Bow Street to Baku: How Rhys Norrington-Davies is representing the Welsh system at EURO 2020

For Rhys Norrington-Davies the journey to the Wales national team hasn’t been straightforward. This time four years ago he was doing his A-levels at college and was without a club, but now he has EURO 2020 to look forward to.

He is one of only two players in Rob Page’s 26-man squad with strong roots in the domestic grassroots system with defensive partner Ben Cabango being the other.

Having been born in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia whilst his father was working for the British Army and spending three years in Nairobi, Kenya it’s Aberystwyth he calls home. His family returned to the seaside town when he was seven.

Prior to joining the Swansea academy, the 22-year-old spent time with local teams in Ceredigion. From U12s to U14s he was with Bow Street before joining Aberystwyth Town.

“It’s great to be able to represent them,” Norrington-Davies said.

“I’m still an Aberystwyth lad, when I go home, I see the boys that I used to play football with. They are all buzzing for me.

“I have had quite a few messages from them as well congratulating me. Most of them reminding me about how I’ve come since then, it is great.“

Norrington Davies’ call-up wasn’t just a proud moment for him personally but for his whole family. It didn’t take long for the left-back to let his family in on the news.

“It sounds cliché, but I was over the moon. The first thing I did was let my parents know. My mum and dad were so proud.

“From a young age, they’ve committed a lot of their time taking me to training or to games. The European Championship is the second biggest competition in world football after the World Cup.

“I have made the 26 man squad and they are so proud.”

It’s his family that he credits the most for getting his career back on track. At 16, Norrington-Davies was released by Swansea. For some players, such a crushing blow can spell the end of their career, and he admits that at one point he thought the same thing.

“When I was released, I thought this is the end of my football career. Two years on from that I was playing college football.

“I’ve got to thank my family. At the time they took me to the exit trials, particularly my mum and my dad. But my grandparents as well and my brother.

“The amount of times mum and dad would have been taking me on the road and he just had to stay at home. They’ve all at to sacrifice a lot of their life to what I did with football. I’m grateful for that.

In 2017 he was signed by Sheffield United. While he is yet to make a first-team appearance for the Blades, he has spent the past three seasons gaining the first-team experience out on loan.

At first in the National League with Barrow. A season in League One followed with Rochdale before splitting this past season between Luton Town and Stoke.

Going into this summer’s tournament Norrington-Davies has played the fourth most amount of football this season, playing just 3000 minutes which will put him in good stead in regards to match fitness. Connor Roberts, Kieffer Moore, and Matt Smith are the only other Wales players to have played more.

Many of the new crop of players are always asked where they were when Wales were enjoying a fairytale summer in France.

For Rhys, he was far away from the action in France and instead holidaying 12,000 kilometers away in South Africa.

“I can remember that I was with my family, visiting my sister out there. We had to go down to the clubhouse and make sure we could actually watch the games because of the time zone differences.

“It was fantastic to see how well Wales did in 2016.”

For Wales, the left-back position is a fiercely contested spot. Ben Davies would be the natural choice in a back four but with Page’s recent switch to a back three Davies has moved to the centre-half.

This tweak has opened up a battle for left-wing-back which is being fought by Norrington-Davies and Neco Williams.

“Ben Davies is a fantastic player that has played right at the top level for the whole of his career. He is experienced and technically he is great as well as being defensively switched on. In training and games, you learn so much from him.

“When you’re around greater players and yourself you learn from them at a greater rate than you’d usually learn. Hopefully, I can just benefit from that and become the best player I can possibly be.

This summer’s Euros will be the realisation of a lifelong goal that has taken 22 years and took root at Bow Street and Aberystwyth. Norrington-Davies been through some tough stages in his young career but has stuck with it and is now reaping the rewards.

But this summer alone won’t be enough for the Aberystwyth native. His words about ‘becoming the best’ offer a glimpse into his character. A character that has fought back from early rejection and made it to the grandest stage in Europe.

(Featured Image: Lewis Mitchell)