Shane Howarth was at the centre of the Grannygate eligibility scandal that rocked Welsh rugby in 2000, and has opened up about the lasting pain it caused him and his family
Shane Howarth and his wife Marcella outside the supermarket they own in Mangere Bridge, Auckland
More than a quarter of a century has elapsed since Shane Howarth was told he could no longer wear a Wales shirt, yet the pain remains.
Whatever official documents might say today, his unwavering belief that he is Welsh persists. In 2000, Howarth found himself at the centre of the Grannygate eligibility scandal that shook Welsh rugby to its foundations.
The ordeal proved catastrophic for him and his family.
Consequently, he has seldom discussed the matter in any meaningful depth.
However, in conversation with WalesOnline, he was prepared to address the whole affair openly for the first time in 2020.
What emerged was a turbulent account of newspaper headlines, concealed facts, profound remorse and immense distress.
The saga commenced in 1998 when Howarth received an out-of-the-blue telephone call from his former Auckland coach Graham Henry.
He had already earned four caps representing his homeland New Zealand in 1994, but this took place during a period when players could subsequently represent another nation if they satisfied the requirements.
And so the tale began to unfold.
“England had approached me to play against the All Blacks at the end of 1997 and I said no,” Howarth recalled.
“I had played with a lot of the All Blacks boys, so it just kind of didn’t feel right to play against them.
“But then, the following year, Graham approached me and said ‘I’ve heard you have got English qualifications, have you got Welsh?'”. “So I checked with mum and she said ‘Yeah, I think we have’.
“So that’s how I went down that avenue, with all the dramas and everything that fell on the back of it.”
Shane Howarth and Brett Sinkinson of Wales celebrate(Image: David Rogers /Allsport)
Before the scandal and heartbreak came the joy, as Howarth savoured some genuinely unforgettable moments wearing the Welsh jersey.
He shone at full-back during a remarkable 10-match winning streak that featured impressive wins against South Africa, France, Argentina and, his personal highlight, England at Wembley.
Yet in February 2000, his world came crashing down when questions arose over his Welsh eligibility and he was subsequently banned from representing his adopted nation.
“I remember getting a phone call on the Saturday night telling me there was going to be a story in the Sunday papers,” he recalled.
“I just said ‘There’s no dramas, I’m fine’. I didn’t realise how much it would blow up.”
Howarth’s qualification to play for Wales had been founded on his grandfather, Thomas Williams, being born in Cardiff.
However, following newspaper reports suggesting his maternal grandfather was in fact an entirely different person, it quickly became clear there was a serious issue. “I couldn’t prove he was my grandfather. It wasn’t on the birth certificate,” Howarth explains.
“But, in my heart, I truly believed, and I still believe now, that I had Welsh blood running through my veins.” Nevertheless, unable to produce documentary proof of his Welsh heritage, he was forced to step down from the Six Nations squad as the Grannygate scandal gathered momentum, bringing his second international career to an abrupt end.
“There were a lot of players involved in it, but, unfortunately – I guess because I was an All Black – I kind of got singled out,” he said.
“That’s the way it is and you cop that on the chin.
“But, to this day, I am Welsh.
“If I can’t get papers to prove that, then have a look at the 20 games I played in the red jersey and see if I wasn’t Welsh.
“To have that taken away from me hurt, it hurt big time. But what upsets me the most is it hurt my mum’s side of the family.
“It dragged up things that didn’t need to be bloody dragged up. It all came out in the wash. The most disheartening thing for me, out of it all, was I let my mum and my grandmother down.
“That sits with me still today. As much as I could, I went up to see nana and apologise.
“It did bring skeletons up that didn’t need to be brought up. I took that pretty hard. It really gutted me.
Shane Howarth arriving at the International Rugby Board hearing in 2000(Image: PA/EMPICS)
“It hurt me a lot because it put mum and that side of the family under pressure, which was just crap to be honest.” After returning to New Zealand, Howarth, now 57, moved into coaching positions with Auckland and the Blues, while also taking up roles with the Pacific Islanders, Worcester in the UK, and Honda Heat in Japan. However, he subsequently took a completely different direction — running a supermarket in the Auckland suburb of Mangere Bridge.
“It’s something we talked about when I was playing over here back in the 1990s,” he revealed.
“Myself, Robin Brooke and Eric Rush were just sat around having dinner with our wives and partners and wondering what to do after rugby.
“They both went on to work in the supermarket business, but I went up to Europe to play and then into coaching.
“So it was something that was put on the back burner.
“But then when I was coaching out in Japan, I was on my own and the family was back in New Zealand.
“I thought I can’t keep working this way and it was a question of what else can I do.
“So my wife just said, ‘Well, you’ve talked about it for 20 years, so go and work in a supermarket’.
Shane Howarth now runs a supermarket in New Zealand(Image: Shane Howarth)
“I did a year’s training with Fresh Choice unpaid, which was a bit of fun.
“Then I got approved to buy a shop in December 2017.
“It’s been a great thing to do.
“We own the franchise and all the products in the shop, so we have pretty much free rein on what we do in the store.
“We’ve been at it for just over a year now and it’s quite hard.
“When I started, I was doing about 75 hours a week. I’ve pulled it back to around 50 now!”. “We knew it was going to be like that and we were going to be having to work our bottoms off.
“My wife does the admin side, which can be quite hectic, while I’m happier hands on in among all of it. It works well.
“It was quite a big thing that a rugby player had taken it over at first, but now I’m just one of the community, which is exactly what we wanted.”