FOND MEMORIES OF WELSH LEGEND GRAV
TODAY marks the day that the late Welsh rugby great Ray Gravell would have turned 70 years old. The Mynydd-y-garreg giant and father-of-two was a totemic midfield presence for Llanelli, Wales and British and Irish Lions during the 1970s and 1980s. He played 485 times for the Scarlets and won 23 Welsh caps during a highly decorated playing career.
After hanging up his boots in 1985, he further endeared himself to the Welsh public as a passionate cocommentator and even embarked upon a successful acting career, working alongside famous director Louis Malle, and actors Juliette Binoche, Jeremy Irons and Peter O’Toole.
He was also inducted as a member of the Gorsedd of the Bards, serving for several years as the sword-bearer at Eisteddfod ceremonies under his bardic name, Ray o’r Mynydd.
In later life, he was diagnosed with diabetes and after several years of ill health, he died of a heart attack, aged 56, on 31 October 2007, while on family holiday in Spain.
To celebrate the legend that was Ray Gravell, S4C will be showing a special film telling the story of his life. The film, Grav, based on the successful stage show, will be shown tonight at 9pm, with English subtitles available.
The S4C series Chwedloni has also shown a series of short programmes, featuring anecdotes from those who had the pleasure of knowing him on the pitch and off it.
Here are a selection of tales from those special encounters with Grav.
SIR CLIVE WOODWARD
“I have lots of memories of Ray Gravell and it’s strange that internationally, we never played against each other. We both got picked for the Lions tour in 1980 and that’s where the whole thing came from. They just put us in a room together. I thought ‘oh my goodness’, because we were totally different people, chalk and cheese. But everywhere we went, we were room-mates, and we became good friends.
“My memories of him are just him, non-stop talking. In the middle of the night, he would just ask me the most bizarre question. There was one night where he sat up and said, ‘Paul Ringer was innocent!’ (laughs). I was playing in that game (England v Wales at Twickenham in the 1980 Five Nations) and we just had this big debate then, about two o’clock in the morning, about whether Paul Ringer should have been sent off and should not have been sent off! I remember these incredible conversations. For a guy who I’d never met before, we all love the Lions but you do make these incredible friendships and it was no fluke that us two were put together, because we were from two different ends of the spectrum in terms of where we came from.
“All the years after we finished playing, I’m working for the media and so is he, and it became his trait, whenever we met on the international scene, he would just flatten me! I was pitchside at Cardiff when England were playing Wales and we’re about to go live on air in about three or four minutes, and suddenly – bosh! He absolutely flattens me and stands above me and goes, ‘soft centre, you always were a soft centre!’ And then he picks me up, gives me a big hug and says ‘how are you, bach?’. (laughs). And that became his party piece.
“It didn’t happen once – any match where we were both at, a club game or an international game, he would get me. He would hide behind cupboards and fences and cameras, come out and smack me down, bang, bang, ‘soft centre, soft centre!’ And he loved it, it was his party piece. He always knew I was there. I can see him now, his beard looking down on me, ‘soft centre, soft centre!’ That was Gravell, he was just this larger than life character in every single way and I was really lucky to have known him as long as I did.”
SIR GARETH EDWARDS
“In sport, a lot of people believe they are better than they actually are. But Grav was someone who looked for a bit of confidence in almost every moment of a game. ‘Am I playing well? What do you think?’, and I would say, ‘I’ve never seen you play better Grav, you’re up there with the best’ and you could see the effect that would have on him. ‘Pop it up, pop it up,’ he wanted to run through everyone, and he would run through everyone. Psychologically, that was so important to Grav to hear someone tell him, ‘you’re the best, don’t worry about it’.
“But sometimes, that could work against him. I remember once a few days after that game, my club Cardiff were playing against his, Llanelli. I remember he came out of the changing room and as we went out towards the pitch, Grav said ‘Ga, Ga, shwd wyt ti?’ And I said, ‘what’s happened to you Grav?’. I still don’t understand why I said such a thing, but I said, ‘You’ve been eating pies and drinking pints or something,’ and I could tell by his face that he wasn’t sure what I meant. He ran to the other side of the pitch for the start of the game and I saw him looking at me, so I did this (making the shape of a big belly with his hands), purely for a laugh. I admit now, I shouldn’t have done it, I didn’t realise how it would affect him.
“At half time, Phil Bennett crept out, almost with embarrassment, saying, ‘Ga, please tell Grav he’s not fat, he’s driving us all mad!’ He’d been telling them, ‘Edwards says I’m fat, Edwards says I’m fat,’ and they had to tell him, ‘no, you’re not fat!’ You just had to laugh! Forgive me Grav, I didn’t mean it and you were up there with the best. “
ROY NOBLE
Everyone knew that Ray was a character. He had a personality that would fill an aircraft hangar. My memories and others’ memories of him would fill a whole set of encyclopaedias.
Ray was also someone who treated everyone the same; everyone was unique and everyone had something to offer. I remember one night, I walked into a big room, and in this room were some of the world’s best rugby players, from New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, France, Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland – everywhere. Grav saw me walk in through the door, and said ‘Roy, Roy, dere yma!’ He was standing next to Bill Beaumont from England and I walked over to them. Grav said, ‘Roy, meet Bill Beaumont; captain of the Barbarians, captain of England, captain of the Lions.’ And then he said to Bill Beaumont, ‘Bill, meet Roy; Brynaman seconds.’ To him, I was just as important. We were all part of the same rugby background to him. ‘Grassroots,’ like he used to say! (laughs).
Watch the film, Grav, tonight at 9pm on S4C. English subtitles available. Watch Grav and Chwedloni, on demand on S4C Clic and iPlayer.