Just listen, Leighton had ability to be rugby star

Upon his death last month at the age of 71, Leighton James bequeathed a treasure trove of blazing memories from his double guise as inspired player and enraged pundit.

There was James on the wing where he famously led England on a 4-1 dance of destruction during a scorching afternoon at Wrexham and then there was James on the radio, ever-ready to come in off his long run with a rant which ought to have became his catchphrase: ‘Oi, you. Just shut up and listen…’

There was James the cricketer, good enough to open the batting for Lowerhouse in the Lancashire League whenever his Burnley FC employers approved, and James the budding athlete at Gowerton Grammar School. Last, and in this particular case most definitely least, there was James the fly half.

Had he not been so besotted by football, might he have been part of the firmament gathering in the skies above the Welsh rugby belt before the dawn of the Second Golden Era in 1970? Could he conceivably have gone all the way like one of his Gowerton contemporaries, Clive Griffiths.

“Leighton James the rugby player was special,’’ says Griffiths. “He had everything, the lot. My earliest memories of him as a goalkicker were of how he could curve the ball in over the crossbar.

“He also had that ego which you need to survive at the top level in any sport. We all knew him at school as this wonder kid. Some of the boys called him ‘Big Head’ because he was always so cocky, so supremely confident. Gavin Henson came along later and he was exactly the same.

“Leighton would say:

‘I can do this, I can do that’; and then he’d go out onto the field and be as good as his word. He was one of those guys who come along every so often with the all-round ability to be good at any sport.

“Once you saw how good he was you realised that the socalled big headedness stemmed from his cocksure confidence in his ability. He didn’t play for the school on Saturdays because it clashed with his football but he’d play in all the midweek inter-house matches.

“We could not possibly have treated them more seriously had those matches been called The State of Origin. It really was dog eat dog. On one occasion, Leighton was telling another boy where he’d gone wrong, saying: ‘That’s the way to do it.’

“The kid took exception and smacked Leighton. He got back on his feet and said: ‘What did you do that for?’ Then he gave him a mouthful which was Leighton’s way of letting him know how much better he was as a rugby player.

“It’s difficult to say how far he would have gone had he made rugby his main sport. You look at what he achieved, how he became a legend of football and you’d have to say he would have gone a long way in rugby.

“My sport was rugby, his was football although he did like his rugby. And then one day he was gone, off to start his apprenticeship at Burnley. Some of the boys said he wouldn’t make it. Funny that, because ever since he stopped playing he’s been up there with all the greats, like Ivor Allchurch.’’ James, below, made his Burnley debut in the old First Division at 17, won his Wales cap at 18 and played 54 international matches over 12 years. Griffiths, Llanelli’s dashing full back, played once for Wales, replacing an injured JPR Williams against England in 1979 before signing for St Helens.

He and James played rugby for Llwchwr (Loughor) schoolboys in the mid-60s, as did Howell Williams, now treasurer of the Swansea City Supporters’ Trust. “Leighton possessed a stupendous hand-eye coordination,’’ says Williams. “We were a good side and there was this cheeky little ginger-haired chap in complete control.

“He would call all the right moves at the right time and he also had the gift of the gab. Even then Leighton was never backward at coming forward. He never did suffer fools gladly. Watching him on the wing for the Swans, the way he mesmerised defenders, was something I’ll never forget.’’

James had lived in Gorseinon since the end of his playing days. “Leighton was a great supporter of our rugby and cricket clubs,’’ says Ian Murphy, chair of Gorseinon RFC. “He was always very passionate about his rugby and he’d never be slow to give us the benefit of his guidance.

“I can’t be sure about this but it is said that he was once picked for Welsh schoolboy trials at rugby and soccer on the same day. Not surprising for one who had so much spatial awareness. He was also a very good tennis player.’’

For all his ability to find space where none appeared to the uneducated eye, not even James could quite master the trick of being in two places at the same time. On Friday morning, Gorseinon saw its most versatile footballing son off on his last journey.

Five team-mates from the Swans’ glory days of the early 80s – Alan Curtis, David Giles, Wyndham Evans, Nigel Stevenson and Leighton Phillips – bore the coffin into St Catherine’s Church, within shouting distance of the rugby-cricket ground.

Among the stories told was of the day when Sue James, in her role as sandwich-maker for the cricket Xl, sent her husband to the nearest supermarket for some tuna. He duly returned with a tin unaware, until his wife told him, that it contained cat food, a blunder which did not go down well.

A sharp exchange is said to have ensued although nobody could remember whether James used it as a rehearsal for his put-down of Robbie Savage: ‘Oi, you. Shut up and listen.’

“Leighton James the rugby player was special. He had everything, the lot”