Devils retire 29 jersey to honour 'Franchise' Francis

As Cardiff Devils approach their 40th anniversary in the summer of 2026 there are a stack of memories to recall, a long list of successes, a string of outstanding players and some great coaches too.

And then there is Neil Francis.

At the Vindico Arena on Saturday - before their game against Dundee - the Devils will retire the number 29 shirt worn by Francis in his playing days with the club from 1992 to 2009.

But even though Francis appeared for the Devils over 600 times - winning seven major titles - his shirt retirement is largely for his post-playing contribution to his hometown club.

"I am so overwhelmed by the gesture," said Francis. "I'm under no illusions that it's more for what I've done off the ice than on the ice."

Since Francis hung up his skates, he has fulfilled various roles for the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) club and was a central figure in ensuring the club's survival at its most precarious time.

Devils managing director Todd Kelman explains simply: "That guy doesn't put anything above the Cardiff Devils.

"Franny is the voice of reason in this organisation. That's why me and the owners call him the 'Fran-chise'."

For the sports-mad Francis, his life in ice hockey began after a chance visit to the old Wales National Ice Rink in 1987.

"I had just started high school and one of my classmates, Natalie Spiteri, would talk so enthusiastically about this hockey game and how brilliant it was.

"A few of my friends and me just went down to a game out of curiosity and straight away it was everything that I like about sports. It was fast, it was physical, there was always action going on, there were no dead moments in the game.

"From the moment I walked through the door into the Devils I was hooked."

Cardiff Devils were in their second season playing in division two of the British National Ice Hockey League, still the early stages of their rapid rise through the UK hockey pyramid.

Such was the team's appeal at the time, Francis - along with many other Cardiff youngsters - took up the game in the club's junior programme.

"Back then you didn't even need to have full equipment," recalls Francis.

"I remember rocking up with a helmet with no visor, a pair of shin pads, a pair of gloves, a stick and skates with a pair of tracksuit bottoms over the top…that was it.

"After a shaky first couple of years when I wasn't very co-ordinated, I guess I picked it up pretty quickly."

Five years after his first session, Francis was drafted by player-coach John Lawless into the first team, while he was in the sixth form at Whitchurch High School.

"I was absolutely buzzing. Being a big Devils fan, I had always said, 'I just want one game where I get to suit up, even if I don't get on, I'll be over the moon'.

"As it turned out, I went out there, I went to the net, screened the goalie, Doug McEwen took a shot, I get a tip on it, and it goes in.

"I score in my first game, and you can imagine how over the moon a 17-year-old is with that."

The teenage Francis came into a squad that was full of significant names in Devils' history, including most of the seven stars who have already had their numbers retired and their jerseys hung above the ice.

"It was some of the guys that are up in the rafters there, the likes of Shannon Hope, Steve Moria, Doug McEwen and John Lawless along with the Cooper brothers, they were the elite team in the country at the time and just getting to be part of that was a dream come true."

Still yet to reach his 18th birthday, Francis won the league and Play-Offs double with the Devils in 1993, and the next season was part of the 1994 Grand Slam winning squad who took league, Play-Offs and Autumn Cup.

At the time this stunning upward trajectory appeared to be perfectly normal.

"We didn't know any different, we really didn't," recollected Francis.

"We were just winning trophies every year and I just thought that's what you do. You're part of this team and you get a trophy at the end of the year.

"Looking back on it now, it does make me realise what an amazing experience it was."

After completing his A levels, he studied a degree in sports and human movement at the then South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education (now Cardiff Metropolitan University) whilst playing professional hockey for the Devils.

Francis' playing career mirrors the fortunes of the Cardiff Devils, almost a tracker of their peaks and troughs, and also that of UK hockey in the 1990s into the noughties.

As the game was developing and broadcasters were looking to generate cash through sports coverage, the Superleague started in 1996 with eight founding clubs including the Cardiff Devils.

Restrictions on import players were reduced and freedom of movement within the European Union saw less opportunities for British players.

What started with much excitement eventually wreaked havoc across the professional game in the UK.

"In my last year in university when all the Sky TV money started coming in, people were telling us that we were going to be the next football and rugby," said the now 50-year-old Francis.

"All of a sudden, these guys started turning up and I was getting bumped down the lines and my ice time was going down. But I still contributed well in that first season when we won the Superleague."

But then the year after that "everything went south for me" he recalls.

"I remember going in to see the coach Paul Heavey and, in my head, I had the figure that I wanted to make because I felt I had earned it.

"And when he [Heavey] opened the meeting he said, 'Look we're not going to take you back this year' and I was just totally gobsmacked.

"He said, 'We've got these guys coming over from Finland and Sweden and they're going to be studying in Cardiff University and we're going to take them and not take you back', and I was absolutely gutted as you can imagine.

"I ended up going to Telford Tigers in the league below, but I didn't settle there, I wasn't playing well and I came back and played for Cardiff Rage, the Devils' second team."

For Francis it was a tough time, even at 23 he was the second oldest in a Fire side mainly made up of kids.

"For a year or two I was basically playing just to keep myself at it in the hope that I may get another break," he said.

"I was working and playing on the weekends but there was a good chance that my hockey career could have been over.

"Coaches had become like kids in a sweet shop so they were picking out all these imports and chucking them in the mix without actually thinking 'are they really going to improve my team in a fourth-line role more than someone that's already there that's brought up in the culture of the club and has done a decent job'."

