Tumble men Marc Kinnaird and Robin McBryde are on tour in South Africa. (Image: Inpho/British & Irish Lions)
From Tumble beginnings to the world stage
For one small village in Carmarthenshire, nestled comfortably between Cross Hands and Pontyberem, the summer of 2021 is a showcase for its outsized ability to produce top-class rugby talent.
Like so many similarly-sized communities up and down the land, the village and its rugby club sprang up around the colliery, whilst the ‘Tumble’ name was taken from the local inn. The Great Mountain Colliery, “one of the largest and most productive in the Gwendraeth Valley”, closed in 1962, whereupon it appears they found a rich seam of rugby talent to mine instead.
In the same year the colliery closed, former club player Ken Jones went on his first British and Irish Lions tour (he would go again in 1966). Then came fly-half Gareth Davies, who after playing youth, seconds and first team rugby as a teenager for Tumble would go on to represent Wales and the Lions in the seventies and eighties.
Support is always strong for the Magpies on game day. (Image: Gwyn Edwards)
For many, the pleasure of wearing the club’s colours – black and white, hence the ‘Magpies’ nickname – is one that’s been handed down from father to son. If you grew up in the area, Parc y Mynydd Mawr was a cornerstone of your life, as Wales’ new assistant coach, Gareth Williams, can attest. His father, Peris, played hundreds of games for the club, captained them for three seasons, and is considered a club legend of its 1980s golden era.
“The club was a huge part of my upbringing,” says Williams. “Following Dad while he was a player, home and away, alongside friends who were children of Dad’s teammates. Aligned with a real strong junior section, it all led to a strong feel of community that naturally developed us as rugby players.
“I grew up with one ambition, to play rugby for Tumble RFC at senior level. I haven’t achieved that, just due to the path my rugby took me. But what was instilled in me by the club has stayed with me in all my playing and coaching experiences.”
Left: A young Gareth Williams on his father's shoulders. Right: Club legend Peris Williams in action.
New Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel was a contemporary of Williams. He started playing the game with the Tumble under-eights, following in the footsteps of his father, his grandfather, and his great uncle. Peel received his Wales Schoolboys cap while still a Magpie, before joining Llanelli and cementing his place as one of Wales’ all-time great scrum-halves.
Worth noting is that Tumble has produced not one but two World Cup winners. Wales and current British and Irish Lions analyst Marc Kinnaird was alongside Gareth Williams in the backroom staff for the Welsh team that sensationally clinched the Sevens World Cup trophy in Dubai in 2009.
Four years ago, Kinnaird enjoyed a magnificent swan song to his spell as player-coach for the first team. “We were playing the final game of the season at Aberaeron,” he recalls. “There were a few injuries, including some in the warm-up, so I had to go on the bench. I even ended up playing in the closing stages. We scored in the last minute of the game to get a bonus point which meant we won the league. It was a great trip on the way back, as you can imagine!”
Wales and Lions analyst Marc Kinnaird - flanked by fellow coaches Hugh Gustafson and Chris Davies - after the big game in Aberaeron. (Image: Gwyn Edwards)
Kinnaird still lives and breathes Tumble rugby. This past fortnight, he has been reunited with one of the club’s biggest names, Leinster’s Robin McBryde. Both wore their Tumble jerseys for the Lions ‘club social’ in Jersey last week. “Whenever Muccers and I are talking, the conversation always comes around to what’s happening in Tumble,” says Kinnaird.
McBryde moved to Tumble in 1994 when he was playing for Llanelli. “My son was born there in 1996, and then my second boy came along in 2000,” says McBryde, who is now the Honorary Vice-President of the club. “They started playing rugby for Tumble and I followed them throughout the age groups, helping out whenever I could. I got immense enjoyment from the trips I took with them, going to various clubs I’d never have visited otherwise.
“The club is the focal point of the village. I know how hard it is for grassroots rugby clubs to sustain that: being part of a club and the community that surrounds it is something that can get lost in today’s world, once players reach youth level.” McBryde has even arranged a visit from Warren Gatland in the past, adding a further sprinkling of rugby stardust to the place.
“The folklore of a rugby club that gets passed on through the generations, and the songs that are sung: this is what attracted me to rugby in the first place. The socialising and the camaraderie between players. I’m glad my boys got a taste of it and I’ve got Tumble to thank for that because of the warm welcome we got from the club.”
The club is rightly proud of its Lions connection, and in 2014, Peel, McBryde and Gareth Davies were there to open ‘The Lions Lounge’. “The players all pitched in to renovate that ourselves, with help from a couple of very kind sponsors,” explains Kinnaird. “We had boys with different skills all working on it together, which sums up what the club is all about really.”
"The club is the focal point of the village," says former Wales coach Robin McBryde. (Image: Gwyn Edwards)
Jeremy Goddard, the club’s vice-chairman, is in a buoyant mood about the future of Tumble – despite the pandemic putting an abrupt halt to its recent upward trajectory. Goddard, once a second row, is part of a small but hard-working committee that is doing everything to keep the club going strong.
“Covid came along at a particularly bad time for us because we were joint-top of Division 3 West B with Amman United and in the semi-final of the national bowl – so one game away from playing at Principality Stadium,” he says ruefully. “We had five buses booked for our semi-final against Abertysswg in Glynneath, which was due to be played a fortnight after our season got cancelled.
“It’s disappointing, but now that we’re back up and running, numbers in training have been good. We haven’t seen any drop-off in players and there’s no lack of motivation to get back to where we were.”
Tom Rogers, who's set to make his Wales debut this weekend, played youth rugby and his first senior game for Tumble. (Image, right: Gwyn Edwards)
While Tumble’s Lions contingent are preparing for their first game on South African soil this weekend, there is cause for celebration closer to home too. Gareth Williams will be helping to oversee Wales’ first Test of the summer series against Canada at Principality Stadium, whilst on the pitch will be debutant Tom Rogers. The impressive young Scarlet played a handful of games for the youth team after joining from nearby Cefneithin, and went on to make his first senior rugby appearance for the Magpies. He will become the eleventh former Tumble player to win a Wales cap.
Today, the club’s participation numbers suggest it maintains its place at the heart of the community. It runs twelve sides including a thriving junior section, a youth team and senior men’s and women’s sides. The club also hosts the Merched Mynydd Mawr Girls Hub.
Next year, Tumble celebrates its 125th anniversary. Don’t bet against this little village club producing more talent for the world stage in the coming years.
