Anna Powell: Could Barry John’s granddaughter play football for Wales?

Powell’s parents are Lucy – one of John’s four children – and Merion, from Caerphilly, who left Wales for Australia in 2003.

The family would return to these shores to visit many of their relatives, and Powell recalls how Dadko – a Welsh word for grandfather – “didn’t worry about anything”.

“I have many memories of him,” Powell said. “But the memories I have are not of rugby legend Barry John. He was like a father figure to us all.

“He was throwing sweets at us in his flat overlooking the Llandaff fields. He was telling stories. He was very calm, relaxed and funny.”

When Powell was assigned to do a school project on a family member, John was the obvious choice.

As a result I contacted him for information about his legendary career in which he played for Llanelli, Cardiff, Wales and the British and Irish Lions.

“He was so energetic – he would come to the games and I could visualize everything. He was a great storyteller,” she said.

“You could see he had a lot of pride in Wales. But he didn’t say ‘I did this, you were absolutely fantastic’. He paid tribute to everyone.”

” He said [Sir] Gareth [Edwards] And JBR [Williams] They were great players to play with. “He was talking about the fun of playing rather than what he was doing.”