He won four caps for Wales at the age of 20, was crowned Welsh amateur heavyweight boxing champion and then turned professional in both rugby and boxing. He won four more caps for the Welsh Rugby league team, played in a Challenge Cup final at Wembley, beat a former French heavyweight champions and fought a draw with a future British heavyweight tile challenger.
Yet this multi-talented sportsman, a veritable giant of his day, standing 6’ 5” tall and weighing in at 16 stones, also had a tragic side to him. In 1946 he was taken to court for allegedly trying to gas his wife and finally committed suicide when faced with a mountain of gambling debts.
He was only 48 when he died, but he managed to cram a lot into his short life. Born in Abersychan on 3 November, 1903, he was the youngster of six children who followed his father and brothers underground as a colliery worker.
He joined Pontypool RFC at the age of 18 and was obviously a quick learner. In his first season Pooler were the second best side in Wales, but their standards slipped after that. He also played county rugby for Monmouthshire.
His performances finally grabbed the attention of the Big Five and he first appears in the final two trials ahead of the 1
924 Five Nations opener against England in Swansea. He was part of a dominant Eastern XV in an 11-11 draw with the Probables at Newport on 15 December and that performance earned him a move up into the Probables XV for the final trial on 14 January – a mere five days before the game against the English.
The defection to Oldham rugby league club of the experienced Neath forward Ambrose Baker may have helped his cause, but he had everything the selectors were looking for in his size, power and ability. There were 11 of the Probables team that made the cut for the game against England after triumphing 18-14.
The team was announced immediately after the trial and Evans was one of the nine new caps. ‘Observer’, writing in the Western Mail, said of the youngster’s selection:
“Steve Morris still holds his position as the best of our long-line forwards, and be has a fine protege in A. Evans (Pontypool), the youngest of the selected forwards—a tall, well-built youth still in his teens. Evans has won his place on sheer merit through the ordeal of the preliminary trials, and on Monday commanded attention for his resolute work. An amateur heavy-weight boxer with a future, this lad is destined to make his name in Rugbydom. He is typical of the great Monmouthshire forwards who have won respect for Welsh forward play.”
It was an extraordinary season for Wales as the selectors chopped and changed continuously as the team went from bad to worse. The Twenties was a poor decade for Welsh rugby with five seasons only producing one victory in the four games.
The title was won outright for the first time in 11 years in 1922, but the only win in 1923 had come against the French. The 1924 campaign began with a game against an England team beaten only twice in 16 games since international rugby had resumed post-WWI.
Wales were led by a different captain in each of their four Championship matches in 1924 and Evans was one of 23 new caps and 35 players used over the course of the Championship.
THE CHOPPING AND CHANGING IN THE WELSH TEAM IN 1924
| Date | Score | Venue | Debuts | Changes |
| 19 Jan | Wales 9 – 17 England | St Helen’s | 9 | 13 |
| 02 Feb | Scotland 35 – 10 Wales | Inverleith | 4 | 7 |
| 08 Mar | Wales 10 – 13 Ireland | Arms Park | 6 | 10 |
| 27 Mar | France 6 – 10 Wales | Colombes | 4 | 6 |
Evans, at 20 years and 85 days of age, couldn’t have faced a more daunting debut than against Wavell Wakefield’s England. They may have been the reigning Grand Slam champions, but they arrived at St Helen’s for the opening game of their Championship season seeking their first win in Wales since WWI and a first win in Swansea since 1895.
Wales had first use of the wind and Tom Jones opened the scoring with the first try after 20 minutes to give the 35,000 crowd something to shout about. England recovered to lead 11-3 at the break and a fourth try three minutes into the second half stretched their advantage to 14-3.
Wales hit back with two more tries of their own from Albert Owen and Codger Johnson and those scores set up a tense final quarter. Then a second try from one of England’s five debutants, Percy Park wing Carston Catheside, put the game beyond doubt
Up against Evans in the English second row was the man who was to lead the British & Irish Lions to South Africa that summer, and who already had two Grand Slams to his name, Ron Cove-Smith. He didn’t fair badly in a game of eight tries, five of them to an English side bound for back-to-back Grand Slams, yet still found himself being dropped by the selectors.
On reflection, being left out of the game in Scotland two weeks later wasn’t such a bad thing. The Scots ran riot, scoring eight tries and 35 points to notch unwanted Five Nations records on the Welsh team. Their 25 point victory margin was also a record.
