Ray Gravell dies

Snickers Man

Just heard that former Welsh and Lions centre Ray Gravell has passed away. He was only 56. Apparently he had diabetes which led to part of his leg being amputated earlier this year. Dunno whether that played a part in his demise.

It's very sad. He was one of the larger than life characters that you remember, a great big shaggy bearded crash ball centre. A passionate Welshman who spoke his own language fluently and always tried to get Irish guests on his radio show to talk their cupla focal.

He was always 100 per cent passionate and was famous for uttering before one match when he was really keyed up (presumably against England) "I'm going to get my first tackle in early today, even if it's late"

And you know he meant it.

Rest in peace big guy.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

toomevara

Lovely fellow, great player and a fine judge of the game,also a great lover and promoter of welsh culture, poetry and language....

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

RuggieBear

shame. seemed a really nice bloke.

chatted to him once or twice at lansdowne rd.

thebaz

always sad to see a good guy go -- i remember watching him as a kid , super centre

phog

I don't remember him as a player but I liked him as a broadcaster. He used to do a bit of sideline broadcasting for S4C and was never afraid of asking the coach, manager or even the 4th official for a comment on the game or a decision usually in his native tongue.

He was seriously sick last year for a while, I saw him recently on the TV during one of the ML games and thought he made a full recovery.

May he Rest In Peace.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

DMC

Here is a clip of Ray, at his first appearance in public post amputation, as mentioned at the Urdd Eisteddfod in May. You don't have to understand Welsh to know how much he meant to his fellow country folk from this clip.

I would have liked to have heard the Newstalk clip. Indeed, I would've also liked to have seen a tribute on S4C on Thursday night. They aired a repeat of a programme Ray did in 1998, which saw Ray visit his favourite city, Dublin.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Trojan

A lovely guy by all accounts, RIP.