📍Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Neath Port Talbot, Wales
1947 – 1964“Gareth Edwards was born in July 1947 in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, a Welsh-speaking mining village at the head of the Amman Valley, between the coalfields and the Black Mountain, the son of a miner. It was a close community of chapels, terraced houses, rugby and the pits, and he grew up speaking Welsh at home, roaming the mountain and playing every sport going. At Pontardawe Technical School, his life was transformed by a teacher, Bill Samuel, who taught him maths, English, scripture and PE, ran the gymnastics club he joined and was warden of the village youth club. Samuel, a qualified football coach, saw the boy's extraordinary balance, speed and strength, and persuaded him to try playing scrum-half, a position he had never played, staying behind after school to train him. Gareth also excelled at gymnastics and athletics, played football for his village side and was signed by Swansea Town at sixteen. He played rugby for the local club, Cwmgors. With Samuel's help he won a sports scholarship to Millfield School in Somerset, where he became a schoolboy hurdles champion. He went on to Cardiff College of Education and, in 1967, at nineteen, won his first cap for Wales, becoming its youngest captain a year later. He is widely regarded as the greatest rugby player of all time, and his try for the Barbarians in 1973 is the most famous in rugby history. He was knighted in 2015, and has always credited Bill Samuel and Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen for making him.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today