Four of the home tries came from their wings, three of which the Oxford University student Ian Smith scored himself, and they led 22-0 at half-time. That was another unwanted record which stood until 1987 and the World Cup semi-final defeat to New Zealand, when the All Blacks raced into a 27-0 lead.
The day after the massacre the Welsh team were taken on the traditional ride to see the Forth Road Bridge and were urged by the chief selector, Tommy Schofield, to “take a good look at it boys, it’s the last time any of you will see it at the expense of the Welsh Union.”
There was a quick return for Evans for the game against the Irish in Round 3 as Schofield and his fellow selectors made 10 changes from the side that was overrun at Inverleith. Evans was originally in the selected side, but when the highly experienced Steve Morris was sent off for kicking while playing form Cross Keys against Gloucester the week before he was drafted in.
It was a famous occasion for Welsh rugby as the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII, and his brother the Duke of York, the future King George VI, both attended the game. Joining them in the ‘Royal Box’ was the Labour Prime Minister, James Ramsay MacDonald.
The Irish arrived having beaten the French, but having gone down to both England and Scotland. They were hoping to halt a run of nine successive defeats on Welsh soil and did so with a 13-10 victory that included tries by brothers Frank (17) and Tom (19) Walsh scored tries.
The game at the Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday, 8 March was only the first of two big sporting events for Evans that day. Shortly after showering he took a short walk across the City centre to the Drill Hall to conduct another battle, this time for the Welsh Amateur Boxing heavyweight title.
He had warmed-up for the event, in which he was one of four contenders, by taking part in an exhibition in Hereford against one of three ‘White Hopefuls’ promoted by the American Tex O’Rourke. It seemed innocent enough until Evans trod on the toe of his much bigger Liverpudlian opponent, Ike Ingleton, and turned the exhibition into a tear-up.
Ingledton responded with a fierce jab that bloodied the Welshman’s nose and Evans’s response came in the form of some fierce body shots. He was forced to take some punishment before the end of the three rounds, but it obviously got him in shape for the following weekend.
In his opening bout he had to face the Cardiff rugby player Andrew Dalrymple. He knocked him out in the second round with “a well-timed body punch”. That meant a final against Glynneath’s Morgan Cole, who had received a bye in the first round when Oxford University’s A.H Williams had been withdrawn.
He won the title, although the Western Mail reported that “it is probable he didn’t reproduce his best form.” Hardly surprising given he had played 80 minutes of rugby in the afternoon and the championships went on until close to midnight.
His performance at the Arms Park ensured he retained his place for the trip to Paris to face France in the final round of the Championship. Once again the selectors tinkered with the side and even made one final change en route to Paris when they suspended full back Ossie Male for breaking the rule of playing for his club the weekend before the game.
Male had helped out a weakened Cardiff at Birkenhead Park five days before the clash with the French on Thursday, 27 March. After a private meeting in the saloon car on the London-bound train they decided Male had broken the Union’s Bye-Law 14 in playing six days before an international.
It seemed a bit rich given the selectors themselves had broken the same Bye-Law by insisting the Final trial prior to the England match went ahead five days before the game at St Helen’s. That was obviously different!
Male was ignominiously dropped, let off the train at Paddington and didn’t play for Wales again for three years. It meant Mel Rosser had to switch to full back and Joe Jones was re-introduced out of position at centre.
The game at least salvaged some Welsh pride with tries from Ernie Finch and Arnold Rickards central to a 10-6 triumph. The French also scored two tries to take the Championship tally against Wales to a record 18. At least Evans had tasted success at last on the international field.
WALES IN THE 1924 FIVE NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP
V England – Lost
Joe Rees (captain); Melbourne Thomas, Arthur Cornish, Hunt Davies, Codger Johnson; Albert Owen, Eddie Watkins; Tom Jones, Charlie Pugh, Glyn Morris, Ivor Thomas, Candy Evans, Steve Morris, Bill Ould, Ivor JonesV Scotland – Lost
Ossie Male; Harold Davies, Jack Elwyn Evans, Mel Rosser, Codger Johnson; Vince Griffiths, Eddie Watkins; Tom Jones, Charlie Pugh, Glyn Morris, Jack Whitfield (captain), Gwynn Francis, Steve Morris, Bill Ould, Ivor JonesV Ireland – Lost
Ossie Male; Rowe Harding, Jack Wetter (captain), Pete Evans, Cliff Richards; Vince Griffiths, Eddie Watkins; Dai Parker, Charlie Pugh, Jack Gore, Jack Whitfield, Candy Evans, William Jones, Bob Randall, George HathwayV France – Won
Mel Rosser; Rowe Harding (captain), Bert Stock, Joe Jones, Ernie Finch; Vince Griffiths, Eddie Watkins; Dai Parker, Charlie Pugh, Jack Gore, Arnold Rickards, Candy Evans, Steve Morris, Bob Randall, George Hathway
It wasn’t just the players who suffered the repercussions after one of the worst Championship campaigns on record. The Swansea RFC vice-president Lewis Jones led a call for a shake-up in the administration of the Union and another Swansea man, Ernest Davies, recommended setting up a sub-committee “to consider whether the present method of selecting international players can be improved”.
