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The fascinating biography of Gwyn Nicholls, a Gloucestershire-born man who donned the Welsh rugby shirt for 24 games during a glittering period known as the first Golden Era of Welsh Rugby, 1900-11. 34 black-and-white photographs and illustrations.
Cofiant hynod ddiddorol Gwyn Nicholls a anwyd yn swydd Caerloyw ond a wisgodd grys rygbi Cymru mewn 24 o gêmau yn ystod cyfnod llachar a gofir fel Oes Aur gyntaf Rygbi Cymru, 1900-11. 34 llun du-a-gwyn.
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Author Biography: Since 1970 David Parry-Jones has been one of Rugby Football's best-known and authoritative commentators. Remembered also as an anchor-man of news and current events programmes for BBC Wales, he has been in addition a Rugby correspondent and columnist for The Times and Sunday Mirror. During the last decade he has contributed regularly to BBC Radio Five Live's coverage of club and International Rugby, reporting and commentating on Rugby World Cups in 1991, 1995, and the 1999 tournament in Wales. Prince Gwyn is his fourteenth publication on Rugby Football and related topics. Further Information: Gwyn Nicholls is remembered as the architect of the first Golden Era of Welsh Rugby in the opening decade of the last century. The best centre in the world throughout this period, he toured Australia in 1899 (the only Welsh player in the British team), led Wales to six Triple Crowns and to triumph over New Zealand in 1905, and Cardiff to its 1907 victory over South Africa. The dominant stature of Nicholls in Rugby Football bears comparison with that of W.G. Grace in cricket; in the evolving game of rugby, Nicholls was a central strategist and thinker in all areas, as his book The Modern Rugby Game and How To Play It was to prove. More than anyone he was to shape how rugby was played for decades.Although Nicholls began playing more than a century ago familiar issues are present in David Parry-Jones's account: professionalism, product endorsement, an influential media, 'foreign' player selection, inter-club rivalries, ferociously successful touring sides from the southern hemisphere, singular decisions by the various Rugby Unions, all have a resonance today. Outside rugby, even the expansion of the town (later city) of Cardiff has a familiar ring to it. Prince Gwyn offers intriguing historical insights into the contemporary game. Prizes: David Parry-Jones has won The Rugby Union Book of the Year with his book Prince Gwyn: Gwyn Nicholls and the First Golden Era of Welsh Rugby. Published by Seren, it is the biography of one of the greatest players of the Union code, a fascinating and illuminating account of a man described as 'The Prince of Centres' by his contemporaries. David Parry-Jones received his prize of £1,000 at an award ceremony in Newport Rugby Club on Thursday 7 December 2000. The book was chosen from more than 140 entries from around the world. |
