The excitement is etched across the faces of Rubin and Joel Colwill as the brothers discuss playing together for Cardiff. As kids in Neath, about 30 miles north-west of the Welsh capital, they were regulars at Melyn Park, over the road from the family home, and spent hours perfecting two-touch skills in the back garden. “When we were small I got a marker pen and drew a goal on the hallway door and our mother was fuming,” Rubin says, both of them breaking into laughter.
They are separated by two and a half years but have always been close and Joel, who turns 21 this month, was best man at Rubin’s wedding this year. Growing up they lived each other’s journeys, both associated with Cardiff from the age of seven, and their parents, Richard and Jodi, ferried them to training. They attended Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera, the same secondary school as Ben Davies, the Wales defender poised to win his 100th cap in their World Cup qualifier against Belgium on 13 October. Then there were the bunk beds. “Yeah, we had a lot of WWE matches on those,” Rubin says, smiling.
There is a brilliant photo of the brothers, with Cardiff scarves and face-painted cheeks, beaming outside Wembley in 2012 before the Carling Cup final lost on penalties to Liverpool, for whom the Wales manager, Craig Bellamy, played as a substitute that day. “At the time iIt felt like we were going to Wembley almost every year,” Rubin, 23, says, alluding to two trips in 2008 and a playoff final in 2010. “What do you remember?” he asks his brother. “Having my top off, swinging it around inside Wembley,” Joel replies.
They first played for Cardiff together two years ago, in a Carabao Cup win over Colchester, and the following month they both represented Wales Under‑21s against Liechtenstein. This, though, is different; the down-to‑earth duo at the heart of Cardiff’s resurgence after relegation, the club’s first season in the third tier since 2002-03.
On the first day of the League One season, against Peterborough, they became the first brothers to begin a Cardiff game since Gary and Dave Bennett in 1983. Mel and John Charles, who played for Wales at the 1958 World Cup, are among the clutch of former Cardiff brothers. “It’s incredibly rare, especially to play for the same team, so we are really lucky,” Rubin says. “The pre‑match huddle just felt surreal,” Joel says. “I’d often been in the stands thinking: ‘One day, hopefully, I’ll be down there with him and we will play together.’”
Joel scored his first Cardiff goal later in August. “When you assisted me against Cheltenham …” Joel says of it. “Yeah, that was special,” Rubin interjects, before his brother elaborates. “At the time I didn’t really think anything of it, but when I got home it hit me. The amount of times you have passed me the same ball at training or when we were kids. There are little things I’ve dreamed of like the scoreboards, online and on the apps, saying: ‘J Colwill [R Colwill]’ to show one of us assisted the other to score. For it to actually happen is crazy.”
This is Joel’s breakthrough campaign at Cardiff, after fruitful loans at Cheltenham and Exeter last season, but Rubin has been heavily involved since flying on to the radar – on the international stage. A month after turning 19, and at the end of a season he began with Cardiff’s under-18s, Rubin was a wildcard call-up for Wales’s Euro 2020 squad. At the time he had played only 191 minutes of senior football.
“I’d never really been around superstars – coming from Neath, the most normal place you can imagine,” Rubin says. “So then being with probably the greatest British player ever [Gareth Bale]Aaron Ramsey, Ben Davies, Chris Gunter, legends from Euro 2016 I’d watched in school … I had to remember they are normal people. It was almost hard to focus on training when Gareth Bale’s calling for the ball. A crazy time.”
But was it the right time? “It did way more good than harm,” he insists. “The exposure, the experience. I had a really quick ascendancy and then almost felt like I’d lingered around without too much happening.”
Playing together for Cardiff is one thing, but what about Wales? “That’s our next focus,” Rubin says. “As kids, the idea of playing for Cardiff together was unbelievable but playing for Wales … it almost felt unreachable. But it is within reach now. We both know we’re good enough, we’ve both been selected before, so it’s just a matter of us both staying focused. Hopefully in the near future the stars will align and it comes to fruition.”
Joel won his first cap against Canada in Swansea last month, for which Rubin was in the stands, and has been called up to the squad to face England and Belgium , the former a friendly. Rubin is yet to build on his nine caps since Bellamy, who was his coach for a couple of years in Cardiff’s academy, succeeded Rob Page 14 months ago. “I’ve known Craig a long time,” Rubin says.
“He’s one to push [players] to try and get the most out of them and I think he’s definitely trying to do that with me. Every time we speak he’s obviously watched my games and in the conversations we’ve had there’s always been a little thing he wants me to change or something to do better, so it’s up to me then to almost tick those things off and then it’s up to him if he wants to pick me.”
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Cardiff are fourth before hosting Leyton Orient on Saturday and seven academy graduates featured in their surprise defeat by Burton in midweek, including the latest Wales debutants in Dylan Lawlor, 19, and Ronan Kpakio, 18. “The manager’s been brilliant,” Rubin says of Brian Barry-Murphy, who previously coached at Manchester City’s academy. “The football is a bit different to what everybody is used to Cardiff playing and it’s been refreshing.
“We are a group of young lads who have grown up watching this style on TV, the likes of Barcelona, Man City. It is easy to see the passing, the goals, the highlights‑reel stuff, but people often miss the hard yards, the pressing, the squeezing of the backline, all the tough running we did in pre-season to get us physically capable of doing what he wants. There’s going to be an adaptation period – and I think we’re still in that – because there’s so much more we can improve and we’re working every day to get there.”
The pair can now chuckle about the 10-minute turnaround they mastered as schoolboys: get off the bus, race home, get changed, grab a sandwich and head to Cardiff training for 5pm in Treforest, in the heart of the south Wales valleys.
“A crazy rush almost every day,” Rubin says. “It has all been worth it. But we don’t want this to be the pinnacle.
“We want to keep doing what we’re doing, rise up the leagues with Cardiff, keep doing as well as we can. It’s important to recognise: ‘This is amazing.’ But we’re like: ‘This isn’t the end for us.’”
