Chris Jones was never short of a reputation in his rugby days. On the pitch, he was the kind of player opponents kept a close eye on, a physical presence who sometimes let his temper do the talking. Off it, life was not always straightforward either. But today, the Rhondda man cuts a very different figure, and the community he calls home is better for it.
Jones grew up in the valleys, where rugby is not just a sport but a way of life. For many young lads in the Rhondda, pulling on a jersey is a rite of passage, a chance to prove yourself among your peers and carry the pride of your town on your back. Jones embraced all of that, but for a while, the baggage that came with his on-field aggression threatened to overshadow everything else.
He was known as a hard man in the truest sense of the phrase. Crunching tackles, a willingness to get stuck in, and a short fuse that occasionally boiled over. Those who played alongside him will tell you he was exactly the kind of player you wanted in your corner. Those who played against him might choose different words.
But rugby careers do not last forever, and when the boots finally came off, Jones found himself at a crossroads that many former players know all too well. The structure, the camaraderie, the weekly release of energy that sport provides, all of it suddenly gone. For some, that transition is brutal.
For Jones, it became a turning point.
Rather than drift away from the game that shaped him, he turned his energy towards giving something back to the Rhondda. He threw himself into grassroots rugby, working with young players in the community, passing on the lessons the sport had taught him, including the ones learned the hard way.
Coaching and mentoring youngsters gave him a new sense of purpose. He has spoken openly about how working with kids in the valleys helped him channel the same competitive drive that once made him a handful on the pitch into something genuinely positive. Teaching a teenager how to hold their position in a scrum or how to keep their discipline under pressure carries its own rewards, ones that do not show up on any scoreboard.
Beyond rugby, Jones has become a recognisable face in the wider Rhondda community. Whether it is supporting local fundraisers, showing up for events, or simply being someone younger generations can look to, he has built a reputation that has nothing to do with what happened in a ruck twenty years ago.
The Rhondda has always produced tough, resilient people. The valleys have a history of hardship but also of community pulling together, and Jones fits that mould in a way that feels authentic rather than performed. He is not trying to be a poster boy for anything. He is just a bloke from the Rhondda who figured out what mattered.
He is honest about his past and does not shy away from the fact that his younger self was not always easy to deal with. That honesty is part of what makes him relatable to the young people he works with. He is not standing in front of them pretending he always got it right. He is telling them what happens when you do not, and what you can do about it.
Wales has a long tradition of rugby producing characters who go on to leave a mark on their communities long after their playing days are done. Jones is very much part of that tradition, even if his path there was a little rougher around the edges than most.
For the Rhondda, he is now exactly the kind of figure the valleys have always needed. Someone who has been through it, come out the other side, and decided to use what they learned to make things a little better for the next generation coming through.
Not bad for a bloke who used to be known for starting rucks.