“On the anniversary of his death I felt moved to write a piece about Grav. Here is my humble tribute. May you continue to rest in peace Ray.”

RAYMOND WILLIAM ROBERT GRAVELL 

(12 September 1951 – 31 October 2007)

WALES CAP NUMBER 763

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS CAP NUMBER 553

“The centre must be everything — the shield, the sword, and the storyteller.” 

To be a centre in Welsh rugby is to carry a tradition of partnership, pride, and poise under pressure. It is to step into a jersey once worn by legends and be expected to play with the same courage and commitment. Whether it’s holding the defensive line, launching a counterattack from deep, or cutting inside to crash over the whitewash, the centre has always been more than just a cog in the machine. In Wales, the centre is the soul of the backline.

Calpe is a charming old town in south east Spain. Its landscape and sandy beaches make it an ideal holiday destination. The peaceful and relaxed demeanour emanating is a complete contrast to the nearby lively resorts of Alicante and Benidorm.

The magnificent Rock Penon de lfach hovers above Calpe. That limestone mountain is 330 metres high and connected to the ground by a neck of land. It is one of the most beautiful geographical features on the Mediterranean coast.

It was in this delightful place that Ray Gravell passed away at the age of 56 whilst on holiday with his family on 31 October 2007 just over two thousand miles away from his beloved Wales and his home on top of another mountain Mynydd y Garreg (mountain of stone).

This is a place I know all too well. As child I was brought up in the town of Kidwelly just down the road.

For Raymond William Gravell his mountain home was his castle, the fact that there was already an imposing Norman castle in Kidwelly was a total irrelevance. 

His heart, the one that gave out on that fateful day in Spain, belonged to Wales, but Ray gave a piece of if to every one he met. It was a heart that was full, a heart that was generous, maybe he had given away so much of it to others that it couldn’t carry on.

The date of his death, 31 October, could not have been more poignant, it was on that exact date in 1972 that Grav wore the number 13 shirt for Llanelli in the club’s greatest ever victory a 9-3 win over the New Zealand All Blacks. It really does make you wonder whether there is some vast eternal symmetrical plan to our earthly life.

Ray crammed so much in to his fifty-six years on this earth, he lived many different lives and didn’t waste a single minute.

Born on 12 September 1951 in Kidwelly he was no stranger to tragedy. His father took his own life after the pain of a mining accident became too much to bear both physically and mentally. Ray was one of a group to find his fathers body aged only fourteen the horror of that experience must have been hugely traumatic and something Ray had to carry with him on those broad shoulders for the rest of his life.

Despite winning 23 caps for Wales and playing in all four Tests on the Lions’ 1980 tour of South Africa, Gravell never saw himself as one of the greats. 

For a man of giant stature and power on the field of play he was saddled with a deep-seated insecurity. 

Friends and former team-mates recall that he was always looking for reassurance both on and off the field as well as personally and professionally.

One of the greatest rugby coaches the world has ever seen, Carwyn James, was in charge at Llanelli when Gravell started his senior career with the Scarlets in 1969 making his senior debut in 1970 against Lampeter.

Grav stated categorically that Carwyn made him believe that he was better than he was. “Carwyn knew, better than most, that psychology plays a big part in sport, I do not think I was that good a player, but Carwyn made me think I was a world-beater. I was 21 when Llanelli beat New Zealand in 1972, the youngest player in the side. I was terrified before the game, but listening to Delme Thomas and Carwyn speaking before we went on to the field made me forget my nerves. Even all this time later, I can remember exactly what they said, the goose pimples their words provoked and how tall they made me feel.”

Gravell was one of the first of a new breed of centres taking the ball up the middle, enticing defenders and using his strength to cross the gain line whilst holding on to the ball to provide a target for the forwards. He became pigeon holed as a crash-ball centre, but he was much more than that, he was also a skilled provider as the wingers at both Llanelli and Wales would happily testify.

Five Nations Championship 1975 France v Wales Parc des Princes Paris

The many stories surrounding Grav’s Wales debut have passed into legend, it used to be that children would sit on their Grampa’s knee and be regaled with tales of Gelert, but that all changed in 1975 and those fireside stories of myths and legends became centred on Raymond Gravell.

For the uninitiated one of the best known, and loved, folk-tales in Wales is the story of a faithful hound.

The story goes that in the thirteenth century Prince Llewelyn the Great had a palace at Beddgelert in Caernarvonshire, and as the Prince was a keen hunter, he spent much of his time in the surrounding countryside. He had many hunting dogs, but one day when he summoned them his favourite dog Gelert didn’t appear, so Llywelyn had to go hunting without him.

When Llywelyn returned from the hunt, he was greeted by Gelert who came bounding towards him …his jaws dripping with blood.

