The Swansea-born, Pembrokeshire-educated Tregidon was in charge of proceedings as chairman on Sunday, 4 April, 1993, when the clubs forced out the General Committee at an SGM. At the end of the dramatic gathering in Port Talbot, the President and one of his predecessors, Hermas Evans, were charged with running the Union’s affairs as Trustees.
The committee were voted out of office en masse at the end of a three hour meeting. The controversial Vernon Pugh Report into how 10 players and six committeemen went to South Africa to join in that country’s centenary celebrations in 1989 was at the heart of the issue.
But so, too, was one of the bitterest battles in the history of the WRU, with treasurer Glanmor Griffiths and secretary Denis Evans at the centre of a feud that began with Griffiths being forced out of office before he was swept back into power by the member clubs at that extraordinary April meeting in 1993.
Born in the early months of 1935, Tregidon became the first Welsh Secondary Schools cap from Pembroke Grammar School. He played at outside half in three games in 1953, guiding Wales to a 9-6 away win in France and an 8-0 win against England in Cardiff after the Yorkshire Schools had notched their first win over the Welsh since in 21 years in the opening fixture.
The Pembroke Grammar School wrote this about his season in the 1953 Welsh Secondary Schools side:
For the Yorkshire game, Tregidon was selected to play at full-back, and it says much for his versatility that he settled down to his new position immediately, and played so well that G. W. Abbott in the February issue of the periodical. “Rugger” described him as the “outstanding player in the match.”
Tregidon again appeared as full-back in the Wales v Rest, Final Trial in February, and after three different outside halves had been tried in the game, he was brought back to his original position of outside half to play against the Welsh Youth at Pontypool. This proved to be a wise change which transformed the team, with the result that all three subsequent matches were won comfortably. Against France, Tregidon played his best game ever, but against England his play received a mixed reception from the critics, and although none gave serious adverse comment, some thought that he overdid the tactical kicking. The truth is that Tregidon played very intelligently indeed, and varied his play as any good outside half should do. The two Welsh centres that day, with plenty of opportunities, neglected two good wings, and Tregidon rightly tried to give the wings the opportunities they deserved.
His fourth and final cap came against England in 1954, when he was in the team that won 6-3 in Leicester. At the end of the 1953-54 season, at the age of 19, he made his first appearance in a first-class match when he filled the No 10 shirt for Swansea at St Helen’s against the Harlequins.
He did his National Service in the RAF before heading to Loughborough Colleges to study to become a teacher. He played alongside some great players at Loughborough, including No 8 Alun Pask, who went on to captain Wales and tour twice with the British & Irish Lions.
Graham Trogidon was the first boy from Pembroke Dock Grammar School to be awarded an international cap
Brian Wightman, a future England cap, was in the back row alongside Pask and the side captain by Tim Carris, and featuring Tregidon at full back, won the UAU title for the fourth time in 1958 with a 14-0 win over University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, at Boughton Hall, Chester. Tregidon was captain of the university side the following season, when they beat Manchester in the final.
At the end of the 1958 season he played for Pembrokeshire in the Welsh Counties Cup Final against Glamorganshire at Stradey Park. Glamorganshire won 11-5, but he had the chance to win the game with his boot. He missed with five of his six kicks at goal and then got carried off on a stretcher in the dying minutes after badly injuring his leg.
He played for a number of clubs across south Wales and was in the Penarth team that went down 26-22 to the Barbarians in 1961 after spending a full season with the Seasiders. Tregidon married in Pembroke in 1960 and started working as a craft teacher at Canton High School, where he taught until retirement.
He was heavily involved in rugby coaching at the school and became the secretary of the Welsh Schools Rugby Union in 1984, a post he held until the 1990s. He became a life member of the Welsh Schools Senior Group and was assistant manager on the 1983 tour to Canada.
In 1978 he took over from T Rowley Jones as one of the Schools Union’s two representatives on the WRU General Committee, a position he held right through to his presidency.
The WRU sends sincere condolences to the family and friends of its former President, especially to his wife, Ann, and his two sons.
