Berwyn Jones


Thomas Berwyn Jones was a Welsh sprint athlete, and rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s. He played club level rugby union for Rhymney RFC, as a wing, i.e. number 11 or 14, and representative level rugby league for Great Britain, Other Nationalities and Commonwealth XIII, and at club level for Wakefield Trinity, Bradford Northern and St Helens, as a, i.e. number 2 or 5.

Background

Berwyn Jones was born in Rhymney, Monmouthshire, Wales, and he died aged 66 in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, England.

Early career

Jones had a brief career in rugby union with hometown club Rhymney RFC in the South Wales Valleys, but it was in athletics that he looked set to excel until switching to rugby league.

Bronze medal at Belgrade 1962

He won the Bronze medal in the men's 4 x 100 metres relay at the 1962 European Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, alongside Alf Meakin, Ron Jones and David Jones. He also won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay while competing for Wales at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

British record holder

He had been touted as a potential Olympian for 1964 when he was invited to try out for Wakefield Trinity in 1964. He had been a member of the Great Britain 4 x 110 yards relay team and a British record-holder and champion over 100 metres.

Rugby league career

Playing under the ironic alias 'A. Walker', he impressed for Wakefield Trinity in reserve team games against Huddersfield and Doncaster and soon took to the sport. Within nine months he was playing for Great Britain, and scored on his international début against France in Perpignan.
Berwyn Jones represented Other Nationalities while at Wakefield Trinity, he played in the 2-19 defeat by St. Helens at Knowsley Road, St. Helens on Wednesday 27 January 1965, to mark the switching-on of new floodlights, represented Commonwealth XIII while at Wakefield Trinity in 1965 against New Zealand at Crystal Palace National Recreation Centre, London 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 William "Bill" Burgess and Geoffrey "Geoff" Wriglesworth of Leeds.
Berwyn Jones played, i.e. number 2, and scored 2-tries in Wakefield Trinity's 18-2 victory over Leeds in the 1964–65 Yorkshire County Cup Final during the 1964–65 season at Fartown Ground, Huddersfield on Saturday 31 October 1964.
He transferred from Wakefield Trinity to Bradford Northern in 1967/68 for £3,000, 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 transferred from Bradford Northern to St. Helens during 1969 but scored just two tries before announcing a premature retirement.
He died in January 2007 after a battle with motor neurone disease.