Billy’s a busy man at Llandigige Fawr
Talk to Billy Clarke about his cricket and he would be very quick to play down his batting or bowling ability as he plays regularly for Llanrhian at their picturesque Llandigige Fawr pitch set out in the countryside near Porthgain,
That may well be so but Billy is a terrific club man who loves his involvement alongside other club characters like Alun Davies, Fraser Watson, Morgan Miles and RV Jones and a few others involved in the summer sport around our county could be so involved.
In summary, he is a slow bowler and occasional batsman, is captain of the seconds but helps out in the firsts when needed, is arguably the youngest club chairman at 23 (he started in the role as a 19-year-old), groundsman (alongside Morgan Miles and Ieuan Jenkins) and is a Llanrhian’s junior coach.
Small wonder then that we had him on our list of characters who deserve our special ‘Sporting Stars’ badge, which we presented to him at Llanrhian’s recent 80th birthday dinner!
Billy adopts a realistic approach to his playing skills
He readily admits that his is the slowest bowling he has seen locally but works on the principal that if his ‘Donkey Droppers’ take a few wickets then they are worth bowling. Indeed, he took three wickets for the first team at Pembroke Dock this campaign
Ask him about his batting and there is typical Clarke dry humour as he says.
“It’s still a work in progress! But I’m not bad in the field!”
But he has a whole range of ‘volunteer’ jobs
During the last Winter he did mundane jobs like painting the scoreboard and helped power-wash the club, jobs that a lot of youngsters his age would not want to do!
He also acted as umpire for the men’s and women’s teams indoors and outdoors, plus with the ladies’ soft-ball team when he has time on Sundays, developed and now runs the club web-site - and helps organise the ‘Porthgain World Cup of Football’ (run on the village’s small green during the Summer, which is a major fund-raiser!)
Throw in the fact that Billy also helps look after the pitch at Llandigige Fawr, set overlooking Garn Llidy, with local cricketing folklore saying that on match days if you can’t see the Garn it is raining - and if you can see it then it is going to rain! (Typical Llanrhian stuff that!)
Always things to do at Llandigige Fawr
“I pop up the ground as much as I can because there is always something that needs tidying up in and around the changing rooms, around the hedges or the fence that separates the pitch from the cows who frequent the far end of the large field (hence the club’s nickname for their team as ‘The Cows’ - another typical bit of ‘Being Different’ in this village side!) I do the groundsman’s work alongside Morgan ‘The Moon’ Miles and try to cut the pitch on Wednesdays, weather permitting.
You have to agree that it is an impressive list but Billy is quick to play down what he does and much of what we have learned about him came to us from other sources at the club!
Early start in a range of sports
In his days at Ysgol Penrhyn Dewi (in St Davids) he played rugby for the school as a bulky little hooker but lost all his puppy fat during covid - and since then has kept his interest in the oval ball game by joining his old pals Chris Morgan in watching his cousin, Tom Clarke, play hooker for Narberth.
Billy lives just five doors up from ‘The Sloop’ in Porthgain and he started out at Llanrhian CC at 7 or 8 alongside cousin Tom, Llion Williams and Rhys Meredith Barrett, with Paul Casson as their coach.
“We just played friendlies and had fantastic fun as we played every age group until we were under 15 and started playing for the seconds, with RF Jones as our leading light in learning our skills.
“Then we lost a few players to other clubs and I became captain three years ago and I’ve been there ever since, other than when I help out in the firsts if they are short - and then 67-year-old ‘youngster’ Tony Kitchell takes over the reins.
Took up coaching to help the club
But for a while we were unable to field junior teams so I went on the Level One Coaching course at Neyland under Simon Williams, Dan Field and Steve Williams, which took place over two Sundays, followed by a few hours on line. It was a cracking course and I would recommend others to attend future courses.”
It is great to report that now Llanrhian has teams at under 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15, where Billy has great help from Fraser Watson, Jack Jones and Gwynnant Watson - and the club’s future is looking bright as a result!
Now chairman – but missing Angharad
Billy joined the committee at 18 and after David Halse had stepped down as chairman he was ‘volunteered’ into becoming surely the youngest to take on the role in Pembrokeshire at the moment, with the late Angharad Reed there to guide him at every turn
“To say Angharad was my mentor is a huge understatement because I knew that if I wanted any advice, no matter how large or small, she would be there with her advice and support - and we all still miss her dreadfully now, especially on match days!”
And finally . . .
In all that he does at Llanrhian Cricket Club, the details have to literally be wrung out of him, but PembrokeshireSport.co.uk found out because we had a ‘mole’ in the camp in Hon Sec Fraser Watson, who is another that plays down all he does at Lladigige Fawr.
He told us,
“Billy Clarke is a real asset to Llanrhian CC because if there is a job that needs doing, he is there to help in any way, no matter how small. He volunteered to be Seconds’ Captain, Chairman, Committeeman, Groundsman, Coach for juniors and ladies’ teams.
“At Llanrhian Cricket Club there has always been a number of genuine characters involved and there is no doubt that Billy Clarke is made in the right sort of mould to become another of them
in the future.”
We could pay Billy Clarke no more fulsome tribute because Mr Watson also devotes a huge amount of time to the club - and we join him in singing the praises of another ‘Unsung Hero’ it has been a pleasure to write about on PembrokeshireSport.co.uk!