Full name | William Roger Blyth | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 2 April 1950 | ||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Swansea, Wales | ||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
|
William Roger Blyth (born 2 April 1950) is a Welsh rugby union administrator and former international.
Born in Swansea, Blyth is the son of 1950s Wales flanker Len Blyth and was educated at Bishop Gore School. [1] He played his rugby as a fullback and was capped six times for Wales, appearance in all four 1980 Five Nations matches. At club level, he was a prolific points-scorer for Swansea RFC across nearly 400 games. He was a member of Swansea's 1977/1978 WRU Challenge Cup triumph and his 2,374 career points has been bettered by only Mark Wyatt. [2]
Blyth had a significant role in the formation of the Ospreys team, for which he has served as chairman, chief executive and managing director. He was awarded an honorary degree from Swansea University in 2017 for services to Welsh rugby. [3]
The Ospreys, formerly the Neath–Swansea Ospreys is one of the four professional rugby union teams from Wales. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team formed as a result of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC combining to create a new merged entity, as part of the new regional structure of Welsh rugby, that began in 2003. They are also affiliated with a number of local semi-professional and amateur clubs, including Welsh Premier Division sides Aberavon RFC, Bridgend Ravens, and original founding clubs Neath and Swansea. The regional area represented by the team has widely become known for rugby purposes as 'Ospreylia'.
Rugby union in Wales is considered a large part of Welsh national culture. Rugby union is thought to have reached Wales in the 1850s, with the national body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) being formed in 1881. Wales are considered to be one of the most successful national sides in Rugby Union, having won the most Six Nations Championships after England, as well as having reached 3 World Cup semi finals in 1987, 2011 and 2019, having finished 3rd in the inaugural competition and having finished 4th in 2011 in a repeat of the first third place play-off. The Welsh team of the 1970s is considered to be arguably the greatest national team of all time, prompting many experts in the game to suggest that had the Rugby World Cup existed during this period, Wales would be amongst the list of World Cup winners. As of November 2021, they are ranked 8th in the world.
Gavin Lloyd Henson is a Welsh former professional rugby union player, who played as a fly-half, fullback and inside centre.
Shane Mark Williams, is a Welsh former rugby union player most famous for his long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. He also played scrum-half on occasion. Williams is the record try scorer for Wales, and is fourth on the international list of leading rugby union test try scorers behind Daisuke Ohata, Bryan Habana and David Campese.
Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premiership. The club play at St Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea and are also known as The Whites, in reference to their home kit colours.
The Bishop Gore School is a secondary school in Swansea in Wales, founded on 14 September 1682 by Hugh Gore (1613–1691), Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. It is situated in Sketty, close to Singleton Park and Swansea University. In December 2013 the school was ranked in the second highest of five bands by the Welsh Government, based on performance in exams, value added performance, disadvantaged pupils' performance, and attendance.
Alun Wyn Jones is a Welsh former international rugby union player who played as a lock. He played most of his career for Ospreys and for the Wales national team. He is the world's most-capped rugby union player, with 158 caps for Wales and 13 for the British & Irish Lions, and also holds the records for the most Wales caps and the second most Wales caps as captain. He retired from rugby in 2023.
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.
Daniel Biggar is a Welsh professional rugby union player currently playing for French Top 14 side Toulon as a fly-half. A Wales international, Biggar has also twice been selected to tour with the British and Irish Lions.
Matthew Silva is a Welsh rugby union coach, who is the current coach of RGC 1404. He is a former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer, who played from the 1980s to the 2000s. In rugby union (RU), he played as a number eight, fly-half, centre, wing and fullback. In rugby league (RL), he played as a fullback, i.e. number 1.
Dan Baker is a Wales international rugby union player. A back row forward, he plays for Ystradgynlais RFC having previously played for the Dragons, Stade Montois, Ospreys and Aberavon RFC
Keelan Giles is a Welsh rugby union player, who plays for the Ospreys as a winger. He is a Wales under-20 international and received a call up to the Welsh senior team for their 2016 tour of New Zealand. He made the final three in BBC's Young Sports Personality of the Year 2016 along with Ellie Robinson and Amy Tinkler.
Elli Norkett was a Welsh rugby union player who played for Swansea Ladies/Ospreys and the Wales women's national rugby union team. She was the youngest player at the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup, having made her debut earlier that year in the Six Nations Championship.
Will Jones is a Welsh rugby union player who plays for Ospreys as a flanker. He is a Wales under-20 international.
Jac Morgan is a Welsh rugby union player, who plays in the backrow for the Ospreys and Wales. He is the current captain of the Wales national rugby union team.
Rhys Davies is a Welsh international rugby union player, who currently plays for Ospreys. He plays as a lock.
Luke Scully is a Welsh rugby union player, currently playing for United Rugby Championship side Ospreys. His preferred position is fly-half but has also played at centre.
Robyn Lock is a Welsh Rugby Union player who plays hooker for the Wales women's national rugby union team and Gloucester Hartpury. She made her debut for the Wales national squad in 2019 and represented them at the 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship.
James Fender is a Welsh professional rugby union player, who plays as a lock for United Rugby Championship club the Ospreys.
Morgan Morse is a Welsh rugby union player who plays for the Ospreys and Swansea RFC as a backrow.