Jonny’s glowing again in Mediterranean sun

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

What’s happening here?

It’s July 15, 2009 at the Felix Mayol stadium in Toulon and the home club have just unveiled their new signing, Jonny Wilkinson, the Newcastle and England fly-half. He had actually signed at the end of May but here he is clocking on officially for duty and typically once the Press conference was done and dusted – conducted in fluent French which he had taught himself in the previous couple of months – he wanted to start work immediately. Was there time to slot in a quickfire kicking session? Of course there was.

What’s is the story behind the picture?

How long have you got? Jonny’s story, though no fault of his own, had become something of a soap opera. He had scaled incredible early heights with England with his points scoring and phenomenal tackling and, of course, became a national figure when it was his dropped goal that delivered England’s World Cup success in 2003.

He wasn’t comfortable with the adulation and scrutiny that followed but nor had he bargained for an extraordinary run of serious careerthreatening injuries that haunted him for the next three or four years.

Remarkably following that World Cup final on November 22 he didn’t play for England again until their Six Nations game against Scotland at on February 3, 2007. He made another appearance for England in a World Cup final that autumn but still the injuries continued and restricted appearances for club and country. In the 2008-2009 season he again missed a large chunk of the season with a dislocated knee when the rugby gods threw another spanner in the works. It was at this nadir that the lucrative offer from Toulon came after they had narrowly avoided relegation again. An Indian summer in the sunshine, what was there to lose?

What happened next?

An almost fairytale-like five year odyssey in which he rediscovered form and fitness –in fact if anything

he achieved new heights – and sparked a remarkable resurgence in Toulon’s fortunes. As Mourad Boudjellal continued to gather a galaxy of Galacticos, Jonny provided the unrelenting focus of excellence and work ethic. He and his fellow big names were getting very well paid, but they had to justify their wages. He got rugby’s tower of babel talking one language and going in the same direction, and quickly became the darling of the Toulon fans in particular and the French rugby media in general. An Engishman unreservedly loved by the French.

During his time with the club it was a story of growing success. Felix Mayol was a sell-out for every game and indeed they were able to move big matches to the Marseilles Velodrome. In 2010 they finished runners-up in the Top 14 regular season and reached the European Challenge Cup final. In 2012 they were runners up in the Challenge Cup final again and reached the French championship play-off final, losing to Toulouse. In 2013 they won their first Heineken Cup and lost in the final of the French championship to Castres and finally in 2014, Toulon pulled off the double, winning the Heineken Cup and the French championship. He could retire as a happy man. His work was done.

Why is the picture iconic?

It seems to me this picture is all about rebirth and new hope. Glistening and glowing with good health under the hot midday Mediterranean sun, Jonny is looking ‘good to go’ which is not something we had often written or read in the previous six years since the World Cup

Final. He has just turned 30 and had been written off by many pundits during the previous year, not on account of his skill and talent but simply because his body surely couldn’t take any more.

Yet unknown to us his very best years are still ahead of him, nearly 150 games for Toulon, scarcely missing a game, a winner again, cult status, contentment, peace of mind, happiness.

And there is another thing, the subliminal message of the empty concrete stands and terraces which resemble some giant mausoleum. I find that very poignant having been lucky enough to spend more than my fair share of European afternoons and evenings at a seething Felix Mayol which never seemed big enough to house the faithful and was always spilling over.

When Jonny joined, Toulon were still a wannabe club, new kids on the block and weren’t delivering. During a brief previous spell in the T14 in 2006 I had sat in the half-empty stadium and watched Toulon get thumped by over 50 points by Northampton in the Challenge Cup, and Saints were far from full strength.

The next time I visited, Jonny had quickly worked his magic, Felix Mayol was a riot of colour and packed full an hour before kick off and there was the startling spectacle of the team’s walk through from the nearby hotel they met at before every game, you can just see it in the background. The pied piper was already moving among his people.

Footnote. Toulon made it three Heineken Cups in a row the season after Jonny left but haven’t won a thing since then. They currently lay 13th in the T14.

“It’s all about rebirth and new hope... his very best years are still ahead of him”