I REALLY enjoyed your fitting tribute to John Bevan’s 70th birthday (Warrington Guardian, November 5).
A true hero of mine.
Warrington RLFC was blessed to have the services of both ‘Bevs’ playing for the club.
I was too young to enjoy Brian in his heyday and only saw him at the very end of his illustrious career.
I did, however, see him score ‘that try’ on Alex Murphy’s Testimonial when he put the ball down directly in front of me as I stood on the front terrace of the Railway End.
A very emotional moment.
John was also an incredible player.
He knew how to finish a move and was always aware of where the try line was.
He was also a perfect gentlemen off the field.
Just before John signed for the Wire, I was waiting for a bus on Knutsford Road when I saw this bloke with his wife walking up the road looking at various houses and I thought 'he looks like John Bevan'.
'No, it can’t be true' went through my mind.
They boarded the same bus, and as it approached Bridge Foot John got up and approached me asking ‘can you tell me where Wilderspool Stadium is?’ in his lilting Welsh accent.
I was so flabbergasted I could hardly speak the directions.
Within a few days, the club announced the signing of John Bevan.
What a capture!
Many years later I was attending a Challenge Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium in the company of Mike Nicholas (who else), when we met up with John and I reminded him that I was that young lad who directed him to Wilderspool on his very first visit.
John spent some time talking with me which made my Cardiff visit complete.
As I said earlier a great player and a true gentleman.
MICHAEL WILLIAMS Warrington
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