Welsh sporting legends John Charles and Sir Gareth Edwards have a train named after them with Juventus on hand to present No 9 jersey
- Welsh heroes John Charles and Sir Gareth Edwards have train named after them
- The Great Western Railway intercity express No 009 named in their honour
- Edwards officially unveiled his part of the train at Cardiff Central on Wednesday
- The family of Charles, who died in 2004, did likewise at Paddington station
Welsh sporting legends Sir Gareth Edwards and John Charles have been honoured by having a train named after them.
Great Western Railway has named each end of its No 009 Intercity express train - one after rugby scrum-half Edwards, who represented Wales and the British and Irish Lions with distinction, and the other after Wales international footballer Charles, who played at club level for Leeds and Juventus.
Edwards named his end of the train at Cardiff Central station on Wednesday morning and then boarded the 10.45am service to London Paddington.
Welsh sporting legends John Charles and Sir Gareth Edwards have been honoured by having a Great Western Railway train named after them. Pictured is Edwards (right), and Glenda Charles, widow of the former Juventus and Leeds footballer
Juventus official Paolo Garimberti was on hand to present a No 9 jersey in honour of Charles
Both players wore the No 9 shirt on the pitch, so GWR's No 009 Intercity train was re-named in their honour in a ceremony in Cardiff and at London Paddington on Wednesday
It was appropriate the train, a Class 800, was the No 9 as this was the number both players wore on their shirts.
The family of Charles, who died in 2004, were on hand at Paddington to officially unveil his end of the train, along with representatives from Juve and Leeds.
As luck would have it, Juventus are in London to take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League at Wembley on Wednesday evening.
Club officials Paolo Garimberti and Silvio Vigato presented Charles's widow Glenda with a signed No 9 Juventus jersey at Paddington.
Edwards (second left) said that Charles was one of his heroes growing up in Wales
The express train named after Edwards and Charles will run between Paddington and Wales
Juventus official Paolo Garimberti and Charles's widow Glenda at the Paddington ceremony
She said: 'It's a delight and a privilege to see my beloved John honoured in this way. I'm sure that seeing his name emblazoned on this train will remind everyone that he was Wales' greatest footballer.'
Charles made 38 appearances for Wales between 1950 and 1965, scoring 15 goals. He was part of the squad that made it to the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.
He rose to prominence with Leeds, scoring 150 goals in eight years with the Yorkshire side before making a British transfer record £65,000 move to Italian giants Juventus.
There, he would win three league championships and two Italian cups.
Edwards, who played for Wales and the British and Irish Lions, is regarded as one of the finest scrum-halves to have graced a rugby field
The No 9 jerseys - one Juventus and one Wales rugby - were presented at Paddington
Edwards said: 'I am thrilled and honoured to have a train bearing my name, and for it to be alongside my childhood hero John Charles really means a lot.
'Growing up as a young boy, I loved playing football as well as rugby and other sports, and John Charles was the main man that we all aspired to be.'
He added: 'It's every schoolboy's dream to have a train named after you.'
Edwards made 53 appearances in 11 years for Wales, winning the Five Nations Championship seven times - including three Grand Slams - in what was an era of dominance for the country.
Charles in the colours of Juventus in action against Arsenal at Highbury in 1958
Charles (left) in Juventus colours in a game against his former club Leeds United in 1957
Gareth Edwards celebrates a Lions try during their tour of South Africa in 1974
He also played 10 times for the British and Irish Lions, being a part of the iconic 1971 team that won a series in New Zealand, and the 1974 squad that went unbeaten in South Africa.
It is 45 years since Edwards scoring what is regarded as 'the greatest try ever scored' for the Barbarians against New Zealand. This is celebrated in the artwork alongside his name on the train.
The 148mph GWR train is now in service on routes from Paddington to south Wales.
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