent Tan’s ‘Thanks a Million’ pledge donated £50,000 to the Welsh Guards in August, we welcomed and supported Help for Heroes for our game against Newcastle, while we are also looking to arrange a visit from the Royal Logistic Corps for one of our forthcoming 2013/14 Premier League fixtures.
THOSE WHO SERVED: A number of Cardiff City players were in the Forces during the 1914/18 and 1939/45 Wars – full-back Tom Witts was killed in action during the 1914/18 conflict as was Wally Stewart who had played for us in the Club’s first professional season of 1910/11.
Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, middle son of the Third Marquis of Bute, after whom Ninian Park was named in 1910, was killed in action in October 1915. Fred Keenor, who went on to captain us in the 1927 FA Cup Final, was wounded in the 1916 Battle of The Somme, and his career was threatened.
But he recovered to play for a number of years. Long-serving Billy Hardy (1911-32) served in the Royal Engineers, while Jack Evans who was the Club’s first-ever registered professional, was in the British Army of Occupation in a defeated Germany in 1918 and was demobilised in time for our 1919/20 Southern League season.
In the 1939/45 War, goalkeeper Jackie Pritchard was lost when the Japanese transport ship which was taking him to a prisoner-of-war camp, was sunk. He was one of several players who were captured by Japanese forces in Java, including Billy Baker, Bobby Tobin and Billy James.
Baker and Tobin returned to play for us in 1945 as did Billy James, but his sight had been affected whilst a prisoner due to lack of nourishment, and he had to retire from playing after several games in the 1946/47 season.
The Falklands campaign of 1982 saw Phil Stant serving in the S.A.S. – he was not at that time a Cardiff City player, but became a professional player with several clubs before joining Cardiff City in December 1992. And the late Harry Parsons, a popular figure behind the scenes at Cardiff City for thirty years from 1966 to 1996 served with the Eighth Army under Field Marshall Montgomery in Africa and France.
All at Cardiff City are proud to play a part in raising awareness for the 2013 Poppy Appeal.
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