ON WHAT appears to have been a somewhat damp Saturday afternoon, March 29 1947, what was then classed as Monmouthshire staged what the South Wales Argus described as its first "senior Association international match".

Back then we used the term 'association' of course, to mean football, as opposed to rugby, the latter being still referred to more than 70 years ago in many newspaper reports as rugby football, or just plain old football. Very confusing for we perusers of yellowing Argus sports archives.

The occasion captured in the photographs here, was a Wales v England amateur international staged at the Rexville home of Lovell's Athletic in Crindau, in Newport.

Amateur football in the post-Second World War years continued to attract big support - FA Amateur Cup finals regularly filled the 100,000 capacity Wembley Stadium - and each year there was an amateur home international series, contested by England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

On this occasion, the Argus reports that 8,000 spectators turned up, mostly to cheer Wales on. Given the postage stamp size of Rexville, situated next to the Lovell's confectionery factory, that can perhaps best be described as cosy.

The Rexville pitch, as the photographs show, appears the worse for wear and is described by Argus football correspondent 'Marlovian' in his match report, somewhat charitably, as “heavy”.

It had, he elaborates, “churned up badly in the area of the English goal”.

“Miss-kicks [sic] were frequent.”

Despite the production line of fine internationals that the amateur - or non-league - game in Wales rolled out, the national team enjoyed moderate success at best, and when it came to playing England, the rewards were scant.

As the players took to the field at Rexville for this match, Wales had recorded just one victory against England's amateurs in 40-odd years.

Hope sprung eternal however, and after surviving an early English bombardment, Wales took the lead after 15 minutes. They held it for 20 minutes before England equalised, with the visitors taking the lead shortly before half-time.

Two more goals in the second half ensured England took the spoils, but according to Argus football correspondent ‘Marlovian’ that scoreline was unjust, though Wales paid for their profligacy in front of goal.

Five players from ‘Monmouthshire’ represented Wales that day: Lovell's Athletic centre back Albert Clark, who captained Wales at his home ground; his Lovell’s teammate W T Williams; Newport-born Terry Wood (Cardiff City); W Shergold (Walthamstow Avenue); and Gwilym Gwilym (Ransome and Marles) from Ynysddu.

Striker Terry Wood, who with Shergold was making his Wales amateur debut that day, signed for Lovells Athletic the following season and played a key role in the club’s successful Welsh Cup campaign, which culminated in a 3-0 win against Shrewsbury Town in the final at Wrexham.

The photographs above appeared in the Argus football paper - remember those? - on the evening of March 29. The originals are long lost, so these are taken directly from a copy of that paper. If anyone has - or knows anyone who has - a copy of the photos, we’d love to hear from you.