The game, between Pontypool and a Torfaen XV with representation from every club in the Torfaen area, will be played one day short of the 50th anniversary of the fateful day that the Wales Youth cap nearly died on the pitch at Webb Ellis Park, where Pontypool were playing Rugby. It will be an all pay game with £5.00 entry.
The 21-year-old Roger broke his neck in a scrum collapse in the 10th minute of the game. Had the Rugby club president not been a doctor who had a canister of oxygen in his car, he would probably have died before reaching hospital. As a result of the tragic accident, Roger broke cervical vertebra number 4 in his neck, significantly damaged his spinal cord and was paralysed from the neck down.
Despite his catastrophic injuries, Roger turned out to be a rather remarkable, resilient and inspirational young man. He was taken to the specialist unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital where he spent the next few years before being transferred to Rookwood Hospital in Cardiff, remaining there for the rest of his life until he was finally, moved to the University Hospital of Wales, Heath, Cardiff, where he died aged 65 on Friday, 26 March 2010.
Roger became the first player to receive help from the Welsh Rugby Charitable after it was set-up in 1972. By then he had been transferred from Stoke Mandeville to Rookwood, where he spent the next 40 years of his life.
A fund was set up for Roger and was very well supported by rugby clubs, companies and individuals from Wales and beyond. A special game was played to raise funds for the Roger Addison Appeal Fund on Wednesday, 26 April, 1967, when a Clive Rowlands XV were beaten 35-31 by a David Watkins XV at Pontypool Park.
This remarkable game, featuring a host of international players, attracted a crowd of 5,000 crowd and featured 16 tries, due in part to the fact that there were only 13 players on each team after a few players failed to arrive on time.
Clive Rowlands XV: Paul Wheeler (Aberavon), Peter Rees (Newport), Ken Jones (Newbridge), Stuart Davies (Swansea), Brian Davies (Neath), Benny Jones (Pontypool), Clive Rowlands (Swansea) (captain); John Lloyd (Bridgend), Brian Wilkins (Abertillery), Mike Williams (Pontypool), John Leleu (Llanelli), Jim Jarrett (Pontypool), Leighton Davies (Bridgend)
Scorers: Tries: Peter Rees 3, Benny Jones, John Leleu, Mike Williams, Jim Jarrett; Cons: Paul Wheeler 3, John Lloyd, Jim Jarrett
David Watkins XV: Richie Pugh (Pontypool), Jeff Palmer (Newport), Garvin Howells (Pontypool), Howard Shurn (Abertillery), W Lewis (Ebbw Vale), Mike Grindle (Ebbw Vale), Allan Lewis (Abertillery); Mel Leighton (Pontypool), Phil Morgan (Aberavon), Vic Perrins (Newport), Stuart Gallacher (Llanelli), Keith Poole (Newport), Haydn Morgan (Abertillery)
Scorers: Tries: Jeff Palmer 2, Garvin Howells 2, Mike Grindle 2, Keith Poole, Phil Morgan, Howard Shurn. Cons: Richie Pugh 2, Vic Perrins, Mike Grindle
Referee: Mr D Gwynne Walters (Gowerton)
There were three players involved in the game who had played alongside Roger at Rugby – Garvin Howells, Mike Williams and Jim Jarrett. The full team from Saturday, 5 November, 1966 was:
Pontypool (v Rugby): Jeff Lester; Laurie Daniel, Garvin Howells, Gary Rosser, Maldwyn Green; Lyn Targett, John Prince; Mike Williams, Roy Taylor, Roger Addison, Mel Leighton, David Husband, Mel Stiff, Brian Gregory, Jim Jarrett (captain)
Bob Jeremiah, the long serving Pontypool club secretary, used to visit Roger regularly and was part of a weekly rota of club members who trekked to Rookwood and never forgot a player who had learned his rugby at Twmpath Secondary School and played for Pontypool Schools and Pontypool Youth before gaining his Welsh Youth cap in the 9-6 defeat by France at Stade Larribau, Biarritz on Saturday, 14 March, 1964.
Roger made the first of his 79 appearances for Pooler at Pontypool Park in a 6-0 win against Oxford on Saturday, 28 March, 1964. He scored seven tries and was said to be as fast with the ball in his hands as some of the threequarters.
“Roger was told that no person who suffered that type of neck injury lived more than three years, but he was brilliant. He couldn’t move from the neck down and could only whisper ,so we had to lip read when we went to visit him,” said Jeremiah.
“He always asked about Pontypool and the players. He was presented with a photograph of the Welsh team who won the Grand Slam in 2005 signed by all the players, which he had hung over his bed in hospital.
“He was a good player who had a bright future in the game. Though he couldn’t move he had a wonderful sense of humour and he once told me he could run faster than a particular Pontypool winger and he joked about how he qualified for a bus pass when he reached 60.”
Roger was born at 5 Alton Terrace, Osborne Road, Pontypool, the youngest of seven children. Rugby was in his blood as his steelworker father had played as a forward for both Newport and Pontypool.
After leaving school Roger worked as a driver for the fruit, vegetables and fish merchants, Ruthers, of Pontymoile, then for the building contractors, W Branch of Abersychan, and finally at the hardware store, Sandbrook and Dawe, in Crane Street, Pontypool.
There he met his fiancée, Ann Haines, who worked in the office. They were engaged and due to marry in March, 1967, four months after that dreadful day at Rugby.
All the surviving players from the Pontypool team at Rugby, and who played in the Clive Rowlands XV v David Watkins XV match the following year, are being urged to attend the memorial match. Would those who will be attending please contact Ray Ruddick (e-mail: raymond.ruddick@sky.com).
