Dai Davies programme on S4C

Louis · September 28, 2013

A programme about former Everton goalkeeper Dai Davies aired at 12:30pm on S4C. It's in the Welsh language but it has English subtitles.

It's available to watch online at http://s4c.co.uk/clic/e_level2.shtml?series_id=512235651

rubecula · September 28, 2013

Thanks for that Louis

MikeO · September 28, 2013

Blast from the past that!

Dalziel Kane · September 28, 2013

We can receive S4C Wales and reading this made me instinctively look through listings to see if the program would be repeated anytime soon. Could find no other mention of it. In actual fact, have the station on now, and there is a game between Bala and Aberystwyth from the premier league of Wales. Had no alternative but to put on English speaking commentary though. Maybe I don't mind minor games like this. They also have rolling score updates from games in the EPL and other english leagues, but switching off very soon. West Bromwich Albion have scored at Manchester United of all things it says, and lead 1 - 0.

Can just about remember Davies as a goalkeeper. Was a great club servant for Wales and featured here long enough, before just missing out on some near successes with Lee at the end of the 1970s.

marcus jones · September 28, 2013

Hell of a nice chap, really easy to talk to, grew up not that far from me and went to college in his home town. Andy king once said he could easily understand the scousers but not a word from Dai!!! :rofl: Does loads for the Welsh language with the Urdd and Eisteddfod here in Wales.

Louis · September 28, 2013

Here's a transcript, (Gwion Lewis is the interviewer):

Gwion:On the Dee riverbed, beneath Llangollen bridge the dipper searches for food to feeds its chicks. Situated on the riverbank is the Llangollen Natural Health Clinic run by Wales's former goalkeeper, Dai Davies. During his career, he played for Glanamman, Swansea, Wrexham and Everton.

The harsh rigours of the footballing world are now behind him. Today, Dai is a healer who uses alternative therapies to treat his patients.

He gave me a tour of his clinic and explained some of the techniques they practise here.

Dai: This is what I'd ask you to do first of all. You lie on the magnet which works on the body and the brain.

Gwion: The walls are adorned with numerous certificates he has acquired.

Dai: I started off with that... ..and moved on to the Bowen Technique and Reiki. There's also a studio used for Pilates.

Gwion: He's inspired by a raft of beliefs and works alongside alternative therapists who practise at his centre.

Dai: I follow Red Indian doctrines. I'm a firm believer in angels.

Gwion: I also spotted the picture near the window.

Dai: It's a picture of Jesus Christ. I try to live my life according to his teachings.

Gwion: I hadn't heard of many of the therapies available at the centre. I was keen to learn more, not only about them but how Dai came to believe in alternative therapies and the personal journey which has led him from sport .to open an unconventional clinic in Llangollen.We have to start with football, Dai.At the end of the 1970s and early 1980s you were Wales's first-choice goalkeeper. I think I'm right in saying you only lost six games over a period of seven years.

Dai: I'm glad you did your research because I've no idea how many games I lost, but I enjoyed a relatively long career as a professional footballer for 16 years.Usually, a footballing career lasts eight years, so I was very lucky.

Gwion: Was it a childhood dream of yours to be a footballer?

Dai: Yes, I dreamt I played for Wales at 12 years of age.Jack Kelsey, Wales's goalkeeper, had been injured and in my dream, I heard "Is Dai Davies in the crowd?" over the tannoy.I dreamt I played for Wales at the tender age of 12.But I had to wait until I was 26 to realize that dream.

Gwion: And here we are in the Llangollen Natural Health Clinic where you practise alternative therapies.In order to understand your journey, we have to return to the time following your father's death when you were searching for something in your life.

