A Welsh sporting star who never lost touch with his Pembrokeshire roots has died at the age of 87.

Kilgetty-born George Edwards was an outstanding professional footballer who was capped 12 times for Wales in the 1940s and 1950s.

He was president of Kilgetty AFC, where he began his footballing career while living with his family at the Kilgetty Stores.

He went on to play for Swansea Town, Coventry City, Birmingham City and Cardiff City, but never lost his passion for his village team, often travelling back from Birmingham – where he was at university – to turn out for the side.

Mr Edwards worked for Mobil Oil in south Wales and the west following his footballing career and also served as a director of Cardiff City, as a magistrate and a member of the Sports Council of Wales.

With his late wife Pat, he regularly attended end-of-season functions at Kilgetty and performed the official opening of the village’s sporting club facilities in the 1970s.

“George was always very proud of his Kilgetty roots, and the fact that he could relate to football at grassroots level, as he would frequently remind his colleagues on the Wales FA,” said Kilgetty AFC treasurer Mike John. “He always had the club in his thoughts, and in 1967, when we couldn’t afford new shirts, he supplied us with a set of old Cardiff City shirts.”

Mr Edwards presented the club with a perpetual trophy for Sports Personality of the Year in the 1970s and members were saddened that he never got to see the replacement trophy in his name which was recently commissioned.

“He was a true gentleman and a very nice chap, who always had the interests of the club at heart,” added Mr John. “His death is a sad loss for Welsh football and Kilgetty.”

His funeral took place at Thornhill Crematorium, Cardiff, at 3pm yesterday (Friday).