KEITH MADDOCKS
It is with deep regret that Neath rugby has learned of the death of Keith Maddocks, one of the Club's finest left wing threequarters who played for the All Blacks in the 1950's and earned one Welsh cap.

Born in Resolven in 1927, Keith Maddocks first attracted attention at Cowbridge Grammar School where he was an outstanding athlete and was the Welsh Schools junior AAA 100 yards champion. He made his Neath debut in the 1949/50 season when he scored three tries and soon became a regular try-scorer for the All Blacks, notching 87 in all over a period spanning eight seasons.

He scored 12 tries in his first full season 1951/52 which was the year when a certain Billy Boston, later to find fame and fortune with Wigan RL, partnered him in the Neath threequarter line. Welsh trial appearances soon followed as did an appearance for the Neath-Aberavon side that lost 5-11 to New Zealand in 1953-54.

Season 1956/57 was Keith Maddocks' best. He captained the Welsh All Blacks that season and on November 24th scored 6 tries to equal the Club's try and points scoring record in a match against Ebbw Vale who, it should be noted, had double-booked the game. He scored some 27 tries in 1956/57 and gained his solitary Welsh cap against England at Cardiff on January 19th. In his excellent and authoritative "History of Welsh International Rugby", John Billot wrote :-

"Neath wing Keith Maddocks, in his only game for Wales, wandered offside almost in front of his goalposts as Peter Thompson, the England wing, threw in at a lineout some 15 yards from the Welsh goal-line. Referee "Sandy" Dickie (Scotland) spotted Maddocks and the penalty award meant an easy goal by Fenwick Allison after 32 minutes. It was the only score and England who deserved to win went on to take the championship with an unbeaten record."

Alongside Keith Maddocks in the Welsh XV that day were two of Neath's greatest forwards in Courtenay Meredith and Rees Stephens and the latter always maintained that Maddocks who did not receive a single pass and, being at the time of the incident on the far side of the action well away from play, was harshly treated for what was but a momentary lapse of concentration …. as with many Neath backs through history, the selectors preferred to find fault rather than favour !

Keith Maddocks undertook teacher-training at St. Luke's College, Exeter and was a member of their most successful sides in the early 1950's. When his Neath days were over, he returned to the West Country where he married a local girl and taught at St. Boniface's school, Plymouth.

Keith Maddocks played his final game for Neath before I was born but his record speaks for itself. The best of successors to his No.11 jersey like Hywel Williams, Alan Edmunds and Shane Williams had a lot to live up to and his rugby character is perhaps best summed up by the fact that he was considered good enough to captain the Welsh All Blacks at a time when they had three British Lions - Meredith, Stephens and Roy John - in their ranks. MP