Ray Gravell Welsh Greats

On the rugby field, Ray Gravell was both fearless and feared. Everyone

was frightened of him. But Grav was more than a sporting hero. Off the

field, he enjoyed an acting and broadcasting career that made him

one of the best-loved figures in Wales. Above all his achievements,

it was Ray Gravell's generosity of spirit that made him a true Welsh

Great. Raymond William Gravell came into the world in 1951. He was born

in Kidwelly, nine miles from Llanelli, and grew up in the nearby

village of Mynydd y Garreg. Ray's father, Jack, was a collier who'd

once played rugby for Pontyberem. He introduced me to rugby football.

I was a little boy. He was with his friends, the coalminers. They were

watching their heroes, and their heroes became my heroes. I fell in

love with the football club. Jack was a keen outdoorsman. He and Ray

would spend hours roaming the hillside above Mynydd y Garreg.

went hunting together. He was a good shot, it fair play to him. You

could see the bond between the two boys. In 1965, Ray started at

Carmarthen Grammar School. He was already showing early promise on

the rugby field. There was a reputation of this outstanding

scrum-half. We were all looking forward to it. He turned up, but he

was a scrawny little kid, with bones jutting out everywhere -

elbows and knees and everything. He was rugged, fast, and known as one

of the boys from the mountain. He was definitely mountain material!

Ray was soon playing alongside his close friend Roy at school,

district and county level. wanted reassurance. Every Monday

morning, after we played on a Saturday, he used to come up to me.

"I played all right on Saturday, didn't I"? "was a Tokay? I did OK,

didn't like"? It stayed with him for the rest of his life. Ray's

time at school was overshadowed by trouble at home. His father Jack

had suffered an industrial accident which left him in chronic and

excruciating pain. When he was 14, Ray returned home from a rugby

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 73 seconds

match one day to discover that Jack Ray's father had shot himself.

was sad when he lost his father. He grew up quickly, well, he had to.

Rae became a breadwinner overnight. He had to leave school earlier, and

couldn't carry on his studies. 1969, Ray left school to take a job

with the Electricity Board. At the same time, he started playing for

Llanelli Rugby Club's youth team. He was growing up in many ways. It

was Prince Charles's Investiture year, and Ray was one of many young

Welsh people who experienced a political awakening, spurred on by

protest songs such as Dafydd Iwan's But rugby was Ray's real focus, and

a year later he was given the chance to fulfil a childhood dream

and take to the field as a member of Llanelli Rugby Club's First Team.

The Scarlets' manager was Welsh rugby visionary, Carwyn James.

you see that the drive is on, then you can pouts. He was passed at --

passionate for Wales and the Welsh language, so they had a bond.

was everything to him. He used to call him a good would Raymond ". He

was a huge influence on him. He knew how to handle him and get the

best out of him, to control that aggression. That is why he became a

great player. Ray's aggression could barely be contained in the

tense pre-match atmosphere of the dressing room. It meant so much to

him. I saw him in the dressing room, crying before games, emotional

before games, being sick. He belted out songs. He would go to the

toilet and be singing in the toilet, and all of a sudden, he would be

screaming out loud and banging the door. It was a release for him. He

was so nervous before the game, before he went on that field.

played as a centre - a midfield position that demands a combination

He had everything but a centre would want. He was big, fast,

strong. Nobody could handle him. He brought in all the defenders, and

then we were away. Ray looked confident on the field, but inside

he was plagued by insecurities, which team physiotherapist Bert

Peel did his best to treat. I used to give him a junior aspirin or ace

mate, and I would tell them at that would do him good. After the game,

he played well. He told me they were marvellous."can I have another

one next week? "The biggest challenge of Ray's early career at

Stradey Park came on the 31st of October 1972. The New Zealand

national rugby team were on a tour of Britain. Having thrashed

England's Western Counties, the All Blacks descended on Llanelli to

take on the Scarlets. For Ray, the match evoked memories of a game

he'd witnessed a decade earlier. remember going to watch the game.

