Tributes have been paid following the death of a grassroots
football stalwart.
Flint-born kids coach Ken Barwell, 69, passed away on Good
Friday after a short battle with cancer.
He was known as the "Bill Shankly of Mynydd Isa
Tigers" - a team he set up in 1976 which is still going strong today.
Ken famously met the legendary Liverpool manager after
striking up a friendship with then Reds' star Kevin Keegan.
His son Nick explained: "Due to me being mad on
football and realising there was not much in Mynydd Isa for young people to do
he set up his own football team - the Mynydd Isa Tigers - who played in
five-a-side and eleven-a-side tournaments with much success.
"With the teams set up that was not enough, he wanted
to set up his own tournament. And so he did and as a lifelong Liverpool
supporter he called it 'The Bill Shankly Trophy'.
"The tournament was a great success and the big final
night was being planned when one day my dad was picking up his daily call jobs
as a British Telecom engineer and one of the jobs was to fix Liverpool player
Kevin Keegan's telephone line.
"It was the start of a great friendship and when asked
Kevin was delighted to say he would present the trophy on finals night."
He added: "A couple of days before the presentation
night Kevin Keegan called my dad and said that he would be bringing somebody
else with him to present the trophy and they would meet at our house just
before the finals.
"The other person was Bill Shankly. Mr Shankly came
down to the pitch made a charismatic speech, thanked my dad for running the
competition and presented the trophy and medals - it had been a great success.
"Because I was so young at only nine when tournament
took place I never realised until reading all tribute messages since Friday how
much influence my dad had on young people's lives through his football coaching
and that makes me even more proud."
A message sent to Nick by former Mynydd Isa Tigers captain
Tim Hayes said: "He was a fantastic dad and a great inspiration to
hundreds of lads through football.
"There are not many who can say that about their dad -
he was a legend. You come to realise that more when you have kids of your own.
I have many, many fond memories of your dad, as I am sure have so many
others."
In later years, Ken retired from British Telecom and went to
live in Porthmadog with his second wife. His funeral will be held at Bangor
Crematorium at 1.30pm on Tuesday, April 9.
Source http://www.dailypost.co.uk
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