William Aaron Everson (15 March 1906 – 26 April 1966)Bill Everson Newport club profile
blackandambers.co.uk was a Welsh international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

fullback who played club rugby for Newport and was capped for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in 1926.Bill Everson player profile
Scrum.com Despite only winning a single international cap, he was a pivotal member for Newport and a record breaking club player.

Rugby career

Everson played for

Machen Machen (from Welsh ' "place (of)" + ', a personal name) is a large village three miles east of Caerphilly, south Wales. It is situated in the Caerphilly borough within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It neighbours Bedwas and Treth ...

, Newport Police and Pill Harriers before switching to Newport during the 1925/1926 season. In his first season for the club he played in 30 matches, scoring 90 points; which was enough to draw him to the attention of the Welsh selectors. He played just a single game for Wales, the encounter with Scotland as part of the 1926 Five Nations Championship. Played at Murrayfield, Everson was brought in as a replacement for Swansea's David Evans, but when Wales lost the game, Everson was never chosen to represent his country again. Despite the loss, Everson did score his only international points during the game when he converted

Ron Herrera Ron Herrera is an American labor leader, who served as the President of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (colloquially called the "Fed") until his resignation on October 10, 2022, following the disclosure of his presence during a conver ...

's try. Although Everson failed to achieve another cap for Wales, his record at Newport continued to improve. Over the 12 seasons he represented the club, from 1925 to 1937, he played in 314 matches scoring 856 points, including 245 conversions and 111 penalties. His points scored was a club record, which remained unbroken until 1962. Everson was also given the captaincy of the senior team on two occasions, in the 1930/31 season, and again in 1933/34. While with Newport he faced one international touring team, the 1927 Waratahs. With his playing career behind him, Everson continued his connection with Newport by becoming a committee member. He was also instrumental in setting up Wales' first

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

tournament, the

Snelling Sevens The Snelling Sevens (also known as the Snelling Seven-a-Side Trophy and originally known as the Welsh Seven-a-Side Tournament) was an annual Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country o ...

. The competition recognised his commitment to its founding when the Bill Everson Award was set up after Everson's death in 1966. The trophy was awarded to the player of the tournament, and its recipients included Barry John, J.J. Williams, Jonathan Davies and Robert Howley.

International matches played

WalesSmith (1980), pg 463. * 1926

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Everson, Bill 1906 births 1966 deaths Newport RFC players Pill Harriers RFC players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Caerphilly County Borough Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players