DAVID Giles, the only Welsh footballer who has played for all four Welsh professional clubs is encouraging Gwent residents to vote in the South Wales Argus Sports Awards.

He is the first and still is the only, Welsh footballer and Wales international football player to play for all of Wales's senior professional clubs: Newport, Cardiff City, Swansea City, and Wrexham.

Mr Giles, known to fans as Gilo, said he is very proud of his achievements

He started his career with Cardiff City at 11 when they used to train school boys twice a week on Tuesday and Thursdays. He left school at 15 and became an apprentice at Cardiff City, working his way through to the Welsh league.

Being a Cardiffian it was always a dream for him to play and represent South Wales and Wales.

He has played and managed for league of Wales clubs such as Cwmbran Town and Ebbw Vale.

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Mr Giles said he looked back most fondly on his time in Ebbw Vale.

"You leave Newport in a T-shirt and then go to Ebbw Vale with an overcoat on as it is that cold there," he said.

"I am very proud of our achievements there. Ebbw Vale is a steel town, but we had a football team and chairman called Dai Cocking who is sadly not with us and has passed away. Dai kept the football club going every year.

"We qualified to play in Europe. Ebbw Vale, little old Ebbw Vale played in an European competition and we played a team from Austria.

"The manager of the Austria team got the Ebbw Vale choir to sing Edelweiss. It was very emotional. It is the personal touches that make a moment in time like that unforgettable."

Mr Giles said he always encourages anyone and everyone to get involved in sport, as sport is essential for mental and physical health, learning to work as a team and for building life-long friendships.

"If you are or know someone in Gwent who has made a difference to the sports sphere, nominate," he said. "Every award a player gets is an honour however big or small. Everyone likes being appreciated and it is essential that local sport stars in Gwent are recognised for their achievements."

"Whatever sport you participate in or are a helper, nominate. Whether it is for football, rugby, tennis, whichever sport, nominate. Gwent is fantastic for Welsh sports and I am so proud to have played and managed Gwent teams in my career."

Mr Giles said without the helpers and players there would be no team and nominations do help.

To him, it is those behind the scenes who deserve to be recognised. He said it is usually the players getting the awards, but the supporters deserve the praise just as much as they do.

You can nominate Gwent sports stars online now.