A talented young footballer with strong Pembrokeshire connections is catching the eye in the south west of England with Plymouth Argyle – and has also settled into the Welsh squad at under-15 level, writes Bill Carne.
Daniel Barrow is from Barnstable in Devon and has played for Plymouth Argyle since he started at under-11 level. He is now playing for Argyle’s under-14 squad and is representing Wales under-15s.
He has strong Pembroke-shire connections and says he’s already looking forward to the Welsh under-16 Victory Shield matches as part of the squad in 2010.
Daniel’s mother Belinda (nee Thomas) was born in Little Haven and her parents are William Thomas, a former rugby player at Llangwm, and Dorothy James, from Talbenny.
Daniel’s father, Lee, hails from Swansea, is ex-RAF and spent time at Brawdy, where he met Linda and worked alongside Ronnie Beynon, now director of coaching at the Haverfordwest County academy team. Lee runs the Barnstable Soccer School and Daniel’s elder brother William went with Ronnie Beynon for trials at Peterborough when he was younger.
Ronnie first noticed Daniel after seeing him play as a nine-year-old at the Haverfordwest County Soccer School while he was staying in Pembrokeshire and turned up at the Bridge Meadow.
Ronnie renewed the acquaintance when he was later in the south west on holiday.
It was Ronnie who recommended Daniel to the Welsh selectors after watching him play and heairng that Plymouth were going to recommend him to the English selectors. The Welsh ‘top-brass’ were impressed and had no hesitation in inviting Daniel to attend a three-day training session at Sophia Gardens later this month.
Daniel plays left back or left wing at Plymouth and has been included as a left back in the Welsh development squad.
After training for a week with Chelsea he will gain further experience by playing for Plymouth in the Milk Cup, due to be held in Ireland.
His family are very proud of all that he has achieved and it is nice to hear of someone with such strong Pembrokeshire connections doing so well.
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