ALAN Hydes is looking forward to returning as a guest to Barnsley FC where he would train regularly throughout a remarkable table tennis career which took him from New Lodge to the People’s Republic of China.

Hydes, now 75, learned the sport at Barnsley Boys Club before going on to play more than 100 times for England and win four Commonwealth gold medals, before coaching around the world.

Alan, who is due to return to Oakwell as a guest for the match against Cambridge United in March, said: “My mother bought me a table tennis bat for 50 pence and I paid four pence a week to play at Barnsley Boys Club.

“It didn’t half pay off. It was my ticket to the world.

“I started off in Division Nine of the Barnsley League as an 11-year-old. Within three years, I was the youngest player to play for England.

“It’s quite odd that someone like me from a family with no car, no phone in the house and no money could dedicate themselves every day to practising table tennis.

“But that’s what I did.

“I was there at 6pm every day and, if there was no one to play me, the manager Pop Pierrepoint would play me.”

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Alan’s talent and hard work soon brought rewards.

He said: “I went to my first tournament in Sheffield – my mother borrowed some money for the train fare.

“But I didn’t have any food or water.

“It was snowing so I went outside and put snow in my mouth between matches to try to refresh myself.

“Some people from the Barnsley club came but, when they heard I had drawn the number one seed in the first round, they didn’t watch me and stayed in the canteen playing cards.

“I managed to beat him then won the tournament.

“If I hadn’t got the prize, I wouldn’t have gone to another one because we didn’t have the money.

“I just kept winning and it went from there. I got chosen for England not long after.

“I went from Division Nine in Barnsley to Commonwealth champion in Singapore within a decade.”

In 1971, Alan led an England team on a tour of China alongside Americans as relationships between the Asian superpower and the west thawed through ‘ping pong diplomacy’ at the height of the Cold War.

Alan said: “It was a big story. China had been closed but they used table tennis to get friendly with the world, especially the Americans.

“We met the Chinese prime minister Zhou Enlai in The Great Hall of the People.

“We played matches all over China. They were usually better than us but they let us beat them.

“We were given an aeroplane to fly around in.

“There were 20,000 watching us and I said at the time ‘that’s more than Barnsley Football Club get.’

“It was at the time of the Vietnam War and we saw protestors with signings saying ‘kill the American aggressors and their running dogs’. I asked the Chinese people with us: ‘who are the running dogs? And they said: ‘people like you.’ I thought: ‘oh, right.’

“When I left, they gave me about 50 copies of Chairman Mao’s little red book and paid for the excess luggage.

“When we flew back over Vietnam, the American pilot told us if we looked left we could see napalm, but I didn’t want to.

“We knew something big was happening. We came back to Heathrow and the world press was there.

“I ended up going on quite a few TV shows.

“It’s the biggest thing that’s ever happened to table tennis and it overshadows everything else I’ve done in my career really.

“I must have had about five invitations to the Chinese embassy since.

“A Chinese television network want to make a film with me in it.

“They seem to value the connection, and so do I. I have great friends there.”

Through his career, Alan would regularly join in parts of training with the Reds at Oakwell, while receiving physio treatment from club legend Norman Rimmington. He is still close friends with likes of Pat Howard and Barry Murphy.

“I enjoyed that. Eric Winstanley lived near me so he would give me a lift in.

“I remember asking Rimmo for advice when I was asked to be coach of New Zealand and I wasn’t sure about going so far. He said: ‘Look lad, there’s nowt happening round here. You don’t get those chances very often.’

“I went and ended up coaching all around the world.”

Alan conducted seminars in more than 50 countries for the International Table Tennis Federation.

He delivered a training course in Cairo the day after getting married in Holy Rood Church in Barnsley.

He later worked as marketing manager for Dunlop/Slazenger Table Tennis and moved to West Sussex – where he still lives – then founded Lion Sports UK, a sporting goods business.

He retired in 2017.