Western Mail

‘As WRU president, Dennis Gethin leaves big shoes to fill’

- CAROLYN HITT

IN THE words of the great Joni Mitchell, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?”

It’s a lyric that will sum up the collective Welsh mood when we say goodbye to Warren Gatland, who leads Wales on home soil for the last time today.

There is another man those words will apply to as he also sees out his final game at the Principali­ty Stadium in the role he has enriched for the past 11 years.

Dennis Gethin became WRU president at the same time as Gatland took up the Welsh coaching reins.

And in that shared span he has made an impact on the rugby life of Wales every bit as valuable as Gatland’s – though not always as visible.

There is an assumption from the sidelines that being WRU president is a great gig – an ambassador­ial position that allows its occupant the best seat in the house in every stadium and a gilded path through rugby’s most glamorous events.

Present a few trophies, knock out a few speeches, then sit back and enjoy the party.

In Dennis’ case nothing could be further from the truth.

He would be the first to tell you how privileged he has felt to be president, but with his trademark humility he would be the last to tell you that the reality is more gritty grassroots than global glitz. In the way he has chosen to shape the role he has concentrat­ed far more on the former than the latter.

I know this because I am proud to count Dennis as a great friend and I’ve seen how hard he has worked behind the scenes of the game. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this would be to take a page from his diary during last year’s Six Nations:

■ Friday: Host dinner for visiting committee;

■ Saturday: Host internatio­nal

match, host pre- and post-match receptions in stadium, meet team in dressing-room post-match;

■ Sunday: Attend women’s game;

■ Monday: Stadium meeting;

■ Tuesday: Club meeting (in this case Merthyr RFC);

■ Wednesday: WRU Board meeting;

■ Thursday: Meeting at Senedd with First Minister;

■ Friday: Charitable Trust meeting morning. Rugby dinner Carmarthen evening; and

■ Saturday: Club dinner (Felinfoel). “This is pretty much the pattern thoughout the year,” explains his wife, Janet.

“Many people associate Dennis with the big occasions, pictured sitting next to Prince William in the President’s Box, but that’s a fraction of his role.

“He has always supported grassroots rugby. He goes to a game most weekends somewhere in Wales.

“The only time he turns down an invitation is if he’s already accepted one somewhere else. When the playing season ends, the presentati­on evenings begin and he attends as many of those as he can; sometimes two on the same weekend from May right through to September.

“Trying to get Dennis away for a holiday during that period is impossible. But he knows the work the volunteers undertake and believes that it’s the WRU president’s job to show them how much their input is valued. That’s his priority.”

It goes back to where he came from and where his heart lies.

Roots are important to Dennis and they inform everything he does. And he has made no secret of his pride in his home village, Seven Sisters.

Indeed, his ability to shoehorn a reference to Seven Sisters into the most unlikely context while addressing the great and the good of world rugby is legendary.

Roy Noble reflects on Dennis’ oratory skills and home-town obsession with a chuckle: “I have always smiled at his way with speeches – his dour, deadpan, solemn delivery that makes you uncertain as to how deep exactly is the seam of truth,” he says.

“He has taken his homeland and hinterland to the world,” Roy adds.

“To Dennis, Wales is the centre of the universe – the exporter of all that is fine in world influence, in sport, in politics, in life – with Shangri-la being Seven Sisters.

“I have often tried to undermine him by saying that the coalmine named by the owner David Evans Seven Sisters, after his family of women and which later gave its name to the developing village, was so nearly named Isabelle, after the eldest daughter.

“How comfortabl­e Dennis would have been playing for Isabelle RFC I don’t know!”

Given his devotion to his community, he probably wouldn’t have

minded.

In rugby terms, Dennis was raised by his village. While he would go on to be a Cambridge Blue and enjoy five years at full back for Cardiff RFC alongside the likes of Gareth Edwards and Barry John, it all began on the home front.

“He clearly remembers his training regime during holidays from college supervised by the late Morris Davies, who lived in the same street, Blaendulai­s Avenue,” says Janet.

“Some people run up sand dunes or grassy hillsides. Dennis ran up coal tips. Kicking practice was gruelling. Morris would insist he used both feet. To ‘encourage’ him he’d take away one boot, leaving just the sock. You didn’t try to kick a leather ball with just a sock for protection.

“He was a fast learner and became equally comfortabl­e kicking with either foot on the field.

“Family has also been a major influence. All of them would turn up to watch him play a home game, along with most of Seven Sisters.

“When they heard he’d won a place at Cambridge his oldest brother, Meredith, a coal miner like their father, presented him with a new pair of boots. They cost the equivalent of two weeks’ wages. We still have the box.”

