A Swindon star of both Rugby League and Union proudly led the Welsh national Masters Rugby League side as captain on to the iconic Cardiff Arms Park arena.
Born in the south-west village of Felinfoel, Alun Griffiths grew up with Welsh as his first language and Rugby as his religion.
Moving to Swindon to pursue his career as a fire-fighter, he joined the local Union club, earning his stripes as captain of Swindon in the 1989-90 season.
It was around this time that Rugby League started up in the town and Alun was keen to try his hand at the new code. He quickly established himself, playing mainly at halfback, and his dazzling skills, backed up by a steely defence, were never more in evidence than at Birmingham in 1992, when he put on a superb show in masterminding the fledgling outfit to its first ever trophy, the Midland Sevens Tournament.
His talents did not go unnoticed in the North, with big clubs showing an interest and St Helens being the most pressing, offering an extended trial that led to Saints lining up an offer to sign him on a contract.
However, a change in management saw the deal eventually fall through. Alun then moved to the Middle East to further his career, keeping his hand in playing Union with other expat Brits, but retiring from competitive action in 2014, undergoing a knee replacement during the following year.
Meanwhile, the Swindon League club eventually morphed into the now well-established St George setup and, two or three years ago, launched a Masters RL side, which Alun took to like a duck to water.
A St George spokesperson took up the story: "So much so that the Wales Masters RL squad came knocking, resulting in the pocket dynamo establishing himself as a valued member of the team in red. So much so, that he achieved the pinnacle of his career this weekend, facing Canada for the first time in the UK at League Masters level.
"The final try count was 3-0 in favour of Cymru, although every result in Masters RL by tradition is always recorded as 0-0. Griff admitted that it was a battering finale to the Canada Grizzlies Ireland and Wales tour, though his final comment was that ‘It’s never too late’, regarding himself of course, but perhaps he was also referring to the no less than eight players of Welsh heritage in the Swindon Masters side, including, of course, the already capped Rod Evans, so, along with the English contingent at Greenbridge Road, there could well be more international honours coming Swindon’s way!"
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