Pretty much John! He was unaffected by the Hollywood and star stuff. He was writing for the Observer at the time and he said that he had got plenty of 'Welland, professional northerner type of jibes' from fellow writers and sports commentators especially the RU writers. He said he never had any of that 'crap from the football writers'. He noted that it was ok to be a professional Welshman, Londoner, Scotsman, Oxbridge, Aristocrat type without it ever getting a mention, but if you were from the North and proud of it, somehow it had to be demeaned with a condescending 'pat on the head'.
He told me this great story about when he was a guest at the RL Cup Final dinner a lot of years back and indeed was seated at a table with the then head of BBC Sport Peter Dymock. Apparently, after a few drinks and talking quite loudly, Dymock turned to Welland and said:
'You do know don't you Colin, that you have the best TV or radio commentator in all British sport'?
'Who's that then?' Welland replied.
'Well who else? Eddie Waring of course!' said Dymock (and then proceeded to list all of Waring's 'commentating qualities')
Welland replied, 'Well Peter, if he's that good, why don't you have him commentating on England v Wales at Twickenham then'
Dymock gasped, and there was a long and embarrassing silence across the table.
Feckin' priceless that one!
