LOT 14 1976/1977 Superstars | Sir Gareth Edwards

British, European & International Superstars competition-worn t-shirts by Sir Gareth Edwards

Items & Provenance

Comprising (1) blue v-neck t-shirt with white Adidas stripes to sleeves, white Adidas logo to left chest, white ‘Superstars’ in felt applied to width of chest, right chest with ‘crossed swords’ emblem (2) red v-neck t-shirt of similar design but with black details and without ‘crossed swords’ (3) green running-vest with white details, without swords.

Provenance: the personal collection of Sir Gareth Edwards CBE & family.

Superstars

Superstars was a multi-discipline sports competition in which elite athletes from a variety of sports competed against each other. It was covered by the BBC in the late 1970s and 80s with presenters David Vine, Ron Pickering, and Barry Davies.

Sir Gareth Edwards competed in the 1976 UK competition in which he came overall 4th (beating fellow Welsh player JPR Williams who came in 8th place). The winner in the 1976 UK competition was David Hemery. A year later Sir Gareth travelled to Pine Martin, Georgia to compete in the first ever world Superstars championship. There was $132,000 prize money at stake for most athletes but not Sir Gareth, as an amateur.

Sir Gareth Recalls

‘I was uncertain to compete in America because Wales were playing Scotland on the Saturday! I had to go out to America on the Monday/Tuesday, compete and then return by Thursday!!! Great event, but I had to donate all my winnings to the WRU, as agreed, as I was an amateur sportsman. I returned uninjured and we won the game, in which Phill Bennett scored a great try’.

Estimate: £200-300