LLANSANNAN will take on Nantlle Vale in a friendly fixture honouring a wrestling legend from the region.

The Vale of Conwy League Premier Division side will compete against their Lock Stock Welsh Alliance Division Two opponents for the inaugural holding of the Orig Williams Cup, which has been named in memory of the iconic figure who has close associations with both teams.

After national service in the RAF, Williams began his career as a professional footballer with Oldham Athletic and Shrewsbury Town before becoming player-manager of Vale, where he realised that gates were declining because of the increasing interest in Saturday afternoon televised wrestling.

He left the club and began to work at fairgrounds as a boxer and wrestler in the late 1950s, before accepting an invitation to work in India and wrestled the Indian champion Imam Bux and his son, the Great Bholu.

On his return to Britain, he began to promote his own matches and wrestled both under his own name and as El Bandito.

Williams worked extensively with S4C promoting the bouts on Reslo, the last televised wrestling show in Britain, which ran until 1995.

His autobiography, Cario'r Ddraig (Carrying the Dragon), was published in 1985 and was a huge insight into Williams’ life both in the footballing and wrestling circles, and the upcoming friendly is something that the two clubs are looking to do on an annual basis.

Llansannan manager Tom Lewis, said: “We arranged a friendly and thought it’d be a good idea to play for a cup named after Orig Williams who had strong links to both clubs and villages.

“He lived in Llansannan for years and famously played and managed Nantlle Vale, in between his wrestling commitments.

“Hopefully it will be well received by both sets of supporters and we are hoping for a big turnout.”

The game will be held on Saturday, July 20 (2pm) at the home of Llansannan FC.