Last week’s birthday passed without a hitch, and hardly anyone celebrated it properly.
Exactly 50 years ago, one of Wales’ most famous rugby players, JJ Williams, played his first international match.
Sadly, of course, Williams is no longer with us to commemorate the occasion, having passed away in 2020.
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How good a player was he? “Fast as lightning, so fast that sometimes he had the ball before the defenders knew they had been beaten,” his colleague and rugby expert Llanelli once told this author for the South Wales Evening Post.
“He was a sprinter at the Commonwealth Games and his pace helped him improve his chipping and chasing, but he was also a very smart rugby player and he completely believed in himself. JJ was very confident.”
No one could deny how much inner faith he had.
“Did I tour with the Lions in South Africa in 1974? I was the one who wrote down all the attempts,” he once said in disbelief to a reporter whose memories of events 30 years ago failed him.
He was proud that Wales never gave up on him. In 1979 he was told by then Wales manager John Dawes that he would not be considered for the Autumn Test against Romania, only to be told by Williams that he himself was contemplating retirement. The 70’s were ending and, one by one, the stars of that golden decade were disappearing. All good things come to an end.
But Williams did a great job for his country. 30 Tests run and 12 tries scored for Wales; he had seven internationals and five tries for the Lions. Touchdowns were claimed for anyone he threw. The total was 352 in 438 games, with 163 in 227 games for Llanelli and 99 goals in 100 games for Bridgend. In any case, he was prolific.
But statistics alone do not tell anything like the full story of John James Williams, of Nantyphilon near Mestegue, a working-class boy who walked and talked the talk.
He was given the nickname JJ after making his debut as a substitute against France in 1973. Amidst the turmoil caused by Wales with two John Williams in their ranks, winger John Taylor popped into the new band for a post-match drink and said: “Yes, from now on it’s JJ and you (pointing to the Wales full-back). that day) are JPR.”
Success followed success for both and Gerald Davies produced perhaps the finest of all Welsh defenders.
Both flanks were deadly: Davis made an irresponsible detour; his wing had additional equipment.
Both scored key tries. When Wales defeated Ireland in 1978 to win their third successive Triple Crown, Steve Fenwick was rightly applauded after vying for the most tense victory of his career. But it was Williams’ breakneck pace that took him to the touchdown that helped lead Wales to victory, a feat no other team had previously achieved.
After getting into acting, he started working in the corporate world, becoming a millionaire with his industrial painting business.
He also kept in touch with the sport in which he excelled as a BBC commentator. His bravery behind the microphone angered many. In his book JJ Williams, The Life and Times of a Rugby Legend, he told how the BBC once sent him to Pontypridd to cover a game after he suggested that Neil Jenkins should be dropped from the Wales squad and Arvel Thomas should be dismissed. Arvel Thomas. chance instead.
“I knew he was going to bring another barrage of insults against me,” he said.
Green, the South Wales Echo cartoonist, captured the mood last night with a drawing of a steel ring around Sardis Road and the caption: “All police outings canceled – JJ Williams here today.”
JJ liked as much as he liked the local resident’s commentary as the helicopter flew overhead during the game. Pointing to the sky, the man said, “Look, there it is. This is JJ Williams commentating from a helicopter. I’m too scared to come here.”
But JJ was never afraid. I always called him as I saw him, please or insulting.
(Image: Wales Online)
Even as a player, he had a habit of saying things that sometimes upset people. Again in the book, he recounted his encounter with legendary New Zealand scrum-half Sid Going after Llanelli beat the All Blacks at Stradey Park in 1972. “How do you feel after that?” the Welsh airman asked the famously ferocious Kiwi.
Williams recalled: “He looked at me coldly and said only two words: ‘Fuck you.’
He once called the sports section of the South Wales Evening Post to complain about a column that had been produced contradicting his opinion that Shane Williams could not be classed as a great player until he had won with the Lions.
A 20-minute conversation ensued, ending with Williams advising this reporter to go ahead and breed, so to speak.
Years later, when he found out I was from the same village as him, he couldn’t have been nicer, saying, “I didn’t know you were Maesteg’s son. Come and have a beer.” Matters of the past are forgotten, as such matters should be.
His willingness to speak unfiltered about his experience made him interesting to listen to, though controversy continued to follow him. Indeed, Warren Gatland complained about him after Williams criticized Dan Biggar before the last World Cup, asking if the former striker was “too old”.
But everyone is entitled to an opinion and many wanted to hear what JJ had to say because he was the winner. A winner to the core.
He was his own man as well as a world leader.
Where does he rank in the list of great Welsh wingers of the past 50 years? Behind Gerald Davies and Shane Williams, but probably ahead of the rest, although Ewan Evans is close by.
He was someone who couldn’t be ignored, on or off the field.
This Saturday he would have turned 75.
This writer will raise a glass to him.
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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.
