Newport ensure ‘Monkey’ sits at the top of the tree at last

EVEN now virtually 100 years after his death, Arthur ‘Monkey’ Gould retains a unique place in the Welsh rugby pantheon. He is the only player whose popularity triggered a chain of events that led to Wales cancelling matches against Scotland and Ireland.

They did so as a consequence of resigning from the International Rugby Board in protest at an ultimatum issued by the RFU over the status of Wales’ star player and captain, Gould. There is one striking similarity between the most famous of six brothers all of whom played for Newport and Dr WG Grace.

Just as English cricket showed its gratitude by contributing to a public fund for the celebrated doctor, so Welsh rugby did the same once the rugby correspondent of the South Wales Argus, WJ Townsend Collins, set the ball rolling by proposing a national testimonial on behalf of British rugby’s prototype superstar.

The Welsh Football Union, as they were known then, contributed the then vast sum of £50, a gesture which did not escape the beady eye of the RFU.

The fund for Gould raised enough money for the player to buy his house, ‘Thornbury’ in Clytha Park, Newport. The RFU instructed their clubs not to play any team picking AJ Gould. Wales then quit, cancelling fixtures against Ireland and Scotland before rejoining the Board the following year on condition that Gould never played again.

‘Monkey,’ so-called because of his boyhood acrobatics in swinging from tree to tree, duly retired at the age of 33. And now, 99 years later, a blue plaque is to be erected at the home where Gould lived until his premature death in 1919 at 54.

The plaque, a triumph for Newport RFC and others campaigning for such overdue recognition, was dedicated before the Dragons–Glasgow match at Rodney Parade on Friday night.