William Arthur Williams (29 December 1905 – 4 November 1973) was a Welsh dual-code international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

, and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for

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

, and at club level for Crumlin and

Cross Keys Cross Keys or Crosskeys may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Crosskeys, Wales ** Crosskeys railway station ** Crosskeys College, a campus of Coleg Gwent * Crosskeys Bridge, a swing bridge in Lincolnshire, England * The Cross Keys (disambiguatio ...

as a

flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

, and at club level for

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

(

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

), as a , or , i.e. number 8 or 10, or, 11 or 12, during the era of contested

scrum Scrum may refer to: Sport * Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league ** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union * Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi Media and popular culture * ...

Background

Billy Williams was born in Crumlin, Monmouthshire, and he died aged 67 in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, England.

Rugby career

Williams first came to note as a rugby player when he represented rugby union team Cross Keys. By the time he was selected for international duty, he was playing for unfashionable lower league team Crumlin. The fact that Williams was, and still is, the only player to be selected for international duty directly from the club is an indicator to the talent he showed as a flanker. Williams played in four union internationals, all of them part of the

1927 Five Nations Championship The 1927 Five Nations Championship was the thirteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the fortiet ...

. His first encounter was against England, played away at Twickenham. The game ended with a 9-11 loss, and despite the result Williams was re-selected for the next three games. Wales ended the Championship with just one win, a home match against France. It is unknown if Williams would have been selected the next season as in 1927 he switched to professional league club

. By switching to a professional club, Williams was not only banned from playing union again for life, but also had his union international cap withheld. Williams played his first league game for Salford on 15 October 1927, and won three Championship and one Challenge Cup winners medals with the club over his career. On 15 January 1930, Williams was selected for the

team, to face a touring Australia side. Just three days later he won his first

league cap, in a match against the same touring Australians at Wembley. He won two more caps for Wales, a 1932