Bala Jones

Last updated
Bala Jones
Birth nameJohn Jones
Height5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
Occupation(s)General dealer
Rugby union career
Position(s) Scrum-half
Amateur team(s)
YearsTeamApps(Points)
Aberavon RFC
Devonport Albion RFC
Glamorgan County RFC
Devon		 ()
National team(s)
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1901 Wales 1 (0)

John "Bala" Jones was a Wales international rugby union scrum-half who played club rugby for Aberavon and Devonport Albion RFC and county rugby for Glamorgan and Devon. He won just a single international cap, in 1901.

Wales national rugby union team Nation rugby team from Wales

The Wales national rugby union team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 27 times outright. Wales' most recent championship and Grand Slam victory came in 2019.

Rugby union Team sport, code of rugby football

Rugby union, commonly known in most of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts at each end.

Aberavon RFC is a rugby union club located in the Welsh town of Port Talbot, though the club's name refers to the older settlement of Aberavon which lies on the western side of the town.

Contents

Rugby career

There is little information recorded about Jones, and no place of birth is recorded with the Welsh Rugby Union, [1] though his nickname of "Bala" could refer to the town of Bala, as this was a common way to differentiate people with the surname Jones in Wales. He is recorded at being five foot five inches in height. [2]

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby.

Bala, Gwynedd market town and community in Gwynedd, Wales

Bala(Welsh: Y Bala) is a market town and community in Gwynedd, Wales. Formerly an urban district, Bala lies within the historic county of Merionethshire. It lies at the north end of Llyn Tegid, 17 miles (27 km) north-east of Dolgellau, with a population taken in the United Kingdom Census 2011 of 1,974. It is little more than one wide street, this being Stryd Fawr. The High Street and its shops can be quite busy in the summer months with many tourists.

In 1897 Jones moved to Devon, and continued playing rugby, representing Devonport Albion and later the Devon county team. [3] The Welsh Rugby Union, believed that Jones was taking payment for playing and declared him a professional player, which would prevent him playing under the union code for the rest of his career. Jones challenged the decision and was later reinstated as an amateur. [3]

Jones won just a single cap for Wales, and at the time has returned to Wales and was playing rugby for Aberavon, becoming the third player to win a cap whilst representing the club after Dan Jones and Alfred Brice. Jones' international debut was in the opening game of the 1901 Home Nations Championship, played at the Cardiff Arms Park against England. Jones, the only new cap in the team that day, [2] was brought in as a replacement for Lou Phillips, and was partnered at half-back with Newport's Llewellyn Lloyd. Wales won the match with an impressive 13-0 score line, but with a disappointing displays from the Welsh pack and Billy Bancroft at full-back. Jones was replaced in the very next game, replaced by the returning Phillips.

Daniel Jones was a Welsh international rugby union scrum-half who played club rugby for Aberavon and international rugby for Wales. He is known as being the first player to represent Aberavon at international level. Jones was a tinplate furnaceman by occupation and lived in Taibach all his life.

Alfred Brice English rugby union player

Alfred "Bobby" Brice was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Aberavon and Cardiff. A three times Triple Crown winner, Brice was known for his tough and aggressive tackling play.

The 1901 Home Nations Championship was the nineteenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 5 January and 16 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

International matches played

Wales [4]

Bibliography

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

Related Research Articles

Llewellyn Lloyd Welsh rugby union player

George Llewellyn Lloyd was a Welsh international half-back who played club rugby for Newport and county rugby with Kent. He won 12 caps for Wales and captained the team on one occasion against Scotland.

Tom Arthur Welsh rugby union player

Tom Arthur was a Welsh international rugby union lock who played club rugby for Neath and was capped 18 times for Wales. A tough second row forward with a strong physique, Arthur was often criticised for being over-vigorous. Though his style of play was fairly typical for Welsh rugby at the time.

Ned Jenkins was an international rugby union lock who represented Wales and played club rugby for Aberavon. Like team mate Tom Arthur, Jenkins was an amateur boxer.

