In 1971 the victorious British & Irish Lions returned home to a rapturous welcome after securing the only series win over The Mighty All Blacks on New Zealand soil in History.
One player in particular had captured the public’s imagination. Barry John or “The King” as he was dubbed, was feted throughout the sporting community and my father…. inspired by Barry’s brilliance on the rugby field made his first attempt at capturing this mercurial rugby genius.
Dad had already made figures of Gareth Edward’s and JPR Williams in 1970 which had trigged something in the Welsh rugby publics curiosity. This recognition had emboldened my father to make the move from his “two sheds” studio system in Llantwit Road and purchase the disused pub on the Broadway soon to be known as the Groggshop.
This figure of Barry was one of the first pieces made at our new home and studio/ gallery. It is characteristic of my father’s early style, and I know he wouldn’t have looked forward to trying to capture the elusive Barry John in clay. Unlike his team mates on that famous tour…. Mervyn and Gerald Davies and other players with more distinctive features Barry’s film star looks weren’t easily caricatured. Dad did his best and looking back at this piece its importance lies in its significance to the whole genre of Groggs which was to follow.
It’s lovely to have this piece back on display for a while in our museum where it invokes great memories of getting to know Barry himself, who was always very encouraging to my father, helping us enormously to make the Groggshop what it has become today.
Thank you to Grogg collector Andrew for loaning this important piece to the museum for all to see.
