Eddie Butler: rugby’s lyricist found his words and his feet in a Pontypool jersey

The late writer and broadcaster, whose words decorated the Observer for so long, made his name in unlikely surroundings

On the face of it, Eddie Butler and Pontypool did not make a natural fit. Educated privately at Monmouth school and with an accent that was more home counties than Torfaen valley, the Cambridge University student could have been expected to graduate to establishment clubs such as Newport and Cardiff rather than one that played on a public park and were regarded by many in the Welsh media as neanderthal in their approach to the game.

But how it worked. Butler spent his 14-year playing career from 1976 with Pontypool, mucking in at a club he described as a commune. They were run then by Ray Prosser, a coach whose gameplan was forged when he toured New Zealand with the British & Irish Lions in 1959. His mantra was man-handlers not ball-handlers and he had no favourites. Even the renowned Pontypool front row of Graham Price, Bobby Windsor and Tony Faulkner knew they would face his wrath if they stepped out of line.