Dai: Yes, I think so. I'd trained as a Swedish massage therapist.I went to Blackpool for the training.After four days of massage, my attitude had changed.I was flying. I was so relaxed.It was if I'd been healed.Internally and physically.When I played football, the game was malicious.The crowd would shout at you and throw things. Fans would swear and the atmosphere was very hard.You had to overcome that.I had to learn to toughen up.But after starting the massage I had to work on myself.Through working on the body I realized it was more than the body alone.The mind also affected the way I felt.But it wasn't just about the mind and body it was also about the soul or the spirit.I needed to be enlightened.I had an experience in the Isle of Man.It had only been three weeks since my father had crossed over.I met a family from Wrexham who were Wrexham supporters.I was staying in a tent with my daughter, Rhian.I was asked if I wanted to go along to a Spiritualist church.There was nothing wrong in that because they knew I had an interest in the spirit world.So I went with them and the female medium was a Yorkshire woman.They don't preach but they go into a sort of trance. She was speaking to the spirits.She was coming to the end of her conversation and asked me if I could receive coal."Yes," I answered.My father was a coal miner.She was babbling.She said his name was William.She said, "There's a Harry too." Harry was his brother."I can smell embrocation.""They played for the same football team," I said. She asked me about the yellow stuff on the cotton wool, the iodine.She carried on the conversation and said, "Cliff's here too."I said, "No, Cliff's still alive." "This Cliff plays music," she said. I said, "My Uncle Dai has crossed over and he played the trumpet."So I went home and told my mother about it and I'd been comforted to know my father had spoken to the woman.

Gwion: Didn't you question it at all?

Dai: Not at all.

Gwion: You believed your father had made contact?

Dai: Yes, my mind and my heart were open to it and I was ready to accept any experience that was happening to me. I told my mother that my father, Harry and Wil had come through.She told me a man named Cliff was the goalkeeper of the team."Did he play in the band?"And he did, but I didn't know that at the time. It proved to me that there was a spirit world.That's how I've developed.That's how I've developed.

Gwion: It sounds as if you experienced a substantial personality change. Would you say you were converted?Would you say you were converted?

Dai: It prompted me to go on courses.I've trained in Shiatsu, which is acupuncture, finger pressure.I've been on a course to learn reflexology.But I've not specialized in those fields.I've also moved on to something called the Bowen Technique which concentrates on the body and releases tension within the person physically, mentally emotionally or perhaps spiritually.

Gwion: Do you claim to heal people through this technique?

Dai: No, I don't heal them, they heal themselves.All I have is the technique which I implement.The only thing I'd say about myself is the more I work on myself the better the treatment I can give.I go into some kind of I wouldn't call it a trance but I revert to an inner peace and I try to focus on my hands and fingers.If I rub my hands together and pull them apart it feels like there's a magnet making it harder to pull my hands away.I regard my body as an electromagnetic field.

Gwion: So you feel something specific?

Dai: Yes, I can sense something.You need something solid to feel.I think there's more to it than that, there's something extra.

Gwion: Isn't that just your vivid imagination?That's how most of us would describe such an experience.

Dai: If that's how you want to explain it, fine. You're using your head.But in order to explain a feeling that intuition has to come from the heart.Fine if you think it's my imagination.I don't want to preach to you.You asked me a question and I'm trying to explain as best I can with my limited ability.

Gwion: I've been researching the various treatments practised at this centre. Some things are familiar - acupuncture, astrology while others are completely foreign to me.What's Emotional Freedom Technique?

Dai: There are two pressure points here which are usually out of balance. If you come in after a hard day's work, you do this.All you're doing is relieving the balance and emotion across your forehead.The answers, as we alternative therapists believe are in the body.

Gwion: I notice also that some of your therapists offer a healing treatment involving crystals.How would I feel better if I came here to have crystal therapy?

Dai: Notice the cameras and the radio in the room?They don't work without crystals.More often than not, every machine has a crystal in it. That's the way I explain it to people.

Gwion: But how does it help me?

Dai: If you follow the body's chakras, the energy points in your body there are seven in all, and they each have a colour.Colour heals people.

Gwion: So the seven points in the body each have a unique energy?

Dai: Yes, and sometimes you can sense where the blockage is. The coldness indicates something's going on.

Gwion: Do you have obvious, concrete proof that you can heal people?

Dai: I remember a boy coming to see me after breaking his leg.He'd had pins inserted into his leg and ankle.He was 16 years old.His name was Stuart.The doctors said, "Off you go, we can't do any more for you."I remember him in the room with his parents.I asked him what he drank.The only thing he drank was a Lucozade-type energy drink. He didn't drink any water, so there was no wonder he broke his leg because his body was dehydrated. Since then he's started drinking water.He's been to college and trained as a physiotherapist.He's also back playing football.But when he came here at 16, he never thought he'd play again.By practising the Bowen Technique, drinking water and doing some Pilates he's now earning a living as a physiotherapist.He's also helping the academy players at Liverpool Football Club.

