Spurs stories | The Lions rugby legend who loved Spurs...

On the eve of the first Test match of the British Lions' tour of Australia in Brisbane on Saturday, we can reveal that Barry John, one of rugby union's all-time greats, was a Spurs fan.

Nicknamed 'The King' by media in New Zealand after his performances against the All Blacks in the famous Lions tour of 1971, Barry's family were visitors to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last season, where they told us that Spurs very much runs in the family - started by Barry - and how he loved to watch fellow Welsh great, double-winner and Spurs legend, Cliff Jones, in his trophy-laden heyday.

"Dad always told us back in day, when he was growing up in Cefneithin, and they were all watching football, or listening to it on the radio more likely in a mining community, he just loved Tottenham as a team and obviously you had Cliff Jones, Terry Medwin... there's there's a big connection between Wales and Tottenham, always has been, and dad loved the way they played," explained his son, David.

"As his son, the first team I picked out was Tottenham - everyone follows their parents, don't they? For me, it was Gary Mabbutt and that era, and then we got Gareth Bale, another Wales legend!

"We've always followed Spurs as a family. My niece is over here from Perth and is a mad Spurs. She's in university in Texas, playing for the soccer team at a good standard. We love the team, always love Spurs and dad did as well. It's beautiful to be here."

Barry sadly passed away in February, 2024. He didn't get to visit Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in person, but he was at White Hart Lane back on 1 November, 1986, for a First Division match against Wimbledon, as David explained - he's kept the tickets from that day, almost 29 years ago.

"These are the tickets from the last time we were here, at White Hart Lane. These are my dad's tickets - West Upper, £11. I think the story is that Steve Perryman knew dad, because he played in pro-am charity games and I think we got these through Steve.

"The new stadium... he would always watch games on TV and say, 'top notch that stadium, I wouldn't have minded playing there'. He would have been knocked out by it."

Capped 25 times by Wales (1966-72) and five times by the British Lions, Barry cemented his reputation in the Lions victorious tour of New Zealand in 1971. Lions won the series 2-1 - he scored 30 of their 48 points over the four Tests and a record 191 points across the tour.

He was third in the 1971 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, beaten by winner Princess Anne and runner-up George Best. He was also one of the inaugural inductees of the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 1997 and in 1999, inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame. In 2015 he was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

Bringing things completely up to date - as the Lions prepare to faces the Aussies in the first test in Brisbane on Saturday - Barry was recently named on a Lions Top 10: Icons list on BBC's Rugby Union Weekly podcast, by a panel including Matt Dawson, Jamie Roberts and Chris Jones, the BBC rugby union correspondent, underlining his impact at the very pinnacle of the sport.

It left one question for the John family - what's it like to be the family of one of the best-ever rugby players?

"
Dad was a very, very humble, so man, so things like this... he just loved sport," said his daughter, Lucy. "His gift was to always say to people, 'enjoy what you do, if you're playing rugby, whatever you're doing, just enjoy it' and he he just he was just a gentle, humble miner's son who just happened to be... (one of the best rugby players of all-time?)... yes, but you wouldn't know!"

David added: "I was born in 1976, dad retired in 1972, so I never saw him play, but obviously I've seen all the footage with the Lions and he was a remarkable player. It's just fun, isn't it? In Wales, we say it's a lot of 'hwyl', a lot of happiness and joy. 
This is hwyl. It's such a good moment for all of us."