A 75-year-old Cwmbran man has told how he recently captained the Wales over 75s football team to their first Veterans World Cup final.
Mark Entwistle,a former Cwmbran Town FC player, stopped playing when he was in his “mid to late 30s”.
Then around 20 years later his son Matthew got involved in a weekly football session at Cwmbran Stadium with his friends. Mark joked that he would go along and show them “a thing or two” on the pitch.
He joined in and found out he still loved the sport. The Football Association of Wales (FAW) told him there was a veterans team in Newport so he began training with players around his own age and “it just went from there”.
The Coed Eva resident said: “It’s been a very enjoyable journey. When I first decided to try and play veterans football I had no ambition to play at a representative level. It was just to get a game of football.”
He was invited to train with the over 65s Wales team and in 2018/19 found himself pulling on the famous red shirt for the first time. He made his debut against England at St George’s Park, the home for all of England’s national football teams. Wales won 3-1.
He said Wales’ strength at veterans football comes from a large number of players who are registered to play. Mark estimates there are around 1,500 players and several leagues, mainly in south Wales but some in mid and North Wales.
The Veterans World Cup for over 70s and over 75s took place in Cardiff from 20-23 August 2024.
The over 75s got through the group stage unbeaten and then beat Germany in the semi-final to set up a final against England.
Mark said they decided “to play with the wind in the first half. Always take the advantage while it’s in your favour. And that turned out to be a dreadful decision because by half time we were 3-0 down.”
But they came back in the second half to end the game at 3-3. England beat Wales on penalties to win the over 75s World Cup.
Mark paid tribute to the event organisiers and said it was “a fantastic tournament.”
I asked him how it felt to play for Wales as a veteran.
He said: “It is a dream. I’d say every sports person, man or woman, boy or girl, has a dream at one point of representing their country. And who would think of doing it at the age of 70 or 75? Fantastic.”
The over 70s Wales team won the World Cup.