ALUN WYN JONES AND BONYMAEN RFC
Bonymaen rugby club is a notoriously tough place for any visiting side to come away with any points. It is also where Welsh captain Alun Wyn Jones learned his trade, I spoke with his former junior coach Kev Brookes about club and Lions legend.
ALUN WYN JONES THE INSPIRATION
“Its paramount to see someone like Alun, we have a corner of the lounge dedicated to him. After watching the events over the last nine weeks it shows how much of an influence he has on the youngsters by the amount of kids in Welsh jerseys etc…”
“We are all very proud of him, he’s very humble, you just had to see how he was with the mascot in the Ireland game, in a game of that magnitude to be aware of the youngster shivering and then to take off his training top and wrap it around him shows the character of the man.”
ALUN WYN JONES; THE YOUNGSTER
“The first thing that stood out about him when he joined us at about 10 or 11 was that he was head and shoulders above the rest. We called him Big Al back then, in fairness he was probably a bit overweight for his age too but he was afraid to hurt people, a bit timid. But he was a big specimen.”
“He came from Swansea West, a lovely family, his mum and Dad, sadly his Dad isn’t with us anymore but lovely family. His Mum was a teacher in the local school in Bonymaen. We had a pretty good side, not a great side but he could just run through teams because he was so big. He stayed with us until he was about 16, went to Llandovery college and then onto the ospreys.”
ALUN WYN JONES; THE MAN
“I have had some lovely stories with Alun, I can’t speak highly enough of him, he’s a busy man with a young family but always makes time when he can. I’ve been fortunate to go on three lions tours.”
“In South Africa I remember after the test in Johannesburg, as the players are going round thanking the crowd after the game, he sees me and gives me a wave and then in the last test in Sydney, when he was captain, he came round afterwards, made eye contact with me in the crowd and asked for the flag I had.”
“Which was a Welsh flag with ‘Bonymaen RFC’ written on it. I rolled it up and threw it to him and he wrapped it around him and I could see him walking off into the dressing room with my flag. “
“To see a British Lion captain walking off with your flag was amazing. A couple of months later, he returns the flag to me in the club, after he had got to the changing room, he wrapped it up tidy for me and put it in his kit bag, took it back home and returned it.”
BONYMAEN RFC IN COMMUNITY
“Bonymaen Rugby club is a massive part of the community. It is quite a deprived area compared to some of the affluent areas of Swansea and so I really think that the club keeps a lot of people out of trouble. Youngsters who get involved in sport and have a team focus, learn responsibilities and I think it keeps some of them from falling into crime.”
“I started there as a youngster and there are quite a few opportunities to go the wrong way but the club keeps people straight and narrow if you like and there are a great bunch of lads up there now who have all come through the youth ranks, it is really important for the community”