It was in 1963, and I was with my father. And now, I was playing

against the mighty All Blacks, the mightiest rugby nation and the

whole world. I was so nervous, I was crying. He was a young boy,

about 20 years of age. I could see was getting emotional. My hero

became my friend. The captain said in Welsh,"everything will be all

The feeling it was one of disbelief. It was euphoric to be point of

bursting, and panic. The panic being I could see no way off the

field. By the time he was 23, Ray's performances for the Scarlets had

brought him to the attention of Welsh rugby selectors. They invited

him to try out for a place on the national team. Driving home after

his trial match, Ray heard on the radio that he'd been picked to play

for Wales. He almost crashed his car. Ray would represent Wales for

the first time in Paris, in the opening game of the 1975 Five

We used to go out of France on Friday, train on Thursday, went to

the cinema, came back, relaxed, and went to bed. At 4am, a massive

kerfuffle in the room. That room was packed with bags everywhere,

and he had his big overcoat on. He was worried he would be going home.

His career would have been over, before it had started. But luckily

for him and the rest of us, I said,"get back in bed". And he did.

And the rest is history. Before the match, the atmosphere in the Parc

des Princes was riotous. But for His strength was his passion. He

took that on to the field with him. He was going into battle. He was

fighting, he was taking the pride of Wales, the pride of his village.

That day, Ray helped Wales beat France by 25 points to 10. It was

outstanding. We did a lot of tackling it in that game, and

defended for long periods. Of course, his career blossomed and

blossomed. Ray would play for Wales 23 times over the next seven years.

This was a golden age for Welsh rugby, and Ray was a key part of a

legendary national team. His talent for highly physical play made him a

real asset. He was a big man: Phyllis, resilient, not afraid. But

he turned up to me and would say, how are my doing? Am I doing OK? He

said, I have got a little bit of a cough up. I will have a few later

In 1980 he was invited to tour South Africa as a member of British

Lions. I remember him saying he was actually shy, both with men and

with women. He had heard that I was shy as well. And he thought that

the two of us should stick together. So I have to say I tint see one

single semblance of evident of any shyness in Ray Gravell in the next

three months in South Africa. Ray pulled on the red jersey, it

was a member of the Lions. Gravell dancing off them. Gravell trying to

thunder his way through the middle. But Grav played his part not just

on the field, but off it. You know on bus trips when you're spending

an hour or two in the bus, he would start the singing and would play a

tape. Dafydd was it. He took my cassette and everyone had to listen

to Dafydd Iwan songs until they were bored stiff. Some of them

probably hate me to this day. Carlton held... By the mid 80s, Ray

had been playing at the top level for 15 years. He knew the end of

his career was in sight. But he found a new vocation as a rugby

commentator. I had broken my arm and the head of sport at the BBC

said, Ray the BBC are offering you a two-year contract. Take your time

about making a decision, but phone me back in 10 minutes. I said, I

thought long and hard about this. There is only one thing I need 15

games to play 5 hundred games for Llanelli. He said you must realise

that Llanelli will not pay your mortgage. His first job was for S

4C for the England/Wales international. We were in about

half an hour from the start of the game, Ray still wasn't there. They

had lost all patience and he was going to sack him before he started.

After pressing the buttons, then up popped Ray Gravell on Grandstand

for the afternoon. His old friend, Billy mow month from the --

Beaumont was there. Ray had gone up, knocked the window. Bill asked him

in and then Ray was sitting next to Bill and talking about the

forthcoming game. When he got to commentary point, he wiped the

floor with him, and said Grav, you'll never work for us. Because

of the indiscipline. He said, I just announced to the world that we

Ray's enthusiasm made him a natural live broadcaster, alongside his

commentating, he developed a career as a radio presenter. I dreamed I

was in a pub and Robert de Niro was at the bar and he knew everyone in

the pub, not many people there, small pub. But he ignored me.

was one part of his career that came as a surprise to me. -- many

in 1975 he was invited to play himself in an episode of the soap

opera, Pobol y Cwm. Ray had caught the acting bug. In the 80s he

appeared in several dramas on Welsh television. He always had this

leaning to be an actor. Yes up a all sportsmen to a degree are

performers and they will come under In 1919 Ray was cast in a network

drama, Filipina Dreamgirls, as a bachelor looking for love in the

far east. Eleanor! Boys I have got him for you. Then he appeared

opposite a legend of the screen in Rebecca Daughters. Peter O'Toole

turned up and said, are you not... You not Ray Gravell are you? And

Grav said, well yes, actually I am. And this Lawrence Olivier stood up,

pushed him out of way and picked up Grav and wait until I go back to

London and say I'm making a film with the legend of Ray Gravell.