Gwion: So it was a conventional solution to the problem in the end?Drinking water.

Dai: To me, yes, because that's what jumped out.You ask questions and search for what's lacking in the body.Do you believe that?

Gwion: I've a very open mind, Dai.

Dai: For the first time today.For the first time today.

Gwion: I'm very open to alternative therapies where there's evidence they work.

Dai: Where have you found evidence?It feels as if you half believe it. I haven't seen evidence which proves that drinking water heals a person. There is argument over how much you should drink.

Gwion: Everybody knows you should drink enough water.

Dai: Tell me where you've seen the evidence.For the way you live your life you need scientific proof to find your truth.I haven't seen evidence to prove that drinking water heals you.

Gwion: But it's an obvious scientific fact that you must drink water to live.

Dai: You still haven't told me where you've found proof.Where is it?

Gwion: Those are peripheral arguments.There's no argument over the principle that you need water to be healthy.

Dai: You were the one who used the word proof, so where is the proof?

Gwion: Let me use acupuncture as an example.There's plenty of proof to suggest that acupuncture has healing benefits since it's available on the NHS. The problem with other therapies is that there's a lack of proof.

Dai: I'd disagree with you.Acupuncture hasn't been accepted in the West.President Nixon had backache when he went to China and he received acupuncture there. Since then it's been introduced in the West and it's now being practised.Sometimes the problem with acupuncture is that a doctor goes on a two-week course and thinks he has the ability to practise acupuncture to get the body in balance.The more traditional acupuncturists say they have so much more trouble with doctors who've interfered and caused more problems.If you're looking for an acupuncturist you must go to a traditional practitioner.There are lots of answers and it's up to you what you want to believe.

Gwion: Where does religion feature in this?

Dai: Before we move on there's a book entitled Your Body's Many Cries For Water.That's your proof.

Gwion: That's my homework.

Dai: I asked you for an answer but it was an unsatisfactory reply because you didn't give me evidence which makes me think you haven't done your homework.1- to me!

Gwion: Dai agreed to explain how he would go about assessing me if I were his patient.

Dai: Clues. I'm like a detective. I'd start with your feet.Firstly I'd check if you have flat feet.That, in turn, will put pressure on your knees, back and shoulders. I'd have to search for a weakness. Looking at you now, and I'm sure the viewers can see that more of the right side of your face is visible.You turn your head and lift your shoulder.That shows that you're a good listener.You've empathy for people.But one shoulder is higher than the other.As I'm looking at you right now the left side of your brain is working.

Gwion: So this side?

Dai: No, that's your right side.The left side of your brain controls the right side of the body.

Gwion: There's a connection between this and this?

Dai: Yes. That side of the brain is thinking, disciplined and logical. That's your speciality.You tend to use the left side of the brain more than the right side, which is to do with creativity.For you to be creative and intuitive you tune in to the right side of the brain which regulates the left side of your body.Because you're smiling, I see more of this side of your body.All I do as a therapist is search for clues.In terms of astrology, your star sign is Libra.Once again it proves to me the scales are indicative of your line of work, aren't they? The scales of justice in law.It's also a sign that you try to evaluate things and lead a balanced life.You're called Gwion, and if you interpret your name it includes the word gown, which you wear as a barrister.You wear a wig, and your intention is to fight a case.I win is also included in your name. Your name is relevant to your occupation.

Gwion: You believe names are significant?

Dai: Yes. My name is William David Davies.Dai Saves Wales is an anagram.At the moment, if you rearrange the letters in Dai Davies you'll come to I aid.I help people.The word save can also be found in my name.

Gwion: But you can find all kinds of different words in a person's name.

Dai: There are certain rules to follow. If a name contains more than three As you can only use the three.

Gwion: Whose rules are these?

Dai: It's called lexigramming or numerology.It's existed for generations.It's about the power of words and the power of letters.

Gwion: Isn't that your imagination again?

Dai: I'm not trying to convince you.I can tell you my truth and the sound man can tell you his.But at the end of the day, you have to discover your own truth.

Gwion: But there's such a thing as objective truth.Take the health service, for example.They have to make decisions based on what's objectively sound in terms of choosing treatment.The difficulty with what you believe is that there is little evidence to prove alternative therapies lead to positive outcomes.