Glyn Prosser was a Welsh international rugby union flanker who played club rugby for Neath, and was capped four times for Wales. An aggressive wing forward, Prosser is best known for being a member of the Wales team that beat the touring New Zealanders in 1935.

Frank Hill was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff. Hill won 15 caps for Wales over a period of ten years and was given the team captaincy on four occasions.

Dick Hellings English rugby union player

Richard Hellings was an English-born Welsh rugby union forward who played international rugby for Wales and club rugby for Llwynypia. Hellings was noted for his strength built from years cutting coal as a Rhondda miner. Hellings later played rugby for Cardiff, Exeter and Devon.

Walter Vickery was an international rugby union back row who represented Wales and played club rugby for Aberavon. His father, George Vickery, also played for Aberavon and was also an international player, but he was capped for England.

David 'Dai' Hiddlestone was a Welsh international rugby union player who played club rugby for Neath. He was capped five times for Wales and was notable for leading an ill-advised response to the New Zealand Haka during the team's 1924 tour.

Alexander "Alec" Frederick Bland was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff. Bland won nine caps for Wales over a period of four years.

George Albert Rowles was a Welsh rugby union international halfback who played club rugby for Penarth RFC|Penarth and Cardiff. He won a single cap for Wales national rugby union team|Wales during the 1892 Home Nations Championship. He was the second player to represent Wales while playing club rugby for Penarth, after Dickie Garrett.

Benjamin "Ben" Davies was a Welsh international rugby halfback who played rugby union for Llanelli and was capped twice for Wales. Davies captained Llanelli for the 1894-95 season and was club secretary between 1898 and 1899. He later became the coach of Llandovery College and also wrote sports articles for the Daily Mail.

Frederick Henry Cornish was an English-born rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff and international rugby for Wales. Cornish 'Went North' in 1899 switching to rugby league, joining Hull F.C.

William Davies, also known by the nickname of "Avon", was a Welsh dual-code international rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s and 1920s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Wales, and at club level for Aberavon and Swansea as a centre, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain and Wales, and at club level for Leeds, as a wing, i.e. number 2 or 5.

John "Jack" Elliott was a Welsh rugby union scrum-half who played club rugby for Cardiff and international rugby for Wales, winning three caps.

Robert Jones was a Welsh rugby union forward who played club rugby for Llwynypia and Cardiff and international rugby for Wales.

William Thomas Osborne was a Welsh international rugby forward who played rugby union for Mountain Ash and Glamorgan Police. Osborne played in six international matches, becoming a Triple Crown winner when he played for Wales in all three matches of the 1902 Home Nations Championship. At the height of his international career he 'Went North', switching to professional rugby league, and represented both Huddersfield and Hull F.C.

Howell Jones Welsh rugby union player

Howell Jones was a Welsh rugby union forward who played for the rugby club Neath and county rugby for Glamorgan. He gained just a single cap for the Wales national team in 1904. Jones came from a sporting family, and his son, Howie Jones, also represented Wales in the rugby union.

John "Jack" Alf Brown, colloquially known as John Alf or "Big John", was a Welsh international rugby union forward player who played club rugby for Cardiff and county rugby for Glamorgan. Brown was capped seven times for Wales and although he missed facing the first touring South African team in 1906 with Wales, he faced the tourist with both Cardiff and Glamorgan.

Joseph Henry "Jake" Blackmore was an international rugby forward who played rugby union for Abertillery and rugby league with Hull Kingston Rovers. He won a single cap for Wales under the rugby union code and then represented his country at rugby league in two matches between 1910 and 1911. Despite winning only one cap, he became a Triple Crown winning player when he played in the opening game of the 1909 Home Nations Championship.

References

  1. ↑ Bala Jones player profile [ permanent dead link ] WRU official site
  2. 1 2 Godwin (1984), pg 62.
  3. 1 2 Jenkins (1991), pg 89.
  4. ↑ Smith (1980), pg 468.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.