I sit down this time with a football commentator who has dedicated his time commentating in the Cymru South & Ardal South East and started off four years ago writing match reports for Cwmbran Celtic. 

The work that football commentators put in outside of 3pm on a Saturday is incredible and below you will find out just how much time is put in, all voluntarily remember! 

I hope you enjoy finding out more about Spencer and for some of you it might even tempt you to pick up the microphone yourself. 

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Name – Spencer Hopwood
Age – 35
Favourite team – West Ham/ New Inn FC 
Occupation – Carer
Thing I love about football – Community and ability for the unexpected to happen
My football pet hate – Millwall & Players swarming refs to get decisions changed, it never works! 

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How did you first get involved in football commentary?

Well football commentary has always been a passion for me going back to childhood and playing games like Fifa & Championship Manager where the commentary on fifa would get repetitive quickly so I would do my own as I played matches. I also was a big fan of John Motson growing up and I read his 2004 diary where he detailed all the games he covered that year and was fascinated with not just the games but also the travel as well.

Life then happened as it does and commentary became a distant dream until I started doing Football Manager videos on Youtube and then through a strange set of events I found myself covering the premier league on a soccer saturday show for Nigerian radio which then led to covering Euro 2021 and world cup 2022 on Youtube until I found Cymru Sport in 2024 which is where I started covering games in person around the Cymru South & Ardal South east 

What attracted you to covering the Cymru South and Ardal South East leagues?

The Cymru South & Ardal South east are my local leagues and without a drivers licence are the easiest ones for me and I initially did a year of match reports for Cwmbran Celtic in the Cymru South. I immediately fell in love with lower league football and the warm community feel across the game at this level and how nice and helpful everybody is

Do you still get the same excitement before a match now as you did when you first started?

Oh my god,all my spare time during the week gets taken up by upcoming games whether that be getting permission to cover games, researching teams or promoting games online so by the time game day comes I am always buzzing and excited no matter where the game is if it’s Newport Cities lovely warm indoor commentary box or the wind and cold and the climb of Bleanavon’s ground.

What's the biggest challenge of commentating on grassroots and semi-professional football?

There’s a few but I would say at this level for me it would be finding photos of players to identify them before the game or even finding grounds can be a challenge and I have learnt the hard way not to trust Google Maps when it comes to public transport. The first time I went to a game at Blaenavon Google told me to get off in the middle of town.

It wasn’t until I got off the bus that I then realised I had a 15 minute walk pretty much straight up which was an experience with all my commentary equipment on my back as well. Thankfully I have since learnt there is a bus stop five minutes from the ground 

How much preparation goes into covering a match?

I do quite a bit of research. We're lucky to have the cymru app which keeps track of stats such as games played, minutes played, goals scored, assists and line ups which is really handy. Every week I use the Cymru app to research the two teams that are in my upcoming game.I go through both clubs last two or three starting lineups to see who is likely to play and then I go through all those players stats for the season so far so games played,goals scored,assists and any yellow and red cards. This whole process takes me a good couple of hours per team.

I do this fresh every week even if I’ve watched a team a few times recently just to make sure there are no errors in my research as I would be horrified if I got a stat wrong on air.

Which player or team has impressed you the most during your time covering these leagues?

Oh there’s been a few Chris Ham who has just left Goytre for Chepstow is the Welsh league Haaland having won the golden boot in the Ardalm South east for 4 of the last 5 seasons. TYler Brock for Trefelin scored five in one game against Cwmbran celtic towards the end of this season just gone and could have had a double hat-trick had he not been taken off as a mercy to Celtic.

The first player I fell in love with in welsh football was Alex Bonthron a super striker for Cwmbran Celtic in my first season the 23/24 season, Cwmbran Celtic haven’t really recovered since he departed at the start of the 24/25 season unfortunately 

Is there one match you've commentated on that you'll never forget?

