What became of the cult 1980s Welsh rugby player who fate denied a Wales cap for five long years

Roger Bidgood almost gave up on his dream of appearing for Wales, even contemplating retirement as the years ticked by following the freak circumstances that robbed him of his big chance.

The popular centre had been picked for his debut to face Ireland in Cardiff in the 1987 Five Nations before heavy snow and ice forced an almost unprecedented postponement.

“John Devereux was injured and I got the call after playing in the Probables versus Possibles trial match,” recalls Bidgood more than 30 years on.

“But the game was called off and John was fit for the next match Wales played and that was my chance gone. It was deeply frustrating at the time."

The next five years were to prove exceptionally long ones as the gods continued to deny him his dream.

Bidgood was a firefighter based at Whitchurch, where he actually trained with Sam Warburton’s father, when he got a telephone call on the night before a game against England following the Irish match that never was. Was this to now be his chance?

“I was in work on a Friday night when the phone rang. I was told to get down to the National Stadium the following morning for the Five Nations clash with England because there was an injury doubt over a player,” he explains.

“I was due to work the Saturday night as well and had to ask my boss if I could have time off.

“He agreed but when I arrived at the ground on the Saturday there was a tap on the window of the car as I parked up.

“I hadn’t even got out but this figure said: ‘We don’t need you, you can go now’.

“Another time I was on the way to Scotland for international weekend as a supporter with Alun Carter, who played alongside me for Pontypool and Newport and my centre pal Keith Orrell.

“We were at a hotel in Newcastle when I got a call again on the Friday to go to the Wales team hotel in Scotland on the Saturday because one of the players needed a fitness test.

“So I didn’t have a drink and we left early the following morning for Edinburgh but the player in question was passed fit.

“Then I did my shoulder in and needed an operation. I had a year out of the game and I actually thought of retiring.”

But the tough-tackling midfielder decided to give it another go and was finally picked on merit for his debut against Scotland in the 1992 Five Nations.

There wasn’t any way he was going to give up the Wales jersey he wore that day, which still takes pride of place in his Caerphilly home.

“It was something special to finally get my cap, after all those years of trying and waiting,” he grins.

“I never swapped any of my Wales jerseys because they meant so much to me. My debut was in Cardiff alongside Scott Gibbs and Neil Jenkins in midfield.

“We won the game and ‘Gibbsy’ disappeared afterwards. I didn’t know but he had gone next door to the Scotland dressing room and swapped his jersey with Scott Hastings.

“Gibbsy reappeared and gave me Scott’s jersey, which I couldn’t believe. Jenks had the match-ball and gave me that too, which was another lovely gesture.

“Ieuan Evans, Kevin Phillips and I had been all due to win our first caps against Ireland all those years before.

“Ieuan and Kevin got their caps that season and when mine finally came Kevin, even though I only played against him when he was with Neath and didn’t really know him, wrote me a lovely letter congratulating me on being selected.

“Sean Lineen, who I had partnered in the centre at Pontypool, had sent me a telegram before the game that never was with Ireland.

“And, five years later, guess who I was up against? Sean. He and Scott Hastings were mainstays for Scotland and a heck of a centre partnership.”

Bidgood made another four appearances and is a rarity in that he possesses an unblemished winning record with Wales.

But his career came to a shuddering halt after he suffered another serious shoulder injury in an uncapped match with Italy, prompting his retirement.

“I had chased an up-and-under and clobbered their full-back. I knew, as soon as it happened my first-class days were over because, if truth be told, I had been playing on borrowed time.

“It was the amateur days and my career in the fire service was more important, it was paying my mortgage and was my only income.”

Still looking fit at 54, Bidgood has taken part in some charity matches in more recent times.

His days in the fire service are behind him but he’s now fulfilling another public role as a Plaid Cymru councillor on Caerphilly Town Council.

“I don’t speak Welsh but, as a proud Welshman, there was only one party I could stand for,” he said.

“Lindsay Whittle (Plaid councillor) and Lynne Hughes, who was married to ex-Welsh secretary Ron Davies, said I should stand for election.

“I knocked on a lot of doors and got elected. One of the first things I had to deal with was a broken lock on a security door at a block of flats in Caerphilly.

“A council tenant contacted me and asked for my help. I asked him if he had been in touch with the housing department of the council.

“He said: ‘Yes, I’ve spoken to Muhammad Ali’.

“I wasn’t sure if it was a wind-up so asked the man for his name and address so I could check it out with the housing department.

“He said: ‘Gareth Edwards’.

“So I had a guy purporting to have dealt with someone bearing the name of one the world’s most well-known boxing figures while possessing the same name as the world’s greatest rugby player.

“I didn’t say anything to him but when I went to the council I found out to my surprise there was a Muhammad Ali working there and the complainant’s name was indeed Gareth Edwards.

“It was certainly an intriguing start to life as a councillor, just like the kick-off to my Wales rugby career had been!”