A LION’S COURAGE
A stricken Wales rugby star tells his tale of courage in the face of an incurable and devastating condition to Mark Orders. He has been afflicted by a rare disorder, but he refuses to let his spirit be broken
IT ISN’T easy these days, but Gareth Williams still wakes with a smile on his face, because that’s the kind of person he is.
The former Bridgend, Wales and British Lions forward has been bedbound for more than a year, fighting a rare nervous system disorder for which there is no cure.
Multiple system atrophy causes nerve cells in the brain to deteriorate over time, triggering problems with balance, movement and the autonomic nervous system. It is an unrelenting, progressive condition.
But it has picked on a tough customer in Gareth Williams, a battler who is driven by positivity. His system may be under attack but he refuses to let MSA break his spirit.
“He’s the strongest person there is,” says daughter Nia, who has immersed herself in a fundraising and awareness-raising effort for the MSA Trust, running marathons.
“The diagnosis came in November 2012 after many years with various symptoms.
“He’s been bed-bound since January 2017 but he’s fighting because that’s the type of person he is — a fighter. Every day he wakes with a smile and he is never anything but good-natured.
“He is an inspiration and I am proud to have him as a dad.”
As a player the 6ft 4in, 15st 6lb forward who could operate across the back row appeared five times for Wales between 1980 and 1982, debuting against Graham Mourie’s All Blacks and going head to head with the redoubtable No. 8 Murray Mexted.
He also figured for the 1980 Lions after joining them as a replacement and was on the field for one of the all-time great tries, started by Swansea’s David Richards and scored against a South African invitation team when the ball went through 30 pairs of hands before Mike Slemen touched down.
But the team Gareth will always be synonymous with are Bridgend RFC.
He played in four successive Welsh cup finals for the club, including the wins over Pontypridd in 1979 and Swansea in 1980, scoring a try in the first of those showpieces and walking off with the player-of-the-game bauble in the second.
The 1980-81 Welsh Brewers Rugby Annual for Wales recorded in its review of the encounter with Swansea: “The outstanding player was Bridgend’s Gareth Williams and Welsh Rugby Writers’ Association members voted him man of the match by an overwhelming majority.”
Nostalgia paints with honey, but it genuinely was a golden era at the Brewery Field.
Bridgend’s pack bristled with physicality but what set Williams apart was his athleticism and ballplaying skills. In that respect, the ex-Cardiff College of Education student was ahead of his time as a player.
The rugby community has rallied around since he fell ill, especially in Bridgend.
“They’ve been brilliant,” says Gareth.
“From initial diagnosis, the rugby community — and I include ex-Wales internationals and British and Irish Lions and ex-Bridgend players in that — began a breakfast club down at a nearby Toby Carvery. Local ex-players met weekly for a catch-up. I attended when I was more mobile, but now they come over to see me.
“Every so often, former players
You have to stay positive. As hard as it is some days, I try to keep a smile on my face
from far and wide come down to join them. It’s a real sense of sport breeding friendship.
“A current player, Rhys Webb, who is a Bridgend boy himself, has helped out as much as he can, even raffling a pair of his rugby boots from last year’s Lions tour of New Zealand for the trust and raising £1,000.
“The wider community in Bridgend has been an immense support, too, with various charity events. “It means a huge amount.” The ex-Bridgend Grammar School boy didn’t lose a game on that Lions 1980 tour: six matches played, six wins. His route into the Test XV was blocked only by the excellence of Jeff Squire, Derek Quinnell and John O’Driscoll on that trip, but Williams didn’t stop trying.
“The tour is my greatest rugby memory,” says Gareth.
“I will never, ever forget the moment I was called up and nor will I forget the trip itself. We may have lost the series but we won all the other games and the tour was a happy one.”
If there were challenges later in the year against the All Blacks of Graham Mourie, Mark Shaw, Mexted, Gary Knight, Andy Haden and Graeme Higginson, nothing quite prepares a man for being told he has the beast of a condition that is multiple system atrophy. All else is dwarfed in comparison.
But the fortitude and dignity one of the Brewery Field’s finest has shown have been remarkable.
“It’s been extremely difficult to fight the condition,” he says.
“We looked to control the symptoms at the beginning of the diagno-
sis, but in recent years it’s been a challenge to fight day by day.
“You have to stay positive. As hard as it is some days, I try to keep a smile on my face and I’m hugely grateful for the care I receive on a daily basis.
“Without it I wouldn’t be as positive or as strong as I am.
“I am lucky in that most of my family is locally based and the support has been out of this world.
“We have pulled together as a team these last few years.
“Nothing is ever too much for any of them and we know that people are only a phone call away. My wife, Claire, is incredible and selfless and has given up everything to be my carer.
“She is the strongest woman I know, looking after me, and protecting my two girls, Nia and Angharad, is her main priority. She is an amazing human being.”
Nia ran the London Marathon last year and has completed several halfmarathons.
Her next 26-mile challenge is in Liverpool in May and her efforts in support of her dad are chronicled at www.justgiving.com/runrunrun1.
Angharad raised money for MSA awareness by running the London Marathon in 2015.
John Beattie, a member of the 1980 Lions squad and a friend since, visited Gareth on the weekend of the Wales v Scotland Six Nations game.
Life has indeed become a major battle for the former back-rower.
But he is among the bravest of the brave and his stoicism is quite remarkable.
An inspiration, indeed.