FIFTY years after lifting the Welsh Amateur Cup, members of Caerleon AFC’s winning team reunited to reminisce about their famous triumph.

It was on April 23, 1966, three months before England beat West Germany to clinch the World Cup, that Derek Symonds’ goal gave Caerleon victory over Welshpool in Llanidloes.

The 50th anniversary of that momentous day for the club was set to pass by without incident until Tony Ward, who attended the game as a 13-year-old, decided to do something about it.

Ward, along with Haydn Vaughan, brother of former Newport County and Wales star Nigel Vaughan, set out to track down the Caerleon players involved and bring them together for a night of nostalgia.

The duo managed to find six of the 11 team members – Gordon Cavacuiti, Lionel Prothero, Brian Dixon, Andy White, Dennis Piper and Vernon Lewis – who then gathered at the club’s Cold Bath Road ground for a special reunion.

Sadly, Tony Anstee and Glyn Prosser have passed away, Eddie Anthony and Alby Ralph could not be located and cup final scorer Symonds was unable to make the trip from Thailand.

The evening proved to be a great success and there was a lot of appreciation for the efforts of the team in putting the then small village of Caerleon well and truly on the footballing map.

Special thanks were made to Haydn Vaughan, Mike Heames, Phil Jones, Adrian Ashill and Nicky Davies for their support leading up to the event and on the evening.

“It just seemed as though we couldn’t let the anniversary pass by without marking it in some way,” said Ward.

“Caerleon was a village then, much smaller than it is today, and we felt the achievements of the team should be recognised.

“As a kid, I remember going up to watch the game on a coach, but there’s a funny story about that which we had confirmed when we were looking for information.

“One of the coaches, which had the families of the players on it, never made it to Llanidloes – the driver went to Llandeilo instead.

“When everyone got back from the game the people who were on that coach were already there, they didn’t know the team had won.”