In words and pictures, the pain and glory of life on tour

Brendan Gallagher looks through his library to assess coverage of the Lions over the decades

Part of the Lions tradition, for many decades anyway, was has been the ubiquitous Lions tour book. Tour DVDs and then wall-to-wall live TV coverage have virtually killed off the genre in the last 30 years or so but before that it was, along with daily Press reports, how the Lions story got told.

Whisper it quietly but before World War II the Lions were not that big a deal in Britain although they were always high-profile in New Zealand and South Africa. As recently as 1950 – one of the very best Lions squads brimful of rugby legends and big characters – just one British journalist accompanied the tour. That was Dai Gent of the Sunday

Times and he didn’t feel moved to write a book on one of the great Lions trips although, happily, Alan Evans wrote a wonderful retrospective tribute book – Lions Down Under 1950 – fully 56 years later.

It was JBG Thomas and Viv Jenkins who started the craze in 1955 in South Africa. JBG covered eight Lions tours between 1955-1977 for the South Wales

Echo and Western Mail, which was an enormous undertaking financially for a regional newspaper group.

One of the things that could help defray the costs was a Tour book – he penned one for every tour — which could hit the streets as soon as was humanly possible afterwards – and even quicker in the event of a triumphant Lions or outstanding contributions from the Welsh contingent.

None of his books, written on the hoof, could claim to be great works of literature and indeed many contain the kind of run-of-play copy you would expect to see in the newspaper the following day. But if you want to know what happened they are your first port of call and good newsman that he was he didn’t hesitate to let the Kiwis or Boks have both barrels if he felt their tactics and rough play overstepped the mark. Gossip and banter, though, were in short supply.

JBG’s boon companion for all of the tours up to 1977 was Viv Jenkins who covered them for the Sunday

Times and wrote two entertaining and occasionally quirky Tour accounts – The Lions Rampant in 1955 and Lions Down Under in 1959 – before, alas, he called a halt to such endeavours. Jenkins was a considerable tourist and bon viveur and writing books is bloody hard work. In addition, from 1960 onwards he was the founding editor of

Rugby World. Something had to give. Joining the party from the late Sixties onwards was John Reason who in quick succession pumped out highly readable versions of the 1968, 1971, 1974 and 1977 trips to Southern climes as well as fulfilling his demanding duties for the Telegraph group. His newspaper work, as is the way, was his first take on an unfolding story while his books dug significantly deeper with stacks of ‘inside track’, not surprisingly as he usually had the ear of various managers, coaches and key players.

Reason was a genuine all-rounder who formed a publishing house – Rugby Books – for his various publications while he also fancied himself as a photographer as well, with some justification. The memorable front cover of Barry John on the front cover of

The Victorious Lions (1971) was his own work as was the unforgettable image of a battered Sandy Carmichael after the Canterbury match when the home side went headhunting. The latter represented a considerable scoop.

Immediately after the match Lions coach Carwyn James, a family friend, insisted that Reason be allowed access to the Lions changing room, which James described as resembling a “casualty clearing station”. Reason was shocked but memorably described Carmichael’s injuries thus:

“His left eye was closed and a huge blue swelling of agonised flesh hung out from the cheekbone like a grotesque plum. His right eye was slit between the puffed skin above and below it. His right eyelid was gashed and straggling with blood. Another gash snagged away from the corner of his eye. He was quivering with emotion and frustration. His hands shook as they tried to hold the ice packed on the swellings.”

Reason was offered the astronomical sum – in those days – of £500 by a British tabloid for the picture but it was for the Telegraph’s eyes only. And his book, of course.

There were other authors and books to enjoy. A particular favourite of mine was John Hopkins’ British Lions 1980, sometimes subtitled Tour de

Force. Having warmed up three years earlier in New Zealand with

Life With The Lions Hopkins was in top form chronicling the reality of a Lions tour and also delves into the troubled country the Lions are actually visiting. It was