Albert "Alec" Edward Fildes ( – ) was an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played at representative level for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, and at club level for

St Helens Recs St Helens Recreation Rugby League Football Club, often known as St Helens Recs or just the Recs, is a former professional rugby league club from St. Helens, Lancashire, that played in the Rugby Football League during the inter-war years. The club ...

and St Helens as a or .

Background

Albert Fildes was born in

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

Cheshire, England Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shropshire to the south; to the west ...

, and he died aged 75 in

St Helens, Merseyside St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 117,308. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens which had a population of 183,200 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 Census. The town i ...

Playing career

International honours

Albert 'Alec' Fildes won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s for

while at St. Helens Recs in 1927 against Wales, in 1929 against Other Nationalities, and won

s for

while at St. Helens Recs in 1926-27 against New Zealand (2 matches), in 1928 against Australia (3 matches), and New Zealand (3 matches), in 1929-30 against Australia (3 matches), while at St. Helens in 1932 against Australia, and New Zealand (3 matches).

County League appearances

Albert Fildes played in St. Helens' victory in the Lancashire League during the 1931–32 season.

County Cup Final appearances

Albert Fildes played at in St. Helens Recs' 17-0 victory over Swinton in the 1923 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1923–24 season at

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Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

on Saturday 24 November 1923, and he played at , and scored a try in St. Helens' 9-10 defeat by

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

in the 1932 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1932–33 season at

on Saturday 19 November 1932.

Club career

Due to being on the 1932 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand, Fildes and Alf Ellaby did not play in St. Helens' 9-5 victory over

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

Final during the 1931–32 season at Belle Vue,

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

on Saturday 7 May 1932.

Note

Known as Albert on saints.org.uk & englandrl.co.uk, and Alec on totalrl.com & rugbyleagueproject.org, the use of Alec may be due to a confusion with Alex Fiddes a Scottish rugby union (RU), and professional rugby league (RL) footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s for Hawick (RU), and British Empire XIII (RL), and Huddersfield (RL). After retiring from playing, he was the landlord of The White Hart Hotel, Church St, St Helens.