First Trowbridge Town FC player to sign for First Division dies

A former pupil of the Nelson Haden Boy’s School, now the Clarendon Academy, Cecil began his career at his home town club Trowbridge Town FC and played with Trowbridge Colts at the age of 15.

In his first season, he graduated to the senior side, where he made his name as one of the most skilful wingers in the Western League.

"One minute I was standing on the terraces with my friends and the next I was out there playing,” he recalled in 2006 during a visit to Trowbridge.

"I had a part-time job as a brick-layer. I would often finish work in Keevil in the morning and play football in the afternoon," he said.

Cecil Dixon with his wife Jill in Australia (Image: Jill Dixon)

At Trowbridge Town FC, Dixon played alongside former Bristol Rovers and Bristol City star David Pyle and against Westbury United legend John Atyeo, who later won several caps for England.

In 1954, he went on to become the first Trowbridge Town player ever to sign for a First Division club, Cardiff City, making his debut in front of 60,000 spectators against Everton at Goodison Park.

After three years at Ninian Park, Dixon, a winger, joined Newport County in 1957 and went on to make 107 appearances for Newport, scoring 15 goals.

Finishing his professional career after one season with Northampton Town, he and his wife Jill emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, in 1963.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Enjoy a better reading experience with the Times<br>As a digital subscriber, you will get: <br>🔵Fewer adverts <br>🔵Unlimited access to stories <br>🔵Full access to our app and digital edition of the paper<br>Check out the latest digital subscription sale <a href="http://https://t.co/ZYCIb8VHdl">https://t.co/ZYCIb8VHdl</a> <a href="http://https://t.co/TPm0549azU">pic.twitter.com/TPm0549azU</a></p>— Wiltshire Times (@wiltshiretimes) <a href="http://https://twitter.com/wiltshiretimes/status/1831344617326854496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Jill said Cecil played football in Australia until the age of 38 and continued playing golf every week until the age of 88.

Cecil Dixon with his wife Jill in Australia. (Image: Jill Dixon)

Jill said: “We had a great, eventual life together having been married 63 years. We were married in Monmouth, South Wales, my home town.

“Cecil at the time was playing with Newport County, then he transferred to Northampton Town and then non-league to Wisbech before receiving an invite to come to Australia and join a team by the name of J.U.S.T, the Yugoslavia United Soccer Team.

“This team was Melbourne-based and were really successful, winning premierships and cups galore.

“The team, as were all the teams in Sydney and Melbourne where most of the soccer was played.

“They were mainly Yugoslavs, as the team’s name would indicate, but also Irish, German, English, Dutch, Italian, Maltese and so on.

“Cecil had played golf from about the age of 16/17, having started with David ‘Ollie’ Pyle, another Trowbridge boy who went to play with Bristol Rovers, and he played every week here.

“When he retired from soccer he became an avid golfer, playing twice a week, winning trophies galore and getting five ‘holes in one’.

“When we came to Australia, soccer was not a full-time job so the club got him an interview with a car company with the view to selling the Australian Holden car.

“Having never sold anything in his life he made a terrific career of it - in fact Cecil could have sold ice-cream to Eskimos as he had such a charismatic way with him that people became endeared to him.”

Cecil Dixon with his wife Jill catch up on the latest sports news with the Wiltshire Times on a trip to Trowbridge in June 2006. (Image: Jill Dixon)

Cecil was known for the way he walked and told the Wiltshire Times in 2006, on one of his eight trips home to the UK: "Somebody first mentioned it to me at a shopping centre in Monmouth, after I'd just signed for Cardiff City.

 “When I moved to Melbourne back in 1963, I was stopped by a man in the street who said, ‘You're that Cecil Dixon who used to play for Cardiff, I recognised your walk'. I couldn't believe it."

Cecil and Jill have two children and five grandchildren.