In 2001 Cardiff Devils pulled out of the league and more clubs were to fold completely, prompting the collapse of the Superleague.

"The Elite League was born [in 2003] with a more sustainable approach, lowering the import numbers, bringing local players back into the game and that was where I got the second bite of the cherry," Francis added.

"For me it was important that I tried not to put myself in that position again. The second time around when I had another chance to stay with the Devils, I just tried to make it hard not to have me around."

It was more than just the name of the league that was different - the hockey landscape had changed.

Apart from the incredible turnaround achieved in winning the two-legged Challenge Cup final against Coventry Blaze in 2006, the Devils were far from the force they once were.

In 2009, after snapping a medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his knee, Francis took on some bench assisting duties to player-coach Gerad Adams, which proved to be unexpectedly fruitful.

"We had this kind of double act going and we went on a nine-game winning streak which came to an end in the Play-Off final.

"That summer I didn't know what I was going to do. I was 34, I was rehabbing my knee and getting it ready so that I could play," Francis said.

"G (Adams) met with me and said 'I've got an idea. How do you feel about not playing next year and going on the bench as the bench coach and I'll carry on playing?'

"We did that for a few years until the whole incident when Gerad was let go by the club."

In the 2013-14 season things at the Devils completely unravelled under the ownership of Paul Ragan.

During Adams' testimonial season in December 2013 the club sacked their player-coach who was promptly snapped up by Sheffield Steelers.

When Ragan informed Francis of Adams' sacking, he offered him the vacant job.

"I said 'Absolutely not, I'm part of the coaching team with Gerad Adams and if you're getting rid of Gerad Adams, then you're getting rid of me," Francis explained.

"From that moment I watched the club just disappear from what I had grown up around. There was hiring and firing of players left, right and centre and that wasn't the Cardiff way.

"There were players being brought in that were substandard and crowds dropped off.

"The Welsh and Cardiff fans will back you to the hilt if they see you doing things the right way and for them to step away you just knew that it was being run very badly."

The Devils finished ninth in the 10-team Elite League in 2014 and concerns about whether the club would continue to exist were very real.

While all this had been going on in February 2014 Francis had made a phone call to the general manager of Belfast Giants, Todd Kelman.

"Belfast was the envy of everybody for being the best run organisation," recounted Francis.

"I said, 'Todd, Cardiff's in trouble I don't think they'll go beyond this season unless something is done. What can I do?"

Kelman recalled: "I said, 'If you want to take over a team, you need an ownership group'.

"And Franny said, 'I don't have that'.

"I said, 'Well maybe I do.' And that's literally how it started."

Francis picked up the story: "That was when the prospect of the Calgary Four (Steve King, Craig Shostak, Brian Parker and Kelly Hughes) and Todd Kelman buying the club came about. Something happened on that phone call where the stars aligned because you just couldn't ask for better owners of this club."

Francis then made another decisive contribution by persuading Kelman that Andrew Lord should be appointed as player-coach.

"Franny had told me Andrew Lord is the man to be the head coach. It wasn't our decision, it was his," said Kelman.

"I had been a GM (general manager) at Belfast for seven years and had a player-coach there for most of it and I thought it was a disaster to be honest! It's hard to balance both.

"I was like 'Andrew Lord is going to be one of the best players in the league, how is he going to then coach?'"

But Francis told his new boss Lord was "going to be maybe the best coach we've ever had".

Kelman continued: "Imagine telling a bunch of Canadian owners that we're going to have a player-coach.

"The player-coach is this thing that we saw in one movie - Slapshot - in the 1970s.

"No-one has had a player-coach in North America, it's unheard of!

"I remember having a bit of a wobble, I was like, 'I dunno man, maybe Andrew Lord could be the assistant coach.' And Franny said, 'No, it won't work, this is the right move. You've just got to trust me'.

"If there's a decision that Franny made that's the best decision for this organisation in all the years, it's probably making Andrew Lord the head coach."

Francis' judgement proved to be utterly inspired. Under Lord the Cardiff Devils won two Elite League Championships, two Play-Offs, two Challenge Cups and competed in the Champions Hockey League three years running.

In recent years one of Francis' main roles has been assisting in the recruitment of players.

"I've said numerous times he should be an agent! He's a great communicator, he seems to know every player," Kelman pointed out.

"A lot of coaches maybe don't put the time in to make all the phone calls and have the chats, do the background checks and that's one of his strengths. Just the way he is, he makes that initial contact and keeps the relationship going. And everyone likes him.

"He's genuinely one of the best people I've ever met. Not just in hockey, just in life. I've yet to meet someone who doesn't like him."

Saturday night will see the 50th shirt retired across the 10 clubs in the Elite League era.

Francis' 29 jersey will join those of 1990s teammates Moria, Hope, McEwen and Lawless, the late Brian Dickson and noughties captain Brad Voth.

He will be just the second Cardiff-born player after Jason Stone to receive the honour.

"It'll be an emotional night, it'll be very special," said Kelman.

"For the fans who have been coming for 35 years and longer it's going to mean so much because it's part of their history too."

Francis added: "When you look up at the names that are up there, these are absolute icons and to be mentioned amongst them does make me feel very humble.

"I do think 'Really, how am I going to be next to them?'

"I'm so grateful to the ownership and to Todd for doing this because it is the ultimate honour."

Cardiff Devils host Dundee Stars at the Vindico Arena on Saturday, 3 January (19:00 GMT).