'One in a million' — Steve Black, who worked wonders with Graham Henry's Wales and Newcastle United, passes away

When Graham Henry took over as Wales head coach in 1998, one of the first calls he made was to Steve Black, a charismatic Geordie who had worked as a bouncer before making a name for himself in rugby as mentor to Jonny Wilkinson.

Henry arranged a meeting with Welsh rugby's top brass led by Terry Cobner aimed at bringing Black on board.

A year later the New Zealander wrote: “Steve — Blackie to everyone — is 40, looks like Friar Tuck and is into positive reinforcement in massive slices.

“He’s thoroughly exuberant; in fact, at that first get-together, Terry and I couldn’t shut him up.

“I had to tell him to be quiet at times, so I could get a question in.”

But that was Black, a wonderful character who radiated bonhomie and positivity.

Newcastle Falcons announced on Sunday morning that he had passed away. He was 64.

There are one-offs, and then there was Steve Black.

As a youngster he became known for being able to look after himself, and at the age of 16 he was employed as a doorman in Newcastle. “I'd try to talk people out of fighting but if I couldn't I'd chin them,” he once told ChronicleLive “As the word got round fewer and fewer people would look for trouble when I was around.

"I had a shotgun thrust in my face more than once. It was funny but, looking back, I never once expected the trigger to be pulled.

"It was a tough world — but I was never a villain. That was the big difference. I met a lot of faces and I admit some became good friends because they never did me any harm but I never crossed that thin dividing line. I never got myself a police record.”

The turning point came when a man pulled a knife on him and ended up being slung through glass doors with a bad injury.

Black decided to leave a doorman's work