Less than two months after the Paris victory the WRU General Committee, which a year previously had rejected out of hand a reduction to five of the unwieldy Match Committee, had sanctioned a change. The ‘Big Five’ was born!
As for Evans, he continued with his boxing and in the summer of 1924 turned professional. Having dispensed with PC Frank Stephens in seven rounds of their clash at Virginia Park, Caerphilly, he then found himself disqualified two weeks later for pushing the future Welsh heavyweight champion Tom Norris through the ropes in the 11th round of their clash at the same venue.
As Norris went to his knees, Evans hit him while he was down and the referee was left with no other decision than to disqualify him. His pro career lasted nine years and contained 13 fights, only two of which he won. His biggest success was in stopping the former French heavyweight champion Marcel Nilles inside three rounds of their 15 round contest in London.
The 1924-25 season saw great excitement in Wales with the arrival of the second All Blacks. The big game against Wales was scheduled for 29 November at St Helen’s and Evans was very much in the frame to tangle with the tourists.
He was selected in the Probables XV for the first trial in their 23-11 victory at Aberavon on 16 October. Two weeks later he was in the Home Welsh side that beat the Anglo-Welsh 15-9 at Newport. The Final Trial was set for 17 November at Cardiff Arms Park and Evans was once again picked in the top team.
But just as he seemed set to meet the New Zealanders he decided to take another course in his sporting career. Two days before the trial in the Welsh capital, and a mere two weeks before the international against the All Blacks, he signed professional forms and headed ‘North’ to Halifax for the princely sum of £325.
Arthur at Halifax
It was a well trodden route for Welsh international players and Evans’ signing-on fee topped the £300 Oldham had paid to capture Ambrose Baker in January and was also £45 more than his Pontypool team mate Will Price received for joining Swinton two weeks earlier. In today’s monetary terms it was worth around £20,000.
His defection was one of 35 to the rugby league code by Welsh internationals during the Twenties and he was joined in the 13-a-side game by Neath scrum half Eddie Watkins, Penarth centre Mel Rosser and Swansea centre Jack Evans from the Class of 1924.
His rugby league career saw him have two spells at Halifax, a season at Leeds, another at Castleford and three years at Warrington. He also went on loan to Leigh for three matches in 1937.
He teamed up with Watkins at Halifax and they both featured in the 1926 victory over the touring New Zealand Kiwis. The 19-13 win at Thrum Hall was the first defeat suffered by the tourists in their third outing.
It was the first of a hat-trick of wins that Evans enjoyed over touring teams. While he was at Leeds he scored a try in the famous 8-7 win over the 1929 Australian tourists at Headingley. He scored a try and was one of half-a-dozen Welshmen in the home side, five of which were ex-union internationals – Joe Thompson, Mel Rosser, Evan Williams, Dan Pascoe and Evans himself.
At Warrington he helped his new club to win the Lancashire Cup, beating St Helens 10-9 in the final at Wigan in 1932, and later that same season went to the 1933 Challenge Cup Final with them at Wembley. They lost that game to Huddersfield.
He certainly left his mark at Warrington by scoring two tries in the 15-12 win over the touring Australians in October, 1933. He also played against the Kangaroos for Wales at Wembley in 1930 and 1933.
They were two of his four appearances for Wales. His debut came against England in a 39-15 defeat in Cardiff in 1928 while he was at Halifax. He also faced England at Huddersfield in 1931, when he was at Castleford.
He became a publican in Halifax, taking over the Friendly Inn, after hanging up his boots and his brush with the law came in 1946 when he was arrested for allegedly trying to gas his Welsh wife, Olga. The case was ultimately dismissed, but it was the start of a downward spiral in his life that led to a split with his wife.
He returned to his roots to live in Pontypool region, by which time he was drinking and gambling heavily. He ballooned to 20 stone and lost the money he had made in his career on the dogs and horses as a ‘professional gambler’.
He eventually ended it all on 7 January, 1952, by committing suicide in the front room of his sister’s house. He was 48.
