Sporting Marvels’ chief: his journey from rugby to God

Phil became a Christian on the 21st February 1993. He describes the event as the most fantastic moment of his life and a massive turning point.
A law graduate who was born to a good family, Phil’s pre-Christian life (he was once described as ‘an intellectual thug’) was one of unfulfilled potential. In all areas - career, academic, sport, and in his personal life - Phil readily admits that he under-achieved and that some areas were out-and-out disasters. Two failed marriages, a collapsed business & personal bankruptcy, and a failed rugby career that should have seen him achieve international honours but instead ended prematurely due to the threat of a life ban for violent conduct - all indicated that something was seriously wrong.

The low point for Phil came in the summer of 1992 some six months after his once successful business had gone bust. He had no job, was down to his last £80 and, struggling to know what to do next, felt as though the future was as bleak as it could get. Then, sitting in his luxury home that he had just heard was going to be repossessed, there was a knock at the front door.

It was his good friend, Clive Jones. Phil, Clive and Clive’s brother Chris, had been friends since they were eleven and twelve but during the previous six years had not seen very much of each other. Clive was head coach at Treorchy Rugby Club and said that he would get Phil installed as Commercial Manager - a miracle in itself given Phil’s acrimonious departure from the club he had captained and coached some nine years earlier. Phil thought the club wouldn’t go for it, but Clive was very confident. What Phil didn’t know was that Clive had God on his side, and the job was duly offered and accepted!

Phil said, ‘Working so closely with Chris and Clive, I noticed how different they both were from before. They didn’t push it, but I knew that Jesus was a real big deal for both of them. Quietly, I resolved to have a look at the church they constantly talked about. As a complete cynic, I knew that had it been anyone other than Clive and Chris I wouldn’t have bothered. After all, I had never been in a church other than for a wedding or a christening. The point was, I knew both of them to be hard, highly intelligent people. Neither was brainwashable and certainly not the sort that needed a crutch.’

As someone who was perceived to be dangerous, Phil was more used to being banned from establishments rather than being welcomed! However, he loved the warmth of welcome he received at the church and though he would never have admitted it to anyone at the time, resolved to return the following week. He became a regular attender and slowly, began to warm to what he describes as ‘the intellectuality of the teaching’ from inspirational pastor, John Bullock. Four months later, his cynicism consigned to the dustbin, the bolt of lightning came - not literally but spiritually. He said, ‘I had reached the place both in my heart and in my mind where I realised that Jesus is who He says He is - the Son of God. In the middle of the worship, I just held my hands up, acknowledged Him as my Lord and Saviour and asked Him into my life.’

In the years that have passed since that February day in 1993, Phil’s life has changed dramatically. Phil is now happily married and between him and his wife Benita, they have a household of five children! Phil’s role as the architect of Treorchy’s meteoric rise to the top of Welsh rugby and the BBC’s documentary series The Dream put him in the game’s shop window and Wales’ big clubs have been keen to recruit his services ever since. After five years with Treorchy, and an eleven month spell with Llanelli, Phil became Commercial Director of Cardiff. Eighteen months later and sensing the need for a move, prayers were offered up at a Friday morning prayer meeting for a new door to open. A few hours later, the phone rang. It was Newport’s millionaire benefactor Tony Brown and Phil confirmed his move to Newport in November 1999.

A three and a half year spell as the club’s Communications Director saw Phil drive and energise the Black & Ambers famed all-community family approach and oversee their innovative community projects that drove an incredible 800% increase in average attendance figure in just three seasons. At more than 8,600, Newport became Wales’ best supported club by far and British rugby’s fourth. ‘God has been great to me, and any and all the glory for anything I’ve done or achieved goes to HIM,’ said Phil.

‘He has not just proved himself to the faith and spiritual parts of my life,’ added Phil. ‘Intellectually, He has proved himself to my mind. As man’s definition of truth blurs and moves to suit subjective situations, Jesus provides the objective solidity in a sea of shifting sand. He really is the truth, the way, and the life.’ Having held some of the biggest off-field jobs in Welsh and British rugby, Phil turned his back on rugby in May 2003 to pursue fulltime the vision God had given him a year earlier. He said, ‘God is doing great things with Sporting Marvels and the journey we are on is just amazing.

‘As a follower of Christ, I am doing everything I can to ensure that I abide by the only two commands Jesus left us; to love God with all my heart, mind, and soul and to love my neighbour as myself .’ Phil continues to sow his energy, time and skills into Sporting Marvels and into God’s big plans for the Rhondda Valleys and you have a sense that his testimony, his story, is far from finished.