This was a happy period for Ray. Both professionally and personally.

On second August 1919 he married his girlfriend, Mari Roberts. His

wedding present to her was a ten year membership of Llanelli rug

pwhi -- rugby club. Then at the age of 4 Ray became a father. He

described the pirts of his daughters as the greatest expeens

of his life. He said, when I was playing for Wales, that was a game.

This is life. One of his proudest public moments came two years later

when the Gorsedd of the Eisteddfod invited him to take the key role of

ceremonial sword bearer. He was a romantic and he loved seeing

himself as that role. I think the same is true of his relationship

with the Gorsedd. Not only did he take to this office of sword bearer,

I think he would have loved if possible to be Archdruid. He used

to ask his rugby mates, how did I do? We had that as well. Mind you I

can't remember him having thrown up once. I don't think he honked once!

Ray loved the ceremony and symbolism of the Eisteddfod and had

a passion for Welsh history. He was more than happy to pull on costume

of Owain Glyndwr as he did for a medieval re-enactment. Owain

Glyndwr, my hero, the hero of many a Welsh person and myself in

particular. I feel, I'm from that era, from that time. Although I

don't think I would survive now. If I were I would certainly have been

one of Owain Glyndwr's men. I would have been with him and to the death

I think. For Trai battleground had always been the rugby field. And in

2005, he was reporting at the Millennium Stadium when Wales won

their first Grand Slam in 27 years. Enjoy the moment and thanks for

adding to rich history of Welsh rugby. Thank you very much. Thanks

Ray. But rair was now facing problems with his faelt. -- Ray. --

Ray was now facing problems with his health. Hfs diagnosed with die

beet yes and admitted to Glangwili hospital. I went to see him several

times in hospital and he... Had lost one toe and then two and then

three. Through his diabetes. infection became life-threatening.

When the surgeon saw the state of the foot, he said, right, you have

to go to theatre now. I reacted by saying, well I have got to go home

first. He said no, you have to go now. May I may have to take your

leg off. That was a sobering statement and I felt frightened.

Naturally. Anyone would. To save his life, Ray had to lose his leg.

Despite his natural good humour, the weeks following the operation

were a difficult time for him. future seemed very dark. I'm glad

to say things have brightened up since then. As part of his recovery

programme, Ray visited Morriston Hospital to have a cast made for a

new pros pettic -- prosthetic leg. You can can have a cover on. Or

leave it bear. It may sound silly. I'd love to have the Scarlets

emblem if possible. On the finished product. We have done the ospreys

one and various football sides. have done an Ospreys one? That is

it. I will pay you to do a Scarlets one. Ray got the chance to show he

was back on his feet as a guest on Max Boyce's show. APPLAUSE. Well

myself being the president of the Scarlets, I'm a proud... Scarlet

man myself! On the show Ray caught up with an old friend. It was in

Ray's show and we do a handover and one day, well he said, do it now,

we're going to hand over now, oh crikey to the lovely,... Oh he is a

lovely man. Rob Brydon. Rob are you there? I said hi Ray and I made the

mistake of asking this man. I thought it was a turn of phrase.

Said how's it hanging? And of course he told me. I said,...

was in west Wales. I said how's iting is a total different meaning.

I said, Rob, mine is to the left. few months after his operation,

Ray's friends organised a tribute dinner in his honour at the Stradey

Park Hotel. It was a triumphant night. He seemed to have overcome

the worst. He had come through legal and there he was. On his --

come through hell and there he was. On his new leg with his family. He

kept saying, I don't deserve this. It's too much. It was a fantastic

night. A few months later, rair took a holiday in Spain with his

family. -- Ray. On 31st October 2007, Ray suffered a heart attack.

Wales has lost one of its favourite sons. Welsh rugby has lost a legend.

And on Wednesday, 5 years to the day that clan thsly beat the All

Blacks, the -- 35 years to day that Llanelli beat the all blacks, Ray

Gravell passed away. His funeral procession set off from his home in

Mynydd-y-Garreg. Ray wanted his fuenial service held on the field

where he started his rugby career. The event was broadcast live on

three television channels. Ten thousand mourners streamed into

Stradey Park to pay their last respects to Ray Gravell. Ray's