Ivor Jones
Jones in New Zealand in 1930 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Birth name | Ivor Egwad Jones | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | (1901-12-10)10 December 1901 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Loughor, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 16 November 1982(1982-11-16) (aged 80) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Swansea, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ivor Egwad Jones CBE (10 December 1901 – 16 November 1982)[2] was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a back-row forward, mainly at flanker, for Llanelli and won 19 caps for Wales, three of them as captain.
Jones was born in Loughor and joined Loughor RFC after leaving school, playing his first match for them at the age of 15. After playing a few games for Swansea he moved to Llanelli in 1922. He played for Llanelli until 1938, apart from a short period with Birmingham in 1924–25, and scored more than 1,200 points for the club. He captained Llanelli from 1925 to 1928, 1930 to 1932 and 1933 to 1936, and led them to the Welsh club title three times between 1927 and 1933.
He won his first cap for Wales in 1924 against England and made his last appearance as captain against Scotland in 1930. He was selected for the British and Irish Lions on their tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1930 and played in all five tests. Jones was generally considered to have been one of the outstanding players on that tour, but was never selected for Wales again.
After retiring as a player, Jones became chairman of the Welsh selectors, President of the Welsh Rugby Union and a Justice of the Peace.
Author Peter Jackson said of him:[3]
No Lion, though, made as great an impact on New Zealand as Ivor Jones, the Llanelli back-row forward. They called him 'The King', and a few survivors of the oldest generation scattered around both islands still do. Jones, who devoted a lifetime to the service of Welsh rugby in many guises, including chairman of selectors and president, was almost a one-man team.
References
Rugby Union Captain | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Albert Jenkins | Llanelli RFC Captain 1925–1928 | Succeeded by David Evan John |
Preceded by | Llanelli RFC Captain 1930–1932 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | Llanelli RFC Captain 1933–1936 | Succeeded by |
- v
- t
- e
- Doug Prentice (Leicester and England) (captain)
- Henry Rew (Blackheath and England)
- Dai Parker (Swansea and Wales)
- WB Welsh (Hawick and Scotland)
- Brian Black (Oxford U. and England)
- Michael "Mike" Joseph Dunne (Lansdowne and Ireland)
- George Beamish (Leicester and Ireland)
- Jimmy Farrell (Bective Rangers and Ireland)
- John McDonald Hodgson (Northern)
- Henry O'Hara O'Neill (Queens and Ireland)
- Ivor Jones (Llanelli and Wales)
- Harry Wilkinson (Halifax and England)
- Samuel "Sam" Airey Martindale Martindale (Kendal and England)
- Douglas Kendrew (Leicester and England)
- HCS Jones (Manchester and England)
- Jack Bassett (Penarth and Wales)
- WG McG Bonner (Bradford)
- Carl Aarvold (Cambridge U. and England)
- James "Jim" SR Reeve (Harlequins and England)
- Jack Morley (Newport and Wales)
- Anthony "Tony" L Novis (Blackheath and England)
- R Jennings (Redruth)
- Harry Bowcott (Cambridge U. and Wales)
- Tommy Jones-Davies (London Welsh and Wales)
- Paul Finbarr Murray (Wanderers and Ireland)
- Roger Spencer Spong (Old Millhillians and England)
- Wilfred "Wilf" Henry Sobey (Old Millhillians and England)
- Thomas "Tom" Caldwell Knowles (Birkenhead Park)
- Howard Poole (Cardiff)