Dai: No. The way things are portrayed and presented to the public - that's the difficulty.I subscribe to a magazine called What Doctors Don't Tell You.The public never hears the full story.

Gwion: Isn't it unfair that you're giving people hope? You admit you can't promise to heal a person because there is no evidence that alternative therapies work.

Dai: Put it this way, if someone says to me, "I feel better" where's the evidence?How can you prove you're feeling better?You just feel better.You can't evaluate that.It goes back to what I was saying in the beginning.It's down to a feeling.The individual is happier and freer in movement.The only thing we do is give people the control or the freedom to make that choice.They come here voluntarily.It'll cost you.

Gwion: That's the other point. Aren't these treatments purely for the middle class?

Dai: No, we don't charge patients if they can't afford the treatment. I'd say, "Gwion, bake me a cake instead" or, "Bake me a loaf."We share the energy.You give me something for my time.

Gwion: Where does religion feature in all this?

Dai: I've a big problem with religion because believers insist their religion is the only way.If people derive inner peace from singing in a chapel or church, that's great.But don't try and control everyone the same way. That control is what I'm afraid of. I follow the doctrines of the Red Indians.I believe this body will go to the ground but the spirit or the soul will be released.I believe that the soul returns.It's like regression. I've been here before and I'll be here again.

Gwion: You believe in reincarnation?

Dai: I've been regressed and I had a happy experience from doing so. Moving through one death and the experience of dying and going to heaven or whatever you consider it to be

Gwion: So you've lived here before? So you've lived here before?

Dai: Yes, definitely.

Gwion: Definitely? Who were you?

Dai: That's irrelevant. For me, that would put more emphasis on who I was, and it's unimportant. I've had the experience of being in different tribes and languages which have brought me to where I am now.

Gwion: You must be curious. You claim to have gone back to another life so you must have been curious to discover who you were?

Dai: I know, but I don't want to tell you because it'd be made public.

Gwion: Were you a human being?

Dai: Yes. I was a man and a woman.

Gwion: You were once a woman? You were once a woman?

Dai: Yes.

Gwion: You have an understanding of that?

Dai: Yes.

Gwion: What was your work?

Dai: You keep asking, but didn't you hear my first answer?

Gwion: Yes, I did, but in general terms

Dai: Like a barrister, you're still asking but the answer's the same. Carry on as much as you like.

Gwion: I'll persevere as much as I can. I'm curious to learn more about the experience you've had.

Dai: What if I told you I was a Red Indian? Judy, Marta and I went to Canada and I was instantly aware that I'd been there before.I can't describe it to you but I'd put money on it.I felt so at home there, I knew I'd been there before.

Gwion: What gave you that feeling? Did the feeling just wash over you?

Dai: I knew instinctively. Wow! I knew I'd been there before.

Gwion: Do you have a clear idea of what the next life holds for you?

Dai: Put it this way, I've had my ayurvedic chart done and astrology comes into it.I'm not going to live beyond the age of 84.I'm going to have a near-death experience around my 72nd birthday. When I'm 72, I might decide I don't want to be here any more but perhaps I'll live till I'm 84.

Gwion: We definitely have a difference of opinion but it's been a pleasure, I must say.

Dai: It's been different, put it that way! We'll agree to disagree.

Dai: This is what I'd ask you to do first of all.You lie on the magnet which works on the body and the brain.

Gwion: The walls are adorned with numerous certificates he has acquired.

Dai: I started off with that and moved on to the Bowen Technique and Reiki.There's also a studio used for Pilates.

Gwion: He's inspired by a raft of beliefs and works alongside alternative therapists who practise at his centre.

Dai: I follow Red Indian doctrines.I'm a firm believer in angels.

Gwion: I also spotted the picture near the window.

Dai: It's a picture of Jesus Christ.I try to live my life according to his teachings.

Gwion: I hadn't heard of many of the therapies available at the centre. I was keen to learn more, not only about them but how Dai came to believe in alternative therapies and the personal journey which has led him from sport to open an unconventional clinic in Llangollen.We have to start with football, Dai.At the end of the 197s and early 198s you were Wales's first-choice goalkeeper.I think I'm right in saying you only lost six games over a period of seven years.