By Elliott West
“Some people used to say it was a mystery how I played!”.
Barry John
Introduction
The mists of time swirl to an age when Wales was invincible at rugby. As the colliery wheel spun and the miners dug the coal from deep below the surface, so this beautiful game produced heroes in their own right. Rock stars of sport who caked in mud, weaved and pushed their way to the try line, impressive athletes, muscular and fearless, shedding sweat and blood for their nation. Rugby gods who wore their red shirts with pride, invincible, cutting the grass turf with their metal studs, running in a wind of applause. One such Welsh rugby deity who is still a name that rolls off the tongue is the player who was dubbed ‘The King’, Barry John.
Losing a Welsh rugby great is like losing one of your own. I am very proud of my Welsh ancestry, men who toiled for hours in the Ebbw Vale Steel Works, earning little and living in humble surroundings. So it always saddens me to hear when another titan of this fascinating sport has departed this world, especially so soon after the passing of JPR Williams. Barry John doesn’t fear the next step or challenge, a player who studied at the same university as me, Trinity College, Carmarthen. A human octopus who could outfox his opponents with a catalogue of sidesteps as long as your arm, slamming the ball down on the line with brute force. Max Boyce once said of this outside half, “They broke the mould, the mould that made this legend was made of solid gold”.
Born to Play
Part of the second ‘Golden Age’ of Welsh rugby, Barry John was born in the village of Cefneithen in 1945. The son of William and Vimy John, Barry was one of six children. All three of his brothers – Delville, Alan and Clive played rugby, a sport that runs down the veins of this Celtic country. A pupil at Cefenithin Primary School and Gwendraeth Grammar School, John fell in love with the game with the game that would make him a household name and started to play. Picking his position as a fly-half, Barry could ghost past defenders. Taken under the wing of his primary school headmaster William John Jones and teacher Ray Williams, who were both rugby International players, he received skilled rugby training. Despite his natural talents, John never played at schoolboy level for Wales. He did however play for his school and his village team, Ceifneithin RFC.
Barry John made his first appearance for Llanelli in January 1964. The club lost the game against Moseley but John scored a try and converted it. He played for them four more times in the Llanelli senior team at the end of the season. Moving on to Trinity College, Carmarthen, Barry had aspirations of becoming a teacher because remember at this time rugby was an amateur sport. However, he continued to continue playing for Llanelli in between his studies. Whilst at university, Barry gained a reputation as a kicking fly-half who loved to fire drop goals over the posts. A demon player whose drop goal against Aberavon in October 1964 was his 11th of the season, only 17 games in.
Barry John glided rather than ran. He could kick a ball from hand with either foot. This lad who had failed the 11-plus but had successfully trained as a teacher was about to hit the big time in rugby. Under the wing of Carwyn James, who had won 2 caps for Wales as a fly-half, James helped John overcome the early knockback of not being picked to play for Wales’s under-15 side. However thanks to James, John was later picked for Wales, scoring 90 points in 25 tests. A player who could swivel his hips without effort and dodge the wall of opposition. The George Best of rugby of his day. He won 25 caps for Wales, the first in 1966 in a game where Wales lost 11-4 to Australia. A disappointment that was quickly forgotten when Llanelli beat the Wallabies 11-0. A match where Barry scored a try and a drop goal.
A leg injury caused John to be briefly dropped from the Wales squad but in 1967 he left Llanelli and joined Cardiff. He regained his International place in the same year. From that point, there was no stopping Barry. A career that would include roaring success with the British Lions, sealed by a 2-1 win over the All Blacks in 1971and Wales’s Grand Slam victory in 1971 – their first since 1952 – sealed by a 9-5 win against France in Paris, their first there for 14 years. A glorious time that included a legendary partnership with Sir Gareth Edwards. A player is probably glad he didn’t pursue a football career and retired finishing with 120 points for Wales and the Lions in his 30 Internationals.
Shock Retirement
Barry John made the shock announcement of retirement in 1971 at the tender age of 27. This rugby god was at the time Wales’s highest points scorer. John could no longer walk down the street without being mobbed by fans. The extreme example he often described was when a young woman curtsied to him in Rhyl at a promotional event for his employers in North Wales. He cited this fame and the weight of expectation as the reasons for his department. A short career but highly memorable and one that firmly makes him as one of the Welsh greats. His death in 2024 is a bitter blow but leaves a legacy of Wales winning three Five Nations titles, a Grand Slam and two Triple Crowns during his stint on the international stage. A man who continued to work in rugby journalism after retirement and was inducted into the Rugby Hall of Fame in 1997 and the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2015. John, who lived in Cardiff, is survived by his wife Janet and children Kathryn, Lucy, Anna and David.
