Glyn is still pulling out all the stops as he hits 80

For nearly seven decades he has gotten a kick from keeping the ball out of a hockey net and despite turning 80 this week has no plans to give up his passion anytime soon.

“Retire? Oh, there’s no chance of that,” he laughs. “I guess they might chuck me out of goal if I’m letting too many in but then I umpire too, so I’ll still be involved.

“But you will always find a team somewhere who needs a goalkeeper.”

Thomas’s journey in hockey began at the age of 13 when, as a pupil at Wolverhampton Grammar School, he volunteered to stand between the posts in a new team formed by boys in an older year group.

“I think they thought: Here is someone stupid enough to go in goal!’” he says. “In those days you wore cane pads and no mask. It was pretty dangerous but I’ve only broken my nose five times.”

That team went on to become Old Wulfrunians Hockey Club, of which Thomas is a life member and former chairman.

Three years ago he helped to found Newport Hockey Club and remains a regular both in their over-50s team and the second XI, while he also deputised for the first XI earlier this season, keeping a clean sheet in a 6-0 win.

On Wednesday, the club marked its final training session before lockdown by throwing him a surprise, socially-distanced birthday party, which included the presentation of a special goalkeeper’s smock to commemorate the milestone.

“Glyn is incredible, a real role model and a true example of the saying age is just a number,” explained Newport vice captain Ash Williams.

“Opponents describe him as a brick wall. You rarely see him out of a goalkeeper kit and he makes some exceptional saves.

“He cycles to training and gives up so much of his free time to helping the club. He’s fitter than most of the players in the first-team and we are all in our 20s.”

It only requires a couple of minutes talking to Thomas to understand why he is so admired and held with such affection.

Hockey has taken him around the world, from Barbados to Hong Kong, the Netherlands to Spain.

Thomas, who was born in Welshpool before moving to Willenhall as a child, helped to form the Welsh veteran teams and in 2016 was captain of the over-70s outfit which claimed World Cup bronze in Australia.

Fiercely proud of his roots, he is currently taking a degree in advanced Welsh and has on occasion turned out for Aberystwyth University’s senior squad.

Neither is hockey Thomas’ only sporting passion. He also plays tennis, squash and is a keen swimmer. He sings too, as part of Newport’s male voice choir, though the pandemic has caused some alterations to that particular pastime.

Responsible

“We can’t meet up and sing at the moment so we’ve turned the choir into a walking group and I’ve been responsible for working out the routes,” he says.

“People ask me why I still play hockey. The first thing to say is that I’m slightly mad, because all goalkeepers are.

“I’ve also been very lucky with my knees. We play on astroturf these days so it is a little easier on the joints.

“But the main thing is the sense of community you have. It’s just a great thing to be part of.”

Away from sport, Thomas enjoyed a long career as a chemistry teacher and still helps set papers for the Oxford and Cambridge Exam board.

“My first ambition was to be a dentist but I’ve always shaken, just a little but too much for a job where you need a steady hand,” he explains. “I would have ended up killing more patients than repairing teeth.”

A grandfather of four, he received a drone for his 80th birthday and will spend lockdown practicing flying it.

The obvious question to ask, in the end, is if there is anything he doesn’t do?

“Well, I don’t play golf,” he says after a pause. “I don’t plan on taking that up until I’m old.”