It says it all about Charlie Faulkner’s passion for the Wales rugby team who, amid questions about the outcome of the fight 20 years ago, a third of one of history’s most famous frontlines offered their help for free. .
Steve Hansen was Wales coach at the time and his squad were knocked out in a standard match for France with Gethin Jenkins playing out of position at tight end.
“Look, they need an expert, and if they ask me, I’ll be happy to help them out for free,” Faulkner said. “I don’t care if Steve Hansen earns £4,000 a week. If you go there, you can induce an 80% improvement in two sessions – bottom line.
“I would be there like a shot. I’m a Welshman in love and money isn’t enough. I just can’t bear to see the Welsh scrum being forced back and I don’t want to see that again.”
Wales and Pontypool front row legend Charlie Faulkner has died aged 81
This was not the case in Charlie’s days as a player, perhaps even when Wales faced the toughest and worst squad of the French eight at that time. Somehow Wales managed with Faulkner’s Pontypool first line, Bobby Windsor and Graham Price as their backbone.
The Welsh rugby player mourns Faulkner’s death at the age of 81. To say that the promiscuous former protagonist and coach was unique is to understate the problem.
He started in the senior game with Cross Keys before heading to Pontypool where he became part of the so-called Viet Gwent, the legendary top-flight unit made famous in the songs of Max Boyce. Sample lyrics are “There’s a show on TV, I watch it when I can / The story of an astronaut, the first bionic man / It cost six million dollars, I know, that’s a lot of bread / But Wigan offered more than that for the first Pontypool queue”.
However, the opposition had little to sing about when they faced Faulkner, Windsor and Price, with a trio renowned for their ruthlessness. The opposing sides were often destroyed in skirmishes, driven back and left in disarray.
The Pontypool unit became the backbone of Wales’ success in the second half of the 1970s.
Faulkner made his Test debut in 1975. How old was he? Nobody seemed to know for sure. Mervyn Davies once told Windsor to drop his age by two years when he stormed Wales to persuade selectors to keep picking him past 30. It is not known whether such advice was passed on to the Duke’s ranks. colleague, but there was a certain mystery about the new man that even extended to his name. Was he Charlie or Anthony George Faulkner, the names he was given at birth?
Years later it was established that he was around 34 years old when he made his debut for Wales. He was named Charlie after regularly riding the Shire horse of the same name on the farm.
Off-field stories involving him and Windsor have become legendary.
In Heart and Soul, the Welsh rugby hero, his former Pontypool teammate, the great Eddie Butler, spoke about the duo.
At the time of joining the club in 1976, there was a story that the couple were detained by the police over a minor disagreement. Nothing too bad, “but it was important to keep their stories in sync,” Eddie recorded.
“After a short period of preparation, they were taken to different rooms and asked to speak separately. Surprisingly, every detail of the two intertwined stories matched perfectly. Except when a cat apparently ran out in front of her car. Bobby said he was black, Charlie said he was white.
“They were sent back for the second round. The cat’s color was a stumbling block. Was he black or white? “Oh, that,” Charlie said. You must remember that it was a very cold night.
No doubt this story continued to circulate at lunch for many years to come.
In the legendary battles against the French in the second half of the 1970s, Viet Gwent really gained strength for Wales. They faced Robert Paparembordre, Alain Pacot and Gerard Coli just as everything fell apart. Many of the other front rows collapsed. Not the Pontypool three. Without Faulkner, Windsor and Price, the 1970s would not have been as good for Wales.
But the trio were always happy to return to the club and mentor Ray Prosser. The Pontypool RFC of that era was a place where only the strong survived and the standards of play for forwards were very high. Some of the opposing team’s players dreaded overnight trips to Pontypool Park midweek, and some even developed mysterious injuries that left them in tears. It was called the Pontypool flu.
JJ Williams once described becoming involved in a Faulkner altercation in a Welsh Cup match between Pontypool and Llanelli. “That was a place I didn’t want to be,” he said. “As a sense of horror washed over me, our eyes met. Charlie smiled and said in his unmistakable Gwent accent, “You’re my friend, JJ. I’ll let you go.” I’ve never been more grateful.”
A good man to meet was the martial artist that was Faulkner. And the player’s teammates were happy to play alongside him.
His only try for Wales, against Ireland in 1975, was memorable thanks to a Windsor penalty.
But the glamor stars behind the fights in Wales at the time were always in the limelight. “I remember saying to Pross at the time that it was a little disappointing that they didn’t even mention us,” Faulkner told WalesOnline in 2021, speaking to the press.
Share your memories and tributes to Charlie below.
“He said, ‘Charlie, you’re in a position where you’re carrying water for other people to drink.’ I thought that was a good way to say it.
Faulkner was a real character and a great rugby player, good enough to earn a place in one of the best teams in Wales. In addition, he was a kind person, as testified by almost everyone who knew him.
He will be greatly missed.
Source: Wales Online
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
