All of which only goes to show that at the time of his departure from Llanelli for Widnes, Davies was down on his luck and, in the parochial way of things Welsh, nowhere near as honoured in his own country as he became.The six years of his absence have lent more than a golden glow because, now that he is suddenly restored to the land and game of his fathers by joining Cardiff from Warrington, he is a figure of Messianic proportions. Hindsight showed that Wales, and the Lions of 1989, had lost an all-time great, but we did not know that then; nor did we realise that Davies was setting a trend that would be followed by another 13 Welsh internationals down to Scott Quinnell last year.
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Yet in what turned out to be his farewell international, Davies had captained Wales to one of the humiliations that were to become commonplace, a home defeat by Romania, and it is more or less certain that had he stayed in union he would have been relieved of the captaincy.In fact, I have heard it said he might even have lost his place in the team who then went into the 1989 Five Nations' Championship. It has generally been forgotten during the wistful years of Jonathan Davies's exile and the frantic days leading to yesterday's return that when Davies gave up on rugby union in January 1989 - thinking never to be allowed to return - his game was actually at its lowest ebb. At the time, regrettable though it was, Davies's departure did not quite seem the absolute calamity it was to become. Like Sir John Hall's participation in the game, the revolution in club rugby has only just begun..
Although he possesses no inalienable right to succeed in rugby there is an inexorability about his way which suggests he will. "If I can do it, there's nothing to stop you doing it," is his clarion call. "We are fighters in the North- east and the investment in the region by companies from all parts of the world over the last decade is a tribute to the excellence of our people."Hall's is no good-luck story or a simple rags-to-riches tale. The land, acquired by Hall for pounds 3m, is now worth upwards of 20 times that amount. With this sort of wealth, Hall can afford to be bold as he attempts to fulfil his sporting dreams.When Hall speaks in schools or to local business groups, he has the fervour of an Old Testament preacher. "Sir John wants to turn Kingston Park into a 20,000 all- seater stadium If we succeed, we'll fill it.
It's all about success - the following for the England team is proof of that. Interest in the game has gone through the roof since England started to do well. Winning three Grand Slams and getting to a World Cup final has done this, nothing else."I've got no doubt it can be achieved There's a lot of good players up here. And when Dean Ryan, Nick Popplewell, Steve Bates, Graham Childs, John Dixon and our other signings are eligible we shall have a very good team."Scale has never inhibited John Hall as he climbed his seemingly irresistible self-made way into the table of Britain's richest 500 after leaving Bedlington Grammar School in 1949. The son of a Northumberland miner, Hall qualified as a surveyor and then, in 1979, he raised pounds 1m to buy a plot of land in Gateshead which eventually became the site of the MetroCentre, Europe's biggest out-of-town shopping complex.Within seven years Hall's wager had produced spectacular dividends.
Twelve months later he applied his golden touch to Cleveland and purchased 6,000 acres from the Marquess of Londonderry which included the stately Wynyard Hall, where he and his wife Mae now live.Much of that acreage is being turned into a business park. The most recent big-name arrivals are the Korean giants, Samsung, who are investing pounds 450m in an electronics plant. Rob's here for five years, and in that time we expect to make a profit."Not surprisingly, Andrew agrees "People in the North-east are sports mad," he says. The decision, one suspects, contained no element of philanthropy."We're entering the game with our eyes open and we intend to be one of England's top 10 clubs," he says "It won't happen overnight But anyone in property like me, takes a long-term view.
"I've made my money out of the North- east," Hall is fond of repeating, "and I want to put some of it back into the North-east." What limited altruism there is in that aim is almost totally obscured by the hard-headedness with which Hall has entered rugby. But what we bought was a quality man, and I believe we have one in Rob Andrew."Within minutes of meeting Hall you realise that his enthusiasm for rugby is the consequence of a constant source of energy which would be impressive in a man half his age. He speaks at Ben Elton's speed with the conviction of a Margaret Thatcher as he looks at rugby's future and the prospects for the game on Tyneside in his and Andrew's care.Certainly there is an ego, though not self-aggrandisement: Hall already has enough monuments to satisfy that. Exciting isn't it?"Hall brushes aside questions about Andrew's lack of coaching experience "Kevin was a player when we signed him, just like Rob He had no coaching or managerial experience either. They will have their own newspaper and maybe a TV channel, dedicated to sport in the North-east.
