Is there a match youâve never been at? Waterford Carlow Wexford club matches Spurs Preston England cricket rugby football Lions test matches itâs hard to keep up.
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Thereâs an eerie echo of the death of John Peel in 2004 to the death of Eddie Butler today.
Both much loved cornerstones of BBC broadcasting, with rich and distinctive voices. Both recently turned 65. Both died unexpectedly in the autumn, in Peru.
While I wish Wales well at association footballâs World Cup this winter and acknowledge the principalityâs significant contribution to the history of the game, I cannot take the Welsh football team seriously as a representation of Wales and what it means to be Welsh. That honour will always fall to the Welsh rugby team, and to club rugby in the heartlands of Wales. A tradition forged by community, by hard men with a sense of duty who worked hard on the pitch and even harder off it. Even as the traditional occupations of Welsh society crumbled, that core identity remains.
Thereâs something about a classic Welsh voice and a particular type of Welsh man you trust implicitly. Thereâs a humility to the classic Welsh voice but a deep sense of pride in the best possible sense, and a sense of duty. A sincerity. There is no more trustworthy voice in the world. Itâs not a coincidence that Huw Edwards of Llanelli, a rugby man to his core, is the man the BBC trusts to deliver news of momentous events to the British people. What sort of a person would look at or hear Huw Edwards and not trust him? What sort of a person would listen to Cerys Matthews and not fall in love?
Welsh rugby has been blessed with men youâd trust with your life. What sort of person would not trust or not have trusted Ray Gravell, Scott Quinnell, Mike Ruddock, Ieuan Evans, Paul Thorburn, Bob Norster, Sam Warburton, Ken Owens, Alun Wyn Jones (possibly not Gareth Thomas given recent revelations). What sort of person would not go to war with these men? And what sort of person could ignore the stardust and the mystique they liberally sprinkled over the top of it all? Bennett, Edwards, JPR, JJ, Barry John, Shane Williams, Gavin Henson, Jonathan Davies x 2, the enigmatic coaching genius of Carwyn James, the man nobody really knew. What sort of person could not love Welsh rugby?
Is it a coincidence that the greatest Lions teams all had a Welsh core? No it isnât. The key to the success of Lions tours was always in making the English, the Scots and the Irish think they too were Welsh.
What sort of person would have listened to Cliff Morgan and not feel a connection with the soul of rugby?
What sort of a person would have listened to Eddie Butler as he weaved his intense lullabies over our airwaves and not have trusted this man implicitly, a man who represented all this, who was all this?
The great men of the commentary box taken too soon will never know how they set the rhythm of our lives, be it Pat McAuliffe, or Weeshie Fogarty, or Tom Rooney, or Tony Gubba, or Eddie Butler.
I cannot believe I will never again watch Wales play at the Millennium Stadium, hear Land Of Our Fathers, and then, for the next 80 minutes, Eddie Butler.
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Huw Richards, The Red & The White is a great read. Eddie Butler grew up in Monmouth right on the border. Both his parents were English.
Eddie narrated the definitive highlights package of London 2012.
Cliff Morgan was the original trailblazer for former Wales and British Lions players moving into the commentary box. Cliff was struck down in his commentary prime by illness albeit he did live into his 80âs.
One of the original captains on A Question Of Sport along with Sir Henry Cooper.
Why would you need to keep up, are you compiling a list?
Itâs an expression, not sure you need take it literally
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It was a snide comment,
It was
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Dont forget the 10 year tickets for Croke park
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Jesus fucking christ 
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Thatâs Chester the jester at his best. He should give up politics and focus on sport.
He has an incredible way of painting a scene. Youâd almost feel you were at it reading it.
Still being in prison for being sent off in a rubby match 42 years ago is a tad harsh to be fair.
Fair play if you read it all.
The art of speaking. It is art when when itâs done like this.
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There is something special about Welsh rugby. The actor Richard Burton speaking about his Dad working in the mines with the whole village, drinking ten pints a night and playing rugby at weekends. Raw. It seemed to be the sport of working classes there unlike over here.
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I am no big fan of Rugby Union but I have to say I have a genuine soft spot for Wales.
A real earthiness to it.
A Friday night Six Nations game at The Principality Stadium always comes across as a real proper occasion.
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Youve never met a bin man or docker from Limerick i take it?