WHAT BECAME OF THE PLAYER AT THE HEART OF THE GRANNYGATE SCANDAL?
BRETT Sinkinson never did enjoy press conferences or the spotlight. So, when his spell in Wales ended with a top-table appearance, after Neath had beaten Caerphilly in the 2004 Welsh Cup final, he spent the entire 15 minutes looking as if he’d rather be experiencing root canal surgery at the hands of a hard-drinking dentist with the shakes.
The limelight was something the man from North Island in New Zealand preferred to leave to others.
It is fate’s way of doing things, though, that for a few weeks a couple of decades ago, the unassuming openside found journalists from Reykjavik to Rotorua pursuing him for quotes.
Grannygate was the story. Sinkinson and Shane Howarth were central figures. Scandal was in the air.
It transpired the pair of Wales internationals did not have the qualifications to pull on the red jersey. There ensued an enormous row which ended with an independent panel branding the Welsh Rugby Union as ‘negligent’ over their failure to check the credentials of the two players.
The 20th anniversary of the day the episode flared into public consciousness quietly passed last month. It is unlikely anyone in Welsh rugby toasted the occasion.
That said, Sinkinson continues to be remembered fondly at his old club Neath.
“He was an excellent rugby player and an all-round nice guy,” says the club historian Mike Price.
“Brett wasn’t the type to knowingly deceive anyone.
“We just knew at the time that he had come over from New Zealand. The next thing we knew he was playing for Wales.
“What you have to remember is that the eligibility rules were – and we’re talking major understatement here – looser in those days. I can think of a couple of examples of players appearing for countries for whom they were, shall we say, questionably qualified.
“I guess it was up to the authorities to check the paperwork.
“For whatever reason in Brett and Shane’s case, it seems that didn’t happen.”
Howarth had mistakenly believed he had a Welsh grandfather, while Sinkinson was on the same beat. Each had been part of Graham Henry’s 10-game winning run in 1999 that checked years of failure for the Welsh national team.
Each had played for Wales at a World Cup; each had featured in the historic victory over South Africa in Cardiff.
But each had lacked the documentation to pull on the red jersey in the first place.
When the Western Mail caught up with Howarth last year, he was still maintaining he was Welsh, whether the birth records of his ancestry agreed with that contention or not. There was an element of doubt in his case and some sympathy for him, but the papers upholding his claim couldn’t be found and he was never to play for Wales again.
Sinkinson hadn’t seemed certain at any point about whether his grandfather came from Cardiff or Caernarfon. It turned out he’d come from Oldham in Lancashire – hey, not a million miles from Wales, but not in Wales, as the pesky rules demanded.
It is true that Sinkinson did not seem the type to knowingly hoodwink anyone.
He had been backpacking in Europe and made it down to Neath to play rugby, presumably without any grand plan to dupe the game’s authorities.
“I never set out to deceive anyone,” he said after the story broke. “It is still a bit unclear.
“My grandfather was not registered for a month or so after his birth, which maybe caused confusion.
“But a birth certificate has been produced which says he was born in Oldham.”
There wasn’t much more to say on the matter.
But, as Neath historian Price notes, the episode was of its time.
If the WRU received a severe reprimand, Scotland were left to share the costs of the disciplinary hearing after their 41-cap prop Dave Hilton, was also found to be ineligible.
Some were prepared to move on quickly, though before he did so, the former Wales hooker Bobby Windsor said: “I have never agreed with having people in the team whose only connection with Wales is having a Welsh dresser in the house.”
Sinkinson went back to The Gnoll and served out the balance of his residency period before returning to feature for Wales – within the rules.
How good a player was he? “One of the very best,” says Price.
“In some games he’d pull off seven or eight turnovers in a single half.
“He had brilliant technique over the ball and a sixth sense on the field, knowing where to be before anyone else.
“If you were looking at the best Neath No.7s over the years, he’d be right up there.”
Price continued: “He never complained about injuries.
“While others might have been regulars in the physio’s room, Brett was the opposite. You’d almost have to drag him in there if he picked up a knock. He just liked to keep playing.
“Steve Tandy learned a lot from him on the pitch at the time, and so did Duncan Jones. Brett was a big influence on the youngsters and very popular within the squad.”
The oldsters noted him as well, with Rowland Phillips once putting together a pen pic of Sinkinson which summed up the New Zealander’s skill at the breakdown.
“The quiet man of the team,” Phillips wrote. “When I returned to Neath, I’d learned a lot about Brett. So in training I ran the ball at him while thinking: ‘This isn’t too bad’.
“Within a second I was in a knotted heap on the floor and he was making off with the ball.
“Very strong with an unbelievable technique at pinching opposition ball.”
When Wales finally defeated South Africa for the first time, at the 13th time of asking, no-one played better than Sinkinson.
His courage in defence was something that impressed even the Springboks
Sinkinson eventually returned to New Zealand to settle with his Welsh wife, with the couple having two youngsters.
For a while, Brett continued to play rugby at president’s grade level for Mount Maunganui.
Work saw him become a landscape gardener in the stunning coastal city of Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty.
His name will always be synonymous with Grannygate.
But he could also play a bit could Brett Sinkinson.
“What happened was sad because Brett gave so much in his time here,” says Price.
“He had a great attitude and gave everything in every game.”
Maybe the affair was always about more than just on-pitch individuals, with administrative failures to the fore as well.
The sport had long been lax in policing eligibility.
Indeed, the history books tell us that Wales once turned up two players short to face Scotland and roped in an Edinburgh University student, John Griffin, who had no Welsh qualifications whatsoever.
Griffith was English and pulled on the Wales jersey back in 1883 as the “least Scottish” person available.
By those standards, well, anything’s an upgrade.
Even though we all know what happened two decades ago was far from Welsh rugby’s finest hour.