There have been a few but the one that stands out is one of my most recent games where my local club New Inn played in the Gwent Senior Cup final against Newport Corinthians at Pen-Y-Pound Abergavenny’s ground. New Inn were the underdogs despite challenging Corinthians for the league title all season and took and early lead through Big Meaty central defender/chairman of the club Anthony (Junior) Richards who scored with a header that was so powerful had it not been stopped by the goalnet it would have taken part of the stand behind the goal out. Newport then equalised with a penalty half way in the first half before New In retook the lead thanks to a defensive howler right on the stroke of half time and looked to be heading to the victory before Corries leveled again in injury time of the second half and they then won the game 4-2 in extra time as the huge pitch at Abergavenny wore New Inn out.

That was one of the best games I’ve ever seen live despite my side losing it and I will never forget it. The highlights are on my youtube channel if anybody wants to see a mad cup final

What's something that supporters might not realise about what goes on behind the microphone?

Just how much organisation it takes behind the scene and how many precarious positions I’ve had to stand in during games or wobbly places I've had to put my equipment during games to get on air. It’s at the point some weeks where a table is a luxury at some clubs due to lack of resources 

How has Welsh football changed since you first started covering it?

I’ve only been involved about 4 years now going back to my match reporting days but the biggest change I would say is the amount of people covering the game at this level. When I started I struggled to find anybody doing videos on youtube around games or clubs. Now there’s a few, we still need more to help publicise the game but it is certainly getting better. 

 What excites you most about the future of the Ardal South East and Cymru South leagues?

The ability for growth as there are so many good people doing great things are clubs all around the leagues they just need more people to be made aware of the cubs and the leagues as unfortunately far too many are only aware of the premiership and cardiff/swansea/wrexham and the like. Once more get awakened to it the growth could be huge as the pull of the welsh league is addictive once you start getting involved in it.

What qualities do you look for in players who have the potential to move up the football pyramid?

Well most importantly players need to be able to be coached and willing to listen to managers/coaches and also at times be willing to maybe drop down a level or two to make sure they get game time rather than sit on the bench at a higher level.

As for on the pitch work rate and team work is really important at least before you start showing off any X factor you may have. My favourite players are wingers so I always keep an eye out for them to see what pace they have, what skills they have and how much they are willing to help out their team defensively. 

What's your favourite commentary moment or match-winning goal you've witnessed live?

I’m going to go for a whole match for this as the first thing that comes to mind is New Inn’s Welsh Cup game a couple years back against Cymru Premier league side Briton Ferry, having them come down to our pitch on a park for a competitive game was an amazing experience as the the whole village came out for the game and I was commentating standing on the side of the pitch surrounded by kids and people getting more and more intoxicated on a lovely warm day was brilliant and even better New Inn despite being tier 4 at the time held their own and only lost 2-0 thanks to two quick sucker punch goals which gave Ferry the cushion they needed to get the win.

How important are social media, live streams and highlights in helping clubs grow their profile today?

They are so so so important, ever since I started with welsh football I’ve tried to push for every club to get a social media intern into their clubs as in my opinion things like twitter,tiktok and youtube are the way for clubs to grow their matchday attendances. Most of the time in the Welsh leagues you can tell what clubs are better on social media as they are the ones that get more people coming to games and paying money for tickets, drinks food and the like which keeps the clubs going.

A social media intern would be a win win for both parties as the clubs could improve their gates and the interns could gain experience in improving clubs social media profiles which they could then use to help get employment down the line.

New Inn have just been promoted to the Ardal South East for the first time in their 90-year history. How significant is that achievement?

It’s an amazing achievement the village only has a population of just over five thousand so to be in tier three for the first time shows what can be done with hard work and perseverance and they are building things the right way not trying to rush things and grow organically.

It’s incredible to me that they will be playing next year against the likes of Cwmbran Town,Cwmbran Celtic,Chepstow, Undy, Blaenavon Blues and all the others. The team are excited for the challenge but they are coming up to compete which I think they will.

Now they are in the Ardal South East they have some really good plans for the future 

If you could commentate on any South Wales football match from the past or present, what would it be and why?

Well I suppose I have to go for the obvious answer which would be Cwmbran Town vs Manchester United which took place in 1994 with the likes of Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane and Dion Dublin play at the Cwmbran Stadium.

Also I’m really looking forward this season to Cwmbran Town vs Cwmbran Celtic taking place for first time in quite a while as it’s one of the world’s most local derbies as you can literally jump over a fence to get between both grounds so that should be a fun couple of games this year. 

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