The Prince was appalled, and a horrible thought came into his mind …was the blood on the dog’s muzzle that of his one-year old son. His worst fears were realised when he saw in the child’s nursery, an upturned cradle, and walls spattered with blood! He searched for the child but there was no sign of him. Llywelyn was convinced that his favourite hound had killed his son. Enraged with grief he took his sword and plunged it into Gelert’s heart.

As the dog howled, Llywelyn heard a child’s cry coming from underneath the upturned cradle. It was his son, unharmed! Beside the child was an enormous wolf, dead, killed by the brave Gelert.

Llywelyn was struck with remorse and carried the body of his faithful dog outside the castle walls, and buried him where everyone could see the grave of this brave animal, and hear the story of his valiant fight with the wolf.

In Wales there is often a very thin veil between myth and reality and to confirm that premise a short walk from the village of Beddgelert following the footpath of the Glaslyn river there is a stone monument to mark the resting place of Gelert the faithful hound. History lesson over let’s get back to Grav.

He was selected to make his international debut with x other new caps at Parc des Princes not the sort of place considered a wise choice to be an inexperienced new cap but Wales well and truly debunked that theory with a magnificent 25-10 win.

One of six new caps Grav travelled to Cardiff on the Thursday before the match spending the night at the Angel Hotel. He was a bundle of nerves. JJ Williams, his team-mate with Llanelli, Wales, and the British Lions, said “Grav was so nervous before his debut in Paris and we shared a room that Thursday night.

“At about three o’clock in the morning, I heard a commotion in the room, only to wake up and Grav was packed to go home. “I can’t take the pressure JJ, I’m not cut out for international rugby, I’m going home’,” he said.

“If I hadn’t told him to jump back into bed his career would’ve been over before it started. He did get back into bed and of course the rest is history. But that was his strength. He was a bag of nerves but then when he stepped onto the field he just exploded.”

John Dawes, the Wales coach who selected Gravell spoke about the new man’s dreadful nervousness.

“We lost Grav, we didn’t know where he was and then all of a sudden we could hear a noise in the toilets and there was Grav singing Dafydd Iwan songs in one of the cubicles Derek Quinnell had to knock on the door and beg him to come out and when he eventually did he looked ten feet tall and ready to face the French”

One of the tales that has passed into legend from that 1975 debut concerned a telegram he received before kick off.

DEAR RAYMOND

ALL OUR LOVE

MAMI & TWDLS

Twdls by the way was the family cat.

The match itself turned out to be one of the greatest and most unexpected wins in Welsh rugby history, and Ray was convinced that somehow his Father was close and with him on that most special of days.

Wales to everyone’s surprise led 17-7 at half time scoring a try after just three minutes through new cap Steve Fenwick who seized upon a sliced Gareth Edward drop goal attempt to touch down near the posts.

The French fans booed their team constantly throughout the second half as the men in red rampaged to a memorable victory scoring five tries in the process with Terry Cobner, Gerald Davies, Gareth Edwards and Graham Price adding to Fenwick’s early effort. Wales failed to achieve another win in Paris for twenty four years.

Five Nations Championship. 18 February 1978. Wales v Scotland. National Stadium, Cardiff 

Ray’s only try for Wales in a major international came against Scotland in the wintry Welsh capital in early 1978. Snow had been cleared from the pitch and was piled up behind the posts but it was nothing to compare with what was to follow later that day. 

Wales were awarded a penalty following Scotland being pinged for being on the wrong side at a ruck inside the Scottish twenty-two on the fifteen metre line at the Westgate Street end of the ground.

Bill McLaren’s commentary thrilled television Welsh viewers on the BBC’s Grandstand programme.

“So the Welsh are going for a quick one-Edwards to Windsor to Edwards-Gravell of Llanelli- and Gravell is there-the whole of Llanelli will be simply thrilled”.

Once the match was over it started snowing heavily, the blizzard turned out to be one of the worst of the century. Around two feet of snow fell post match between 6pm and 10pm. Cardiff was completely cut off and the Welsh players were marooned in the Angel Hotel until Monday morning whilst the Scotland squad fought their way to Birmingham, the nearest operating airport, on the Sunday afternoon for a flight home.

Five Nations Championship. 20 March 1982. Wales v Scotland National Stadium, Cardiff Arms Park.

Four years after scoring his first international at the same ground and against the same opponents Ray’s international career came to an abrupt end as Wales were heavily defeated by a rampant Scottish outfit.

The manner of the defeat left the country in a state of shock. Wales had not lost a Five Nations game at home for fourteen years, equating to twenty seven championship matches. It was Scotland’s first win in Cardiff for twenty years and Wales had never previously conceded five tries at home there were bound to be scapegoats after such a national disaster.

“I remember praying with six minutes to go for the match to end and bring the nightmare to an end, I had never felt like that before on a rugby field.”

Grav decided he would end his international career on his own terms although he did not make an announcement until the start of the following season.

Ray continued to play club rugby with his beloved Llanelli until 1985, his final game a Welsh Cup game against Llandovery on 26 January 1985 where he suffered a broken arm, After 485 appearances scoring 120 tries he finally hung up his boots.

He had been diagnosed with diabetes in 2000 and campaigned vigorously to help raise funds for research into the disorder. In 2007 he was admitted to hospital with blood supply problems in his right leg. Toxins in the tip of his little toe had spread and septicaemia had set in. His life was saved on Friday 13th April by an operation to amputate his right leg below the knee. According to reports Ray was only days away from death.

Even after this traumatic event because of a condition brought on by diabetes, his renowned humour did not desert him he was cracking jokes about how he was never a kicking centre anyway. His artificial leg was Scarlet with the Llanelli club crest emblazoned on the front

When you have a street named after you it’s a pretty good indicator that you are regarded as someone special.

Jonah Lomu Drive in Auckland, Muhammad Ali Boulevard in Louisville, Kentucky along with Jack Nicklaus Drive in Palm Beach, Florida are testament to that fact. 

England has honoured two Steve’s in similar fashion with Ovett Close, just yards from the Crystal Palace athletics track, and Redgrave Road in Putney a town famed for its association with rowing.

Just a stones throw away from Stade de France in Paris lies Rue Jesse Owens where there is a wonderful boulangerie and my regular coffee haunt when covering France’s home games.

So when the band U2 start singing ‘where the streets have no name’ send them to any one of those locations or better still point them in the direction of Mynnyd y Garreg where the road sign Heol Ray Gravell stands proudly, and for those readers who don’t speak the language of heaven Heol is Welsh for Road.

At the end of his playing days, he joined the BBC in Cardiff and took the leading role in a BBC Cymru film for S4C, Bonner. In 1991, he played an impoverished 19th-century farmer in a big-screen adaptation of Dylan Thomas’s Rebecca’s Daughters, starring Peter O’Toole, and the following year played Jeremy Irons’ chauffeur in the Louis Malle film Damage. 

Also in 1991 he received a letter inviting him to become a member of the Gorsedd of Bards.

He was inaugurated at the National Eisteddfod in Machynlleth.

Up until his death, he hosted radio programmes and was due to present the shirts to the Wales players before the November 24 international against South Africa in Cardiff but sadly fate intervened.

On 15 November 2007 under cloudless bright blue sun kissed skies 6000 filled the stands at Stradey Park and even more lined the streets of Llanelli to pay homage to the man for whom they had so much affection. The famous old scoreboard showed ‘Llanelli 9 Zeland Newydd 3’ and the Llanelli Male Voice choir and Burry Port Brass Band led the crowd through Calon Lan and Cwm Rhondda.

Ray emerged one last time from the Llanelli dressing room carried shoulder high by three of his team mates from that historic day in 1972 Delme Thomas, Derek Quinnell and Gareth Jenkins, along with three current Scarlets at the time Dwayne Peel, Simon Easterby and Stephen Jones.

His two young daughters, Manon and Gwenan wore Llanelli jerseys with their father’s number on the back, 13, as they and their mother, Mari, in lead the procession behind the coffin as former Scarlets, Wales and Lions hooker Robin McBryde carried the ‘Great Sword’ that Grav used to bear at the National Eisteddfod.

Rev Meirion Evans, a former archdruid and great friend of Grav, led the mourners and there were moving tributes from the First Minister as the time , Rhodri Morgan, Welsh historian Hywel Teifi Edwards, and former Wales and Lions legend Gerald Davies.

Wales First Minister Rhodri Morgan spoke: “Grav had charm and a Bambi like vulnerability. As a politician you rate communicators. But few of us touch people’s souls like Grav did. Every achievement of his he never expected. He had huge talents, but he didn’t realise he had them. He never expected anything and everything that came his way came as a pleasant surprise.”

Gerald Davies his friend and former team mate said: “For the many who knew him, and the many thousands who felt they knew him, he was an inspiration. He first made his name as a remarkable rugby player for Llanelli, Wales, the Lions and the Barbarians. As Carwyn James said of  Ray, ‘no one has ever worn the Welsh jersey with a sharper sense of what it means to be a Welshman’. He was happy among Princes, paupers and poets – and the difference meant nothing to him. He was dazzling and unforgettable with a heart of gold. He was a rugby Viking, a true warrior who Bill McLaren once declared to be ‘a force of nature’. Today is a remarkable testimony to this great Welshman’s benevolent heart.”

As Grav was carried from the field at Stradey Park for the final time. the crowd rose to give him one long last standing ovation it was a fitting tribute to the people’s friend.