Birth name | Joseph Rees | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 3 June 1893 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 12 April 1950 56) | (aged||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Swansea, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notable relative(s) | William "Billo" Rees, brother | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Joseph Rees (3 June 1893 – 12 April 1950) [1] was a Welsh international rugby union full-back who played club rugby for Swansea. Rees made his debut for Swansea in 1919 and captained his club in the 1922/23 season. [2] Rees would play 12 times for Wales, [3] and captained them on one occasion. His brother, William "Billo" Rees, was a rugby league footballer who played for Wales and the Great Britain team, and toured Australia.
In 1920 Rees was selected to play against England at St Helens. It was a ground-breaking game that saw Newport's Jerry Shea score 16 points and become the first person to achieve an international rugby 'Full House', of all four scoring types. Rees played all four games in the 1920 Five Nations Championship in which Wales won the competition. After playing three games in the 1921 tournament Rees was selected for the opening game in 1922 against England. During this game Rees scored his first points in a Welsh shirt when he converted two tries; though as Wales scored eight tries the return could have been better. Rees managed a penalty goal against France in 1923, which was the last score he would achieve for Wales . The next year, in his last game for Wales against England, Rees was given the captaincy of Wales. Wales lost the game 17–9.
Wales [4]
Arthur Joseph "Monkey" Gould was a Welsh international rugby union centre and fullback who was most associated as a club player with Newport Rugby Football Club. He won 27 caps for Wales, 18 as captain, and critics consider him the first superstar of Welsh rugby. A talented all-round player and champion sprinter, Gould could side-step and kick expertly with either foot. He never ceased practising to develop his fitness and skills, and on his death was described as "the most accomplished player of his generation".
Albert Jenkins was an international rugby player for Wales and played club rugby for Llanelli RFC between 1919 and 1928. Jenkins was one of the greatest backs to have played for Llanelli and is compared to later Scarlet heroes Lewis Jones and Phil Bennett. Jenkins was a strong tackler and was an extremely fast runner from a standing start. He was also an excellent kicker with either foot and could punt the ball half the length of the pitch. He was sometimes criticised for his decision making on the field, and wasn't at his best away from Stradey Park.
Steve Morris was a Welsh international rugby union flanker who played club rugby for Cross Keys. A hard man, Morris was extremely physical in the way he played the game, sometimes over physical and he was unafraid to turn to violence if it was warranted. It is reported that he once knocked out a Welsh heavyweight boxing champion in a sparring session. At 6 foot and over 14 stone in weight, Morris was a hulking player, but he was still recognised as a cheerful and genial person.
Thomas Parker was a Welsh international rugby union flanker who played club rugby for Swansea. Parker made his debut for Swansea in 1913 and captained his club in the 1920/21 season Parker would play 15 times for Wales, seven of them as captain. He was surprisingly one of the most successful captains in the history of Welsh rugby with 6 wins and 1 draw, all played during the 1920s, a decade that is seen as the worst period in Welsh rugby.
W. Rowe Harding was a Welsh international rugby union wing who played club rugby for Swansea. An intelligent player, Harding played for several teams at club and international level. In 1926 he attended Cambridge University and played for Cambridge in a varsity match. Rowe retired from rugby at the age of 28 when he was called to the bar, and would later become a County Court judge in 1953. Harding spent his later life connected with all manner of sports. He was Welsh Rugby Union vice-president from 1953 to 1956, chairman and president of Glamorgan County Cricket Club, president of Swansea Lawn Tennis and Squash Rackets Club and patron of Cwmgors RFC.
Henry "Harry" Uzzell was a Welsh international rugby union player. He played club rugby predominantly for Newport and played county rugby for Gloucestershire. A fruiterer by trade he later became landlord of the Tredegar Arms in Bassaleg.
Jeremiah Shea was a Welsh international dual-code rugby centre who played club rugby for Newport and Pill Harriers under the rugby union code and later represented Wigan as a professional rugby league footballer. Shea was an all round athlete, and was an accomplished swimmer and professional boxer. He is best known as being the first rugby union player to achieve the Full House of scoring in an international match.
Jack Whitfield was a Welsh international rugby union hooker who played club rugby for Newport and club rugby for Monmouthshire. He was an extremely powerful scrummager, but was not seen as skillful as the pre-war players produced by Wales.
Benjamin Beynon was a Welsh international rugby union fly-half who played club rugby for Swansea, and would later play professional rugby league for Oldham RLFC. Beynon was also an association footballer for Swansea Town.
John Faull was a Welsh international number 8 who played club rugby for Swansea. He won twelve caps for Wales and was selected to play in the British Lions on the 1959 tour of Australia and New Zealand. His father, Wilfred Faull, was an international rugby referee and was president of the Welsh Rugby Union in the 1960s.
William James 'Bobby' Delahay was a Welsh international rugby union who played club rugby for Bridgend and Cardiff. Although he played at scrum-half he was also selected for Wales at centre and fly-half.
Ossie Male was a Welsh international full back who played club rugby for Cardiff and was capped 11 times for Wales and captained his country on three occasions. In 1924, Male was at the centre of an embarrassing decision made by the Welsh Rugby Union that prevented him facing the French rugby team. Male was one of six siblings and was the youngest boy.
Albert Percival "Percy" Coldrick was a Welsh dual code rugby player who played rugby union for Newport and rugby league for Wigan. He represented Wales under the union code and Wales and Great Britain under league rules.
Haydn Islwyn Evans was a Welsh international rugby union player who played club rugby union for Swansea and Llanelli. Evans was capped four times for Wales, all during the 1922 Five Nations Championship.
Martyn Jordan was an English-born international rugby union player who played club rugby for London Welsh and Newport and international rugby for Wales. Jordan played in three games for Wales scoring two tries, though at the time scoring tries carried no points.
Charles Henry Pugh was a Welsh international rugby union player who played rugby for three notable Welsh clubs, Aberavon, Maesteg and Neath. He was capped seven times for Wales and was part of the Welsh team that faced the touring 1924 New Zealand team.
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.
William Clifford Richards was a Welsh international rugby union wing who played club rugby for Pontypool and Swansea and represented Wales at international level. Richards was a coal miner by trade, and worked in the pits all his adult life. In 1964, while working at the Navigation Colliery in Crumlin, he was killed in an underground accident.
Thomas Edgar Rees was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Wales, and at club level for Pontyclun RFC, Crawshays RFC, Army XV and London Welsh RFC, as a fullback and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain, and at club level for Oldham and Broughton Rangers as a fullback.
Daniel Rees was a Wales international rugby union and rugby league centre who played club rugby for Swansea and Hull Kingston Rovers. Thomas was a twice Triple Crown winner, after representing Wales during the 1900 and 1905 Home Nations Championships. Later in his career he switched to professional rugby league, joining Hull Kingston Rovers. He was described as a "speedy threequarter with a deceptive action", and would have won more than his five international caps had he not been in competition with Gwyn Nicholls for the centre position.