Alfred Thomas Sherwood (13 November 1923 – 12 March 1990) was a Welsh international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. Between 1947 and 1957, he gained a total of 41 caps, the first on his 23rd birthday, against England in 1946. Known as the King of the sliding tacklers, Sherwood was an ex-miner who threw his all into the game especially when facing the England forward,

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English Association football, footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Outside forward, outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the Br ...

, who described him as ''"the most difficult opponent he ever played against"''. His qualities were pace, sureness of tackle and a great positional sense. Sherwood also captained Wales to a famous win over

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1955.

Early life

Sherwood was born in North View Terrace, a short distance away from the ground of his hometown club Aberaman Athletic. As a youngster, Sherwood was a youth international for Wales at both

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, playing alongside

Trevor Ford Trevor Ford (1 October 1923 – 29 May 2003) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a centre forward for Swansea Town, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Cardiff City, PSV, Newport County and Romford, as well as for the Wales national tea ...

and Gilbert Parkhouse, before becoming one of the

Bevin Boys Bevin Boys were young British men Civil conscription, conscripted to work in coal mines between December 1943 and March 1948, to increase the rate of coal production, which had declined through the early years of World War II. The programme w ...

, a scheme created by former Minister of Labour and National Service

Ernest Bevin Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1940 and ...

, in which young men aged between 18 and 25 were drafted to work as miners during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

Sherwood joined

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

in 1942, from Aberaman Athletic after impressing then manager Cyril Spiers in a wartime friendly. He originally played as a

wing half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

but during a match against Lovells Athletic the club was short of defenders so Sherwood was moved to full-back where he was so impressive that he played the position for the rest of his career. In total he played in 140 wartime fixtures for the club. The

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

returned for the 1946–47 season and Sherwood missed just one match as the club finished top of the third division south. Following the departure of Fred Stansfield, he formed a full back partnership with another Cardiff City great, Ron Stitfall, and in the 1951–52 season Sherwood was appointed captain of the club, leading them back to the first division that year. Sherwood was also the stand in goalkeeper for both club and country, due to substitutes having not yet been introduced. His greatest goalkeeping moment came on 17 April 1954 in a match against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Goalkeeper Ron Howells fractured his thumb while making a save during the match and Sherwood took over in his place, facing a penalty from Scottish international

Billy Liddell William Beveridge Liddell (10 January 1922 – 3 July 2001) was a Scottish footballer who played his entire professional career with Liverpool. He signed with the club as a teenager in 1938 and retired in 1961, having scored 228 goals in 534 app ...

from which he performed a double save to all but assure Liverpool of relegation. Sherwood went on to become one of the all-time appearance leaders for the club in all competitions before he was allowed to leave the club by manager Trevor Morris, to join Newport County, in 1956 at the age of 33. He went on to confound critics by playing in over 200 matches for Newport as well as adding his last two Wales caps at the club. He was selected to play in the Third Division South representative team in 1957. After leaving Newport in 1961 he had a short-lived spell as player-manager of Barry Town. In 2006, he was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.

After football

After retiring from football and working for the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

as a security officer. He died of a heart attack at Llantrisant & Pontyclun golf club on 10 March 1990.

Honours

;

Football League Division Three South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to o ...

Winner: 1 :: 1946–47 *

Football League Division Two The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

Runner-up: 1 :: 1951–52

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherwood, Alf 1923 births 1990 deaths Cardiff City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Barry Town United F.C. players English Football League players Wales men's international footballers Welsh men's footballers Welsh football managers People from Aberaman Footballers from Rhondda Cynon Taf Aberdare Town F.C. players Bevin Boys Men's association football fullbacks