Tony
Cottey
COVER STORY
Interview
I understand that your first name is
Phillip. How did you end up as Tony?
I’m Phillip Anthony. Phillip with two Ls
on my birth certificate and one L on my
passport - that tells you all you need to
know really. My father reckoned Phillip
Anthony Cottey sounded better than
the other way round so that’s it. I never
really had a Christian name. I was always
called Cotts even by my father. So, even
though that sounds odd, I sign everything
Cotts cause that’s what I’ve been used
to since I’ve been about four or five. Only
dentists and doctors called me Philip.
You were born in Swansea, 1966, of
course, the year England won the
World Cup…
I’m originally from Port Eynon on the
Gower near Swansea. My grandmother
had a guesthouse, so all my summers
were spent down there. Every time I go
back to see my daughters now, we end
up down there for a walk.
My mother and father have always been
massively into sport and my earliest
memory of cricket was at five years old
and my father playing for Swansea - he’d
take me to the games every Saturday,
dress me in whites and the lads would
throw balls at me when they were batting.
I ended up opening the batting with
my father for Swansea Seconds when
12
I was eleven, which was great. That is
a fantastic memory for me but I was
always into sport. I’ve got a photo of me
kicking a ball at two years of age at my
grandmother’s house in Port Eynon. So,
it was all sport, sport, sport back in the
day and it was cricket in the summer
or athletics and rugby or football in
the winter. So, you know, we were just
encouraged to get involved.
Obviously, you picked football over
rugby then?
When I went to comprehensive school,
rugby picked me beca W6R