Free potatoes for the workers

Images: Andy Evans.

Free potatoes for the workers

and the Town go marching on on on!

Merthyr Tydfil aint no ordinary town and Methyr Town aint no ordinary football club.

Where else would you find fans chanting about 19th Century popular uprisings?

The “Free potatoes for the workers” song is said to go back to the 1831 Merthyr Rising, where the locals rose up against low wages and dear bread. This was the first time the red flag was carried as a symbol of working class solidarity. Members of the rebel army were imprisoned, transported and one, Dic Penderyn, hanged.

Merthyr Town has been through the wars itself, with Merthyr Tydfil FC folding in 2010 but with the fans not taking no for an answer, football is going strong still in Merthyr.

Andy Evans is often at Merthyr, juggling his camera and a curry, cob and chips and capturing a terrace scene where they do their own thing.

Long live the terrace dandies, cheese and bread and free potatoes for the workers, indeed.