Last week, David Gronow sent me some pictures and facts about his grand father Ben Gronow to be shared here...
So here are some bits of the remarkable story of a Welsh gentleman who started his career as a brilliant Rugby Union (Bridgend and Wales) fullback and kicker - he gave the very first kick-off in newly built Twickenham, Jan.1910 - , then moved to Huddersfield to become one of the world leading Rugby League forwards, and later became the first British professionnal player to join Australian National Rugby League as Grenfell coach-player...
Thanks a lot, David !
As David puts it :
Ben, a stonemason with huge hands, was born on March 3 1887 and started his rugby career with Bridgend Harlequins. He was one of a family of nine children and he followed a well-worn path from Bridgend Harlequins to Bridgend (union club). In 1908/09, he was captain of Bridgend and made 16 appearances for the Glamorgan County side.
Ben, a superb goal-kicking full-back who, because of his size and strength, moved up to the forwards in rugby league, went on to play for Wales at senior level, making his debut against France on New Year's Day 1910 at Swansea where he scored a try in the 49-14 victory (large team picture here). Despite his tremendous kicking abilities, those three points - which is how much a try was worth in those days - was his only score in an international jersey for the Welsh union team.
He went on to play again in that first-ever Twickenham match against England on 15 January 1910 which Wales lost 11-6, before completing the Four Nations against Scotland in Cardiff, which Wales won 14-10, and Ireland in Dublin where the Welsh won 19-3.
David Gronow [...] recalled how his grandfather began to attract the attentions of the Northern Union clubs and particularly Ebbw Vale due to his union exploits, but in 1910, Huddersfield got his signature and at the age of 22, Ben went north for a fee of £120.
Ben made his debut for Huddersfield against Ebbw Vale on September 3 1910 when the Welsh team were part of the Northern Union, and went on to make 395 appearances for the club, scoring 80 tries, kicking 673 goals, accumulating 1586 points.
By the end of the 1910 season, Ben had played 31 times for Huddersfield and also won his first Welsh Rugby League international cap when they played England at Coventry.
In the years that followed, Ben was to ascend to real stardom. He was part of the 1914/15 'Team of All Talents' at Huddersfield which won all four trophies available to them - the Challenge Cup, the Rugby League Championship, the Yorkshire League Cup and the Yorkshire Cup.
It was a team captained by Harold Wagstaff and was the culmination of a period of dominance in rugby league which was the best in the club's history. [...] Ben rose to such status in rugby league that he would have toured Australia with the 1914 Great Britain side had injury not struck him down.
He went off to serve in France but re-established his rugby career at Huddersfield on his return.
He went on the 1920 Great Britain tour of Australia and New Zealand and went again to Australia four years later when, at 34, he became one of his country's oldest tourists, and went on to represent Great Britain on seven occasions.
Incidentally, here are two "Melba" pictures of the 1920 touring team in Australia (Sydney, June 1920), both provided by Rugby League collector Stuart Quinn (thanks, Stuart!). (BTW, you could also check some of my old posts about Huddersfield here or there ). (also cf large picture of the 1920 team)
David further explains :
The most famous of those pioneering adventures that Ben made, however, was to become the only British player for 50 years to play in New South Wales or Queensland when he made the unusual decision to sign for a small-time rural club called Grenfell in 1926.
In a highly-researched [and highly recommended...] article called "
The Ben Gronow Mystery",
Sean Fagan [of rl1908.com fame - Hi, Sean!] writes:
"...during the 1924 Lions tour of Australia, Gronow was approached by Harry Sunderland (who was the Australian team manager) to take up a coaching offer in Grenfell, in the mid south-west of rural NSW. [...] Gronow accepted the offer, returned to Australia in 1926 to play for Grenfell, before moving back to England for the 1927-28 season........the decision to move to Australia primarily based on wanting to improve the health of his eldest son who suffers bronchitis and is in need of a dryer climate."
And David concludes :
On his return to Yorkshire in August 1927, Ben played mainly for Huddersfield reserves before his retirement [...] at the age of 40 (after brief spells at Featherstone Rovers and Batley).
He later served on the club's committee, was made an honourary member of the club and was one of 21 names inducted into the Huddersfield Rugby League Club Players' Association Hall of Fame in 1999. He died on November 24 1967 aged 80.
Here is Ben Gronow in 1938, aged 51, with some of his former Huddersfield and Great Britain (cf the 1920 team picture in Australia) teammates : Gwyn Thomas , Harold Wagstaff, Ben Gronow, J.Rogers (picture credit to Stuart Quinn).
David's memo about his grand-father is available online here.
And now waiting for Wales to play France next Friday night... exactly 100 years after Ben Gronow's debut...
(*) as Mayol wrote in his biography "Or, à Toulon, où la jeunesse est particulièrement active et vigoureuse,
nous n'avions pas le moindre terrain utilisable... Seul demeurait un
vélodrome désaffecté, où nul n'allait jamais, qui ne servait plus à
rien et qui me paraissait s'ennuyer autant que nos aspirants
sportsmen... Alors, mon Dieu, c'était tout simple, j'ai acheté le vieux
vélodrome ! J'y donnais moi-même le premier coup de pioche, le 26
juillet 1920..." (this quote and picture : credit to 
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