Redemption of the Axeman

Autobiography by Chris Jones. Known as a violent hard man during his colorful playing career with Treorchy RFC, he then turned coach and helped take Treorchy from the rugby doldrums to the top of the old Welsh Premiership and qualification for Europe, inspiring a BBC TV documentary series about the team: 'The Dream'. He went on to coach Pontypridd RFC, introducing the likes of Neil Jenkins and Dale McIntosh into senior rugby. He had built a reputation for violence on the pitch and off and for producing violent rugby teams, and is the only player ever to have been banned for life twice! His free time was full of drink, drugs and brawling. No-one could have predicted the remarkable turnaround his life would take when, wrongly accused of stabbing a police officer, he turned to God in a police cell in Brecon. He embraced his new faith and was challenged by it to provide a positive role model to the children of the Rhondda. He has been Rhondda Schools Rugby Development Officer for over 30 years, during which time the Rhondda Under 15s have won the prestigious Welsh Schools Dewar Shield ten times and been losing finalists six times, having never won it before. Since 1997, dozens of players who have come up through the system he heads have represented Wales at age group and senior levels, including 12 full internationals, a Wales captain and a British & Irish Lion.