The Welsh League club who’ll be supporting Tottenham in the Champions League final this Saturday
Ben Davies of Wales in action against Slovakia. Wales v Slovakia UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifier at the Cardiff City Stadium,
Ben Davies and Tottenham Hotspur take part in their first Champions League final this Saturday.
They take on fellow English Premier League side Liverpool, who will be chasing a sixth Champions League trophy.
Both sides are well backed in support, but there will be a special Welsh contingent of Tottenham supporters on Saturday.
So, why is a Welsh fourth tier side mostly backing Spurs to win the Champions League?
Ben Davies is the club president of the Ynysygerwn Sports and Social club, as well as left-back for Spurs.
The Wales star hails from Neath, and represented Ynysygerwn in cricket before taking up a career in professional football.
Nicholas Maggs coached a young Davies in cricket, and also played alongside the former Swansea City defender at a senior level during his time in Neath.
Maggs, who now manages the football side of Ynysygerwn, expressed his pride for his former cricket teammate: “I think I speak for everyone at the club when I say we are hugely proud of Ben’s footballing career.
“For him to have the opportunity to be involved in a game of this magnitude is amazing.
“The whole club, apart from the Liverpool fans, will be behind him, and I’m sure if Tottenham were to win, it would soften the blow for the Reds fans.”
Having grown into stardom for being one of Wales’ heroes in the European Championships in 2016, the former Swan never forgets his roots.
When the footballing season is over for Davies and Ynysygerwn, the 26-year-old returns home to watch the Cricket club he previously featured for.
n what looks to be a close Champions League final filled with stars, Ben Davies is no stranger to dealing calmly to pressurised situations, given his cricketing experience.
“Ben is a well-known figure around the club, obviously from playing cricket at a young age to now playing on a worldwide footballing stage.
“He still comes up the club in his free time, mainly in the summer to watch a few cricket games. He takes so much time with everyone, he talks to everyone who approaches and has photos with all the juniors at the club.
“As you can imagine, they all look up to him and are landed when he spends time with them. We are so lucky to have him involved with our club.
“He’s always been calm and collected, to be honest, I remember us playing in a cup semi-final and being in trouble.
“Ben was probably around fifteen or sixteen, he really gritted in to see us to victory and a first final in around six years.
“He never shied away from anything, and would always lead from the front, something I think he shows on the football field.”
Although he was never involved with the football side of things, Davies has friends who represented Ynysygerwn this season in Alex Powell, Adam Davies and Tom Phillips, who all helped the club reach the final Welsh Football League Cup for the first time in their history.
This season, the former Neath League side humbled four clubs in a higher league than them, including newly promoted Welsh Premier Leagues side Penybont.
One win included beating then promotion hopefuls Haverfordwest County without five players, who were away on a stag party.
“It’s been a real rollercoaster season; in December we were still in a real relegation dog fight, but we went nine games unbeaten in the league and cup to all but secure our league status by March.
“The Cup run was amazing, it was a shame we didn’t win the final, but Penydarren were worthy winners on the night.
“We really need to become more consistent if we want to compete at the top half of the table this season.”
Unfortunately for Ynysygerwn, Penydarren were a step too far, but now their support is fully on Ben Davies lifting a Champions League trophy and becoming the fifth men’s player to do so.
For Ynysygerwn, the Tottenham defender won’t be the only player playing in Europe next season.
Former midfielder Chris Baker qualified for the UEFA Europa League with Cardiff Metropolitan.
Baker, who is good friends with Davies, had a brief stint as manager of the club as an 18-year-old, helping guide them to promotion.
Baker’s former boss Nicholas Maggs said: Chris like Ben is a fantastic club person to Ynysygerwn. Obviously we see a lot more of Chris as he’s a bit closer and we are landed for him too.
“To see the two of them involved in European competitions is great. I think it goes to show too that if you don’t make it at the top level of football, you can still play in the top tournaments if you keep going.
“I know we have a few good juniors coming through and maybe the can look at them too and think I can do that.”
