‘HOW RUGBY SAVED ME FROM A LIFE OF CRIME’
WHEN police knocked on the front door of Wes Cunliffe’s Newport home one morning, well over a decade ago, a familiar scene seemed set to unfold.
The night before, officers had chased Cunliffe, well known to them, through the streets, after the local young rogue’s latest transgression. The problem was that this particular offender was simply too fast for them.
Not to worry. The police had Cunliffe’s address, they could wait. And they did – overnight.
Yet when the man they were after came to the door the next day, the conversation that unfolded ended up changing his life.
Instead of slapping Cunliffe in handcuffs and carting him off in the back of a police car, these particular PCs were more interested in steering him towards something that would lead him away from a life of crime.
Cunliffe, who grew up in the notorious Pill and Duffryn areas of the city, remembers their words: “You’re fast. You should take up rugby.”
He did, and it was the best decision he ever made.
He went on to became one of the most dangerous evasive runners in Welsh semi-professional rugby and is now a stalwart of the Jamaican Sevens team that played at this year’s Commonwealth Games and competes in the world series.
Not bad for someone who has seen friends and relatives killed in car accidents, who found the father of a friend dead in a field from a drugs overdose and who, by his own admission, was heading for a young offender institution before the paternal instincts of those two policemen – Darren Morgan and Val Bryan – were brought to bear.
So inspirational is Cunliffe’s story that he now mentors on the School of Hard Knocks programme, the Sky Sports-backed charity that uses rugby to tackle unemployment, crime and poor health.
“I’m really grateful to PC Bryan and ‘Terminator’ (Morgan),” said Cunliffe.
“They understood our background, what we were going through and tried to show us there was more to life than the way we were heading, which was basically a young offender institution.
“I remember that day. I’d been up to something and PC Bryan was chasing me. He didn’t catch me but knew where I lived. The next morning he was knocking on our front door.
“He’d played rugby in the centre and urged me to take it up.
“Terminator – we called him that because we knew if he was chasing us we had no hope, as he was super-fit and would keep going until we dropped through exhaustion.
“He had played for Risca and the pair of them kept on and on to me about joining St Joseph’s RFC.
“Eventually, I couldn’t take it any more so went along to training and it turned out to be the best move I’ve made.”
Cunliffe, 31, is now settled with his partner Rhiannon, whom he describes as his rock, and their three children. He works night shifts as a driver in Bristol, but rugby allows him opportunities he could only have dreamed about.
Cunliffe helped Jamaica reach this year’s Commonwealth Games in Australia after qualifying for them through a grandfather who hails from the same Jamaican village as global superstar Usain Bolt.
In a twist of fate reminiscent of the iconic 1990s film Cool Runnings, after being spotted playing rugby sevens for Newport at the Fosters Sevens in Cardiff and for Samurai
Sevens in the summer of 2016, Cunliffe was invited to play for Jamaica Sevens in their bid to qualify for the Gold Coast Games.
He played in a number of qualifying tournaments for the Caribbean nation, including the Rugby Americas North Sevens in Mexico, where his team scored a try in the dying moments of the final game against Guyana to qualify, not only for the Commonwealth Games but the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco and the Hong Kong Sevens.
But there was a sting in the tail – with his past catching up and Australia barring him entry to compete at the Games because of passport irregularities.
Undeterred, Cunliffe wants to aid others who may be in a similar position to the one he was in growing up and has been helping the School of Hard Knocks charity deliver a programme of rugby and life skills to men and women in Pill.
“I’ve seen the devastation crime can cause and it’s not a nice place,” he said.
“Sport, and rugby in particular, turned my life around, and my experience has made me so passionate about getting the message across to young people about its positive effect.
“I wasn’t able to travel to Australia due to the restrictions on my passport from my former life – another lesson I want to pass on about the consequences of your actions – but I’m hoping they’ll be lifted in order to stake a claim to be part of the Olympics in 2020.
“Representing my country around the world during the qualifying stages was just something else for someone with my background, and I want to show others they can pursue dreams through sport, too.
“Even if I don’t make it onto the plane for the Olympics, I’ve been so motivated through my experience over the last year or so that I want to try to inspire others.”
Cunliffe lost his father when he was young, his mother bringing him and his two younger brothers up on her own by working all hours as a carer. His grandfather Owen became his father-figure, trying to support him in everything he did.
It was a difficult upbringing that threatened to result in the powerful winger being lost to a life of crime, but his journey back from that precipice has allowed him to try to have a positive impact on those at risk of the same fate.
He added: “Rugby has really made me feel I belong to something, which is the opposite to being part of a gang, where all the gang leaders care about is the money you’re going to make them.
“Former Dragons captain Lewis Evans has asked me to speak to some groups of young people about the dangers and consequences of so-called joyriding and it’s a lesson I can’t stress enough.
“I lost some friends who were involved in that side of my life to joy-riding – I saw one of them killed – and I have no doubt that the fact I have turned myself around is down to rugby.
“People complain about the contact side of rugby sometimes but I would take that any day over prison and that was the choice I had.
“I’ve enjoyed helping Neil Edwards from the School of Hard Knocks programme. I’ve seen how rugby can make such a difference in so many ways.
“If you’re trying to turn your life around and you’re part of a rugby team, it shows others, including potential employers, that you are reliable, you can work with others and that you work hard to achieve goals.”
Former Wales A, Dragons, Ebbw Vale and Neath lock Edwards, who is also forwards coach at Cardiff RFC, said: “I’d just started coaching at Ebbw Vale and had heard about this boy Tredegar had playing for them.
“We went to see him play and met him afterwards. He had been in trouble but relocated to his grandfather Owen’s place in the Valleys.
“Wes was a bit of a punt for us ... he was a bit more flash in those days ... but he found the right place at the right time – he was ready to move on with his life.
“Sometimes you can get them too early or other times too late. The supporters of Ebbw Vale and the club chaplain also got involved, and Wes felt like he had become part of a big family.”
Cunliffe, who has signed for Cross Keys for next season, has a good deal more to think about than combining rugby with his day job.
His six-year-old son Isaiah has cerebral palsy, which naturally involves Cunliffe and his partner making huge sacrifices.
“Rhiannon is my biggest hero, she taught me to drive and helped me get into work,” he beamed.
“Isaiah was born very premature and has speech and language difficulties, so she’s the rock keeping all his appointments, along with looking after the two other children when I’m away with rugby and work.
“Since Terminator and PC Bryan pushed me into sport, my life has taken a turn for the better; and to be part of the Jamaica squad has taken my journey to another level ... it’s incredible, really.”
Morgan, a constable on the beat in Pill and Duffryn until he retired last year, said: “We came across Wes on a work basis. It was nothing too major so we gave him a life or two.
“We recognised he was quick because he was difficult to catch when we were chasing him. We were running lots of sports projects in the area at the time, to try and get the kids off the streets and Wes took part in them.
“We encouraged him to have a go at rugby at St Joseph’s and the rest, as they say, is history.
“Now here we are some 15 years later, seeing he has done really well for himself, while actually remembering where’s he come from and appreciating the efforts other people made for him.
“Val and I went to work to make a difference and I think we did that with Wes. Some parts of the job were unpleasant but hearing his comments about us is really rewarding.”
You can find out more about School of Hard Knocks at www. schoolofhardknocks.org.uk