Farewell to Grif

This article, written by Ricky George, was published on 24dash.com this afternoon.

When my daughter called me this morning to tell me Fred Potter was on the telephone, I was full of trepidation when I picked up the receiver.

Although Fred and I are old team mates from Hereford United's great era of the early seventies, we very rarely speak on the phone.

Sadly, my inclination proved to be correct; Fred was calling to give me the dreadful news that Roger Griffiths, our full-back in the same team, had passed away suddenly last night after suffering a heart attack.

Roger was sixty one in February. Last year, shortly after his sixtieth birthday, the Giant-Killers got together at the Left Bank Restaurant in Hereford for another reunion. Colin Addison, our player-manager during the FA Cup run in season 1971-72, was instrumental in bringing the players together again, and promised that we would gather more frequently in the future, for obvious reasons.

I have been asked many times, to try and explain how and why our team of part-time footballers, many of whom were already in their thirties, were able to play four games against the highest opposition in the land and lose just once. For the record, Hereford United drew 2-2 away at Newcastle United in the third round of the FA Cup, and then beat the First Division side in extra time after a replay.

Four days later, in the fourth round, the Southern League team drew 0-0 with West Ham United at Edgar Street, before losing 3-1 in the replay at Upton Park.

Roger Griffiths played in both Newcastle games. In the historic replay at Edgar Street, he broke his leg just six minutes into the game, but played on for a further eighty minutes. You would never have known during that time that the full-back had actually snapped his fibula.

It will sound trite to say that that was typical of Roger, however it was typical of the team, and if any player typified that squad of thirteen players, it was 'Griff', the only Hereford born member.

Sir Alf Ramsey always made reference to the four world class players in his victorious 1966 team, complimented by the other seven, whom he described as just 'great'.

My answer to questions regarding Hereford United circa 1972 would be that we had six players whose names would be first on any team sheet, because of their utter reliability, and Roger was one of those. The rest of us drew confidence from their performances, week in, week out. Apart from Brian Owen, who played up front, the group I am referring to comprised the goalkeeper and the back four; Fred Potter, Roger Griffiths, Mike McLoughlin, Alan Jones, Ken Mallender.

Earlier this year, Roger Griffiths was nominated by the Football Association as part of their FA Cup 'Team of heroes', to celebrate 125 years of the FA Cup. Also nominated was the late Bobby Moore, a player idolised by Griffiths, who because of his injury, missed the opportunity of playing against the England captain in the two fourth round matches against West Ham in 1972.

In two spells at Hereford United, Roger Griffiths played 250 games and scored 26 goals. He made history as the club's first ever substitute when he took the field during the opening game of the 1966-67 season, a match that also saw the Bulls' debut of the great John Charles.

Tony Gough, who captained the Giant-Killers, has said many times that whereas the team would always be a part of the Hereford United story, Hereford would forever remain in the hearts of the players.

Never was a truer word spoken, and it is with a very heavy heart that I say farewell today to the first of the great side to leave us, the softly spoken, modest son of the City - Roger Griffiths.

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