Berwyn Jones - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Thomas Berwyn Jones (1940 – 2007) was a Welsh

Welsh people

The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

sprint

Sprint (race)

Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...

athlete, and professional rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

footballer of the 1960s who at representative level played rugby league for Great Britain

Great Britain national rugby league team

The Great Britain national rugby league team represents the United Kingdom in rugby league football. Administered by the Rugby Football League , the team is nicknamed "The Lions" or "Great Britain Lions"....

, and Commonwealth XIII, and at club level for Wakefield Trinity

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are a professional rugby league club that plays in the European Super League and is based in Wakefield. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as Wakey, Trinity, Wildcats, or historically The Dreadnoughts...

, Bradford Northern

Bradford Bulls

Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....

, and St. Helens, playing at , i.e. number 2 or 5.

Early career

Jones had a brief career in rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

with hometown club Rhymney RFC

Rhymney RFC

Rhymney Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based in Rhymney in Wales. The Senior team presently play in the Welsh Rugby Union Division Three East league. Rhymney is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons.Rugby union was first played in...

in the South Wales Valleys

South Wales Valleys

The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...

, but it was in athletics

Sprint (race)

that he looked set to excel until switching to rugby league.

Bronze Medal, Belgrade 1962

He won the Bronze medal

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

in the men's 4 x 100 metres relay

4 x 100 metres relay

The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners begin in the same stagger as for the individual 400 m race...

at the 1962 European Championships in Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

, Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

, alongside Alfred Meakin

Alfred Meakin

Alfred Meakin is a retired track and field athlete, who represented Great Britain in the men's 100 metres at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan....

, Ronald Jones

Ron Jones (athlete)

Ronald Jones is a retired Welsh track and field athlete.- 3 Time Olympian :Ron Jones represented Great Britain at three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1960 ....

, and David Jones

David Jones (athlete)

David Jones was a British athlete who competed in the 100 & 200 metres. He won three consecutive AAA tiles at 220 yards...

British Record Holder

He had been touted as a potential Olympian for 1968 when he was invited to try out for Wakefield Trinity

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

in 1964. He had been a member of the Great Britain 4 x 110 yards relay team and a British record-holder (10.3 seconds) and champion over 100 metres

100 metres

The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896...

Rugby League Career

Playing under the ironic alias 'Walker', he impressed for Wakefield in reserve team games against Huddersfield and Doncaster and soon took to the sport. Within nine months he was playing for Great Britain

Great Britain national rugby league team

and scored on his international début against France in Perpignan

Perpignan

-Sport:Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup and seven times champion of the Top 14 , while their rugby league side plays in the engage Super League under the name Catalans Dragons.-Culture:Since 2004, every year in the...

.

Berwyn Jones represented Commonwealth XIII while at Wakefield Trinity in 1965 against New Zealand at Crystal Palace National Recreation Centre

Crystal Palace National Sports Centre

The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in south London, England is a large sports centre and athletics stadium. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace, in the former parkland and also usurping part of the former grand prix circuit.It was...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

on Wednesday 18 August 1965, and was selected for the 1966 tour of Australia and New Zealand but did not make the Test team due to the form of Barrow's

Barrow Raiders

Barrow Raiders are an English professional rugby league team from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, who are coached by Dave Clark. Formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club, the club is the oldest of the current professional sports teams in Cumbria....

William "Bill" Burgess

William Burgess (rugby league)

William "Bill" Burgess is an English former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer of the 1960s and '70s who at representative level has played rugby union for Lancashire, and at club level for , and Fylde RFC, and at representative level has played rugby league for Great Britain,...

and Geoffrey "Geoff" Wriglesworth

Geoff Wriglesworth

Geoffrey "Geoff" W. Wriglesworth is a former professional rugby league footballer of the 1960s and '70s who at representative level has played for Great Britain, and at club level for Heworth, Leeds, Bradford Northern, Wakefield Trinity, and York, playing at , i.e...

of Leeds

Leeds Rhinos

Leeds Rhinos is an English professional rugby league football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club won the 2011 Super League and became the most successful club in the Super League era, beating St Helens 32-16 on 8th October 2011. Formed in 1890, Leeds competes in Europe's Super League...

.

He moved to Bradford

Bradford Bulls

Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....

in 1967/68 for £3000, where he was joined by Leeds' Geoff Wrigglesworth. The pair formed a potent right wing/centre partnership. Jones scored 26 tries that season, his best haul.

Retirement

He moved on again to St Helens in 1969 but scored just two tries before announcing a premature retirement.

He died in January 2007 after a battle with motor neurone disease

Motor neurone disease

The motor neurone diseases are a group of neurological disorders that selectively affect motor neurones, the cells that control voluntary muscle activity including speaking, walking, breathing, swallowing and general movement of the body. They are generally progressive in nature, and can cause...

External links

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