Brian Thomas, Neath’s fearsome and fearless internatio­nal and Cambridge lock, showed his softer side then, too, as Dennis recalls: “Having left college the year I was going up Brian arrived at the house with a gown, books and other items that Cambridge had listed as essentials and which he knew my mother, then a miner’s widow, could never afford to buy for me. You don’t forget things like that. Community spirit is still strong in Wales and it’s fuelled by community rugby. We have a duty to honour and preserve that.”

Dennis’ commitment to the grass roots is matched by his care and concern for those who have suffered lifechangi­ng injuries playing rugby.

The WRU president automatica­lly becomes a trustee of The Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust and it’s a major part of the role.

The Trust provides support for severely injured players from all levels of the game. In 2009 Dennis was elected Trust chairman.

It’s probably the element that gives him the greatest satisfacti­on overall. As a fellow trustee, I’ve seen what it means to him.

“It is such a privilege to work with the injured players and their families,” he says.

“Many have become friends and it will be a wrench to leave but I know we’ll keep in touch.

“Their courage, their determinat­ion and their total lack of self-pity, given the devastatin­g impact of their injuries, never fails to uplift and inspire. The trustees too have become friends.

“They are a small group, a close group and we have a tight bond. Trust and respect for each other go hand in hand with our commitment to our injured players. I am so proud to have been part of that.

“I’m also proud of our internatio­nal squad, who regularly donate a substantia­l sum to the Trust.

“Last season, for example, Ken Owens handed me an envelope literally stuffed with notes just ahead of my post-match speech in the President’s Lounge. The boys had held a whipround in their dressing-room.

“It’s moments like that I will treasure. Prince William too has been a marvellous support as Trust patron.

“He alone has raised more than £500,000 and whenever he visits the stadium he makes a point of speaking to every single one of our injured players and their families. They adore him.”

The injured players and their families love Dennis too. And he is held in affection and respect by all who know him in Welsh rugby life.

“Dennis has been an outstandin­g president,” says Gareth Williams, vice-chairman of the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust.

“He has been a magnificen­t ambassador for the WRU, whom he has served with distinctio­n both here and abroad. Those at rugby clubs throughout Wales who have heard him speak – invariably with disarming humour – will know that their president is a man of great modesty and humility.

“And he has been a hugely successful chair of the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust. Like other distinguis­hed trustees – Sir Tasker Watkins and Edward Jones in recent memory – he has maintained a strong link between the WRU and the Trust. I know that he considers it a privilege to have supported the many seriously injured players who are part of the Trust, and they in turn are well aware that his contributi­on over so many years has helped to make this a very special charity.”

In Phil Steele’s words: “Dennis has the priceless ability to relate to all rugby people of all ilks – be they royalty, top administra­tors of the game, world stars or humble members of grassroots clubs.

“He infuses it all with his trademark gentle leg-pulling humour – for instance, who else could get away with reminding the great and good of Irish rugby at the traditiona­l prematch president’s lunch that St Patrick was in fact born in Banwen! Quite simply, Dennis loves the game of rugby and he loves those who love the game of rugby. He epitomises everything that is good about Welsh rugby and of Wales itself.”

Roy Noble, meanwhile, cherishes a long-standing connection: “I have known Dennis for many, many, years and each meeting, over many rugby dinners and public occasions, our friendship deepened.

“He is a convivial, friendly, approachab­le and humble soul, feet on the ground, no side and with a warmth you’d expect from his Valleys upbringing.

“More than anything, Elaine and I have so valued his friendship. He’s been a guide, motivator and true soulmate. And if anything illustrate­s his devotion to the rank and file of rugby it is his unstinting attendance at the twice-yearly Sports Lunch at the Rose and Crown mini pub – a pies’n’pasties affair in the back streets of Merthyr Tydfil!”

I too am hugely grateful for Dennis’ friendship and the support and kindness he has shown to my parents and me over the years.

We have bonded over rugby, a shared love of cats and his relentless teasing that I went to the Wrong University – as only a Light Blue can.

As WRU president, Dennis leaves big shoes to fill. And as he fulfils his final duty at the Rugby World Cup, proudly representi­ng the Land of Our Fathers in the Land of the Rising Sun, I look forward to hearing all about the hidden but fascinatin­g connection between Seven Sisters and Japan…

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 ??  ?? > Dennis, right, with Sir Tasker Watkins and Glanmor Griffiths in 2002
> Dennis, right, with Sir Tasker Watkins and Glanmor Griffiths in 2002
 ?? Gareth Everett/Huw Evans Agency ?? > WRU President Dennis Gethin addresses the WRU AGM at the Princess Royal Theatre, Port Talbot, in 2011
Gareth Everett/Huw Evans Agency > WRU President Dennis Gethin addresses the WRU AGM at the Princess Royal Theatre, Port Talbot, in 2011

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