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Ray Gravell - Welsh and British Lions legend passes away.
Not many people care about Rugby in this forum i know, but there are a significant minority for this to be warranted.
I'm too young to have seen him play live, but having grown up in a rugby family, i've always been educated about what a great player he was.
On top of that, i have seen and listened to him regularly on various Welsh tv shows and radio shows. He always came across as a thoroughly decent bloke, an incredible character with a great personality.
It's a crying shame that he has died at just 56 years old. Welsh rugby has certainly lost a Legend.
11-01-2007, 12:51 PM
Ray Gravell - Welsh and British Lions legend passes away. Post #2
He had a heart attack it appears while on holiday in Mallorca with his wife and daughters.
He'd had health problems for some time - although not related it seems - he was Diagnosed with diabetes, he had his leg amputated back a few months ago as a result of it too - when he got his artifical leg, he got a metal one that was red and had the Llanelli Scarlets logo on it.
Was an incredible character who never let things get him down.
11-01-2007, 01:01 PM
Ray Gravell - Welsh and British Lions legend passes away. Post #6
very sad story here of how he found his dad's body
rip ray, a very proud welshman
Quote:
By Ray Gravell, Llanelli
My father was my hero. He was a giant of a man. We were more like to friends or two brothers. The bond was seemingly unbreakable but it had to break, unfortunately.
He'd had this very bad back injury underground and it had curtailed his activities. He was in plaster from his neck to his midriff for nine months, but he would still go for a walk on the mountain and I would go with him. He was renowned throughout the valley for his strength but he had lost his physical prowess and that had a huge effect on him psychologically.
Looking back, I remember him in a bed crying, and that to me was very strange. I was thirteen years of age and to see my hero crying because he was in pain with his back did shock me.
One day - I was fourteen by then - he failed to come back from the walk on the mountain. Night came and my mother became very agitated, so I decided to go and get two neighbours, Dai and John. I told them my father had been gone since the morning and hadn't come back, so the three of us set off to look for him. I didn't have a torch but they had torches.
I made a bit of a spurt and ran on ahead in the darkness through the bushes, and something took me to the spot where he was. The dog had never left his side. It was total darkness but I fell on my knees. I knew then that was it. From then on that night is a bit of a blur.
I came back and couldn't tell my mother. I begged Dai and John not to take me back to the house until she knew. I couldn't face her. He'd shot himself twice. There was no explanation. He left no note. It was the 7th of January 1966 - a Saturday. What torments he had been going through in his mind leading up to that one can only imagine.
My mother was a very attractive lady. She was 43 years of age and she never went with another man, she just stayed here in the house and never went out socially for a drink or to the pictures with a member of the opposite sex. She never had a relationship after my father died.
It was a relief when his body came back to the house. I wanted to see him and they relented to the end. They took off the coffin lid and as I looked at his face, it wasn't him. It was my father's body but he wasn't there and a huge relief came over me.
I remember something that happened when he was still alive. I was lying in bed and it hit me that one day I would die. I was scared and woke up my father and mother. They said 'Oh, jump in here' and I felt safe with them.
11-01-2007, 03:37 PM
Ray Gravell - Welsh and British Lions legend passes away. Post #10
Ray Gravell - Welsh and British Lions legend passes away. 
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