BBC The Repair Shop's rare Welsh rugby jersey restoration sees 'electrifying' player's relatives moved to tears following 'mortifying' mistake

A rare Welsh rugby shirt has been restored to its former glory and left its owners in tears in the latest episode of BBC's The Repair Shop The team salvaged an old professional rugby shirt that had undergone a laundry disaster, which left a family relative "mortified".

The jersey, which dates back to the 1960s, was brought into the barn by Lloyd Richards and his wife Karen, with the hopes that embroidery and qualified textile conservator, Rebecca Bissonnet, could help them. As the couple explained, Lloyd's dad was Bryan Richards, a former fly half for the Welsh rugby union team, winning his only cap against France in 1960 at the age of 28 in the Cardiff Arms Park.

Bryan was the last man to play at "outside" [fly] half for Wales wearing the No 6 shirt, according to the WRU site, who also billed him an 'electrifying player'. Speaking to presenter Will Kirk and Rebecca, Bryan's son Lloyd said: "He played for Wales. My greatest regret was that I never saw him play. He grew up in a place called Skewen in south Wales. He used to say that he trained by running up the coal slag heaps behind his house.

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"He went on to play for Neath Rugby Club, moved to Swansea, played for Swansea, became the captain of Swansea, he was a Barbarian, and of course it sort of culminates to playing for his country." He continued: "The position that he played - fly half, any rugby fan will know a fly half wears the number 10. But he wore the number six. He was the last Welsh international to play with the number six. It was 1960, and I don't know the reason why it changed."

Lloyd then confirmed that his father had passed away in December 2023. "He died just before Christmas last year, he was 91," he said. "And since his passing, it matters even more that we hold onto his legacy. He is a legend, my dad. I loved him to bits, he was a real maverick on the rugby pitch, but an incredibly conservative in life, a very humble bloke."

When talking about the damage on the jersey, Karen explained: "When we were given the shirt, I thought, shall we frame it or wash it? I forgot that it was from the 1960s, I put it in the machine and it came out and the red had run into the collar, I tried to then get the pink out of the collar".

She then confirmed that she did try and bleach it out, which caused even more damage. "So this is all me," she added. "I'm a bit mortified to say the least. I have felt incredibly guilty ever since." Moved to tears, she continued: "You know, he worked really hard for that. For me, it's just a way to honour him if we can get it to look anything like it did originally."

As she pointed at the three feathers on the shirt, she said: "Thank goodness, the really important bit still looks good. But it's not a Welsh rugby shirt unless it's red, is it?". Her husband then added: "Red and Wales, I don't really know why - there's a word in Welsh, which is called 'hiraeth', and hiraeth is sort of a longing for the place that you come from and that is sort of hiraeth for me."

Rebecca told the couple that she would "do [her] best". As they left the barn, the repairer told Will that she was a bit "worried" about the challenge of reviving the shirt. As she worked on the jersey, Rebecca said: "The Welsh rugby red is a very distinctive, strong colour. This shirt is made of cotton and I believe this stitching is made out of polyester, and I don't think this has been affected by the bleaching process.

"So, I think that is a really good clue, as they would've matched the stitching up to the colour of the jersey. My biggest heartache is this emblem, which is really important for the shirt. Feathers, the symbolism of Wales, is making me feel quite nervous because I'm actually going to have to cut this off, because otherwise, once I dye the jersey, anything else is going to be red."

Rebecca's work included cutting off the seams of the shirt's white collar in order to remove it, creating a patch behind the emblem before stitching a small back stitch around the emblem, then a row of stitching on the front to ensure no unravelling, before cutting off the emblem from the jersey. She then stripped the jersey of its colour, before dying and drying it. She then sewed the emblem back in its place before getting the collar and the number '6' on the back of the shirt back on.

When Lloyd and Karen came back to see the newly revived shirt, Lloyd said: "I haven't stopped thinking about it. It represents dad. I miss him dearly, so it would be nice to have him and what he represents back, because we need to show it off." Karen added: "And not put it in the washing machine. Ever."

Upon the reveal, the two were taken aback and visibly emotional as they saw the jersey had been successfully restored. In tears, Karen said: "My god, that's amazing." Lloyd then said: "You know that red I was talking about? That is Welsh red." Karen added: "It didn't even look that good before I put it in the washing machine. Honestly, it did not look good like that before. Waw!"

Referring to the emblem, Lloyd said: "The three feathers just pop out. That's amazing." When asked if weight had been lifted off of Karen's shoulders, she said: "Oh my goodness, so much." The couple then explained that they were going to try and get the shirt framed, but pointed out it looked "amazing" with a torso mannequin, as it was presented in the barn.

Will said that The Repair Shop team had organised something else for the couple, which was a see-through case around the shirt. The case would allow the shirt to be seen but protected. Will said: "We feel like it is something that should be seen on all sides." Lloyd agreed. As he picked up the case from the table, he said: "Come on, dad." Outside the barn, Karen said: "It's really healing. It's healing because it has healed my guilt, but actually it is healing because we've lost him and we feel like we've got a little bit of him back."

The Repair Shop's fourth episode of series 14 will air at 8pm on Wednesday, January 29 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.