Rugby legend Ray Gravell dies on holiday

Nov 1 2007 Western Mail

FORMER Wales and British Lions rugby star Ray Gravell died unexpectedly last night while on holiday in Spain with his wife and children.

It is understood the 56-year-old suffered a heart attack while in Majorca with his wife Mari and two daughters Manon, 11, and eight-year-old Gwennan.

The popular television and radio broadcaster was diagnosed with diabetes five years ago.

In April of this year he was admitted to the West Wales General Hospital in Carmarthen where he first had to have two toes, and then later his right leg amputated after contracting a diabetes-related infection.

He stayed in hospital for several weeks but just weeks after leaving he made his first public appearance at the Urdd National Eisteddfod in Carmarthenshire.

Ray travelled around the country giving talks on diabetes and organised a number of events in aid of Diabetes UK Cymru in recent months including a golf tournament at Machynys Peninsula.

Capped 23 times by Wales, he was a member of the Grand Slam and Triple Crown-winning Welsh teams of the late 1970s and early 1980s and the 1980 Lions. Known as a powerful centre, Gravell played for Llanelli RFC between 1969 and 1985 and captained the side from 1980 to 1982. He was also part of the Scarlets team that beat the All Blacks in 1972.

After retiring from the game in 1985 he took the leading role in Bonner on S4C and later made an appearance in Louis Malle’s film Damage in 1992.

He has presented a number of chat and entertainment shows on both BBC Wales and BBC Cymru and is part of the BBC’s Welsh language commentary team.

Ray currently presented a show called I’ll show you mine on BBC Radio Wales with Frank Hennessy on Sunday nights.

He was due to hand out the shirts for the Wales game against the world champions South Africa at the Millennium Stadium at the end of November.

Speaking at the time of his amputation, Gravell had admitted feeling very gloomy, but messages of support poured in from all around the world with many players he had played against sending him their best wishes.