Gareth Edwards appointed a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list

Wales rugby union legend Gareth Edwards has been knighted
Ex-Lions star becomes the first Welsh rugby great to receive the award
Former F1 Williams director Patrick Head has also been given a knighthood
2003 World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson has been appointed a CBE
Frank Lampard and James Anderson among those given an OBE
Carl Froch, Jo Pavey and Casey Stoney have been given MBEs
Sunderland legend Jim Montgomery has recieved the British Empire Medal

Jonathan McEvoy for the Daily Mail

Published:
21:32 GMT, 12 June 2015

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Updated:
00:49 GMT, 13 June 2015

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Gareth Edwards, rated by many as the greatest rugby player of all time, has been knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

The former Lions scrum-half will become the first Welsh rugby great to receive the award that alluded even Edwards’s hero Cliff Morgan.

It was Morgan’s incomparable commentary that provided the soundtrack to what became known as ‘that try’, scored by Edwards for the Barbarians against New Zealand at Cardiff Arms Park in 1973. ‘What a score,’ exclaimed Morgan, himself a Wales and Lions hero, as Edwards dived over the line.

Wales rugby union legend Gareth Edwards has been knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours

Edwards won 53 successive caps for Wales as they won the Five Nations Championship seven times

In 2003 he was voted as Rugby World magazine’s greatest-ever player in a poll by fellow internationals

Six of the seven pairs of hands through which the ball passed were Welsh. It was a golden era for the country’s favourite sport – with the likes of JPR Williams and Phil Bennett to the fore – but Edwards was an undisputed star in any company.

His status was made official in Rugby World magazine in 2003, when a poll of international players voted him the greatest ever.

Edwards represented Cardiff and Wales, winning 53 successive caps from the age of 19 to 30, including 13 as captain. Wales won the Five Nations Championship seven times, as well as seven grand slams, during his career.

He was a member of the only Lions team to win a series against New Zealand, in 1971.

Wales’s greatest rugby heroes are identifiable by their Christian names alone, and last night Welsh Rugby Union chairman Gareth Davies paid tribute to Sir Gareth, now 67, for ‘epitomising the values and courage which are central to rugby’.

World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson, who had been tipped for a knighthood in the New Year Honours List, has been made a CBE, while Chelsea’s all-time leading goalscorer Frank Lampard, who is joining Major League Soccer’s New York City after 609 Premier League appearances and 107 goals, as well as 106 England caps, is an OBE.

England’s 2003 rugby World Cup winning fly-half Jonny Wilkinson (left) has been made a CBE, while Chelsea’s all-time leading goalscorer Frank Lampard is now an OBE after a glittering career

England fast bowler and record Test wicket-taker James Anderson (left) has been appointed an OBE

List of the Queen’s Birthday Honours this year

England’s record Test wicket-taker James Anderson has also been appointed OBE.

The 32-year-old Lancastrian broke Sir Ian Botham’s record of 383 wickets during England’s recent tour of the West Indies and later became the first English bowler – and only the 12th in the world – to take 400 wickets, when he had New Zealand’s Martin Guptill caught in the slips by Ian Bell.

Speaking ahead of his sixth Ashes series this summer, Anderson said: ‘This means an enormous amount to me and my family. These achievements wouldn’t have been possible without the help and support of my family, friends and everyone at Burnley CC, Lancs CCC and England.’

Former world super middleweight champion Carl Froch is made a MBE. So is Jo Pavey, who became the oldest European female gold medallist when she won the 10,000metres title last year.

However, there seems to have been a break from the recent rush to knight sporting figures who are still competing or have only recently retired.

Instead, the sports honours’ committee, chaired by Lord Coe, appears to have recommended knighthoods only to more established figures.

One such recipient is Formula One’s Patrick Head. The engineer behind the Williams team winning nine constructors’ and seven drivers’ titles, Head said he was, ‘thrilled and honoured as well as surprised’.

The 69-year-old worked with leading drivers including Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill.

Sir Frank Williams, the team principal, said: ‘My name may be above the door, but my co-founder Patrick Head was the design genius who turned us from a small upstart into a World Championship-winning force.

‘His engineering talent helped play a key role in establishing Great Britain as a leading force in global motorsport and the benefits of this are still being felt, both culturally and economically.’

Sir Frank Williams (left) has praised Patrick Head after he too received a knighthood for his services in F1

Also knighted is Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity, who organised last year’s successful Tour de Force Grand Depart. Liz Nicholl, UK Sport chief executive is made a CBE.

Dual code rugby star Jonathan Davies is made an OBE, as are three-time world squash champion Nick Matthew and the retiring chief executive of the R&A, Peter Dawson.

Among those made MBE is Casey Stoney, the Arsenal Ladies and former England captain. Ex-Sunderland goalkeeper Jim Montgomery, best remembered for his double save in the 1973 FA Cup final victory over Leeds, will receive a British Empire Medal.