Barry John - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

As the authors of the official history of the Welsh Rugby Union, David Smith and Gareth Williams, wrote of him: "The clue to an understanding of his achieved style lies in what he could make others do to themselves. The kicking, whether spinning trajectories that rolled away or precise chips or scudding grubbers, was a long-range control, but his running, deft, poised, a fragile illusion that one wrong instant could crack, yet rarely did, was the art of the fly-half at its most testing. He was the dragonfly on the anvil of destruction. John ran in another dimension of time and space. His opponents ran into the glass walls which covered his escape routes from their bewildered clutches. He left mouths, and back rows, agape."

Gareth Edwards, in his 1978 autobiography, when describing John, wrote: "He had this marvellous easiness in the mind, reducing problems to their simplest form, backing his own talent all the time. One success on the field bred another and soon he gave off a cool superiority which spread to others in the side. Physically he was perfectly made for the job, good and strong from the hips down and firm but slender from the waist to the shoulders."

Gerald Davies, who played with John for Wales and the British Lions, in his 1971 autobiography when contrasting Gareth Edwards' and John's different temperaments described Edwards as "fiery and impulsive", but John was "...fairer, aloof and apart. Whilst the hustle and bustle went on around him he could divorce himself from it all; he kept his emotions in check and a careful rein on the surrounding action. The game would go according to his will and no-one else's..."

Rodney Webb, who represented England between 1967 and 1972, is quoted as saying "Barry John's punting was phenomenal. He could drop the ball on a sixpence and he could do it every time". Webb, who developed the modern rugby ball, believes that John can not be compared to modern kickers because "the modern ball is coated in a laminate, has dimpled surfaces, unobtrusive lacing and multi panels. In the seventies the balls soaked up water, swerved all over the place and were placed in the mud and slime when kicking for goal".

Barry John came third in the 1971 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, beaten by winner Princess Anne and runner-up George Best. John was one of the inaugural inductees of the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 1997 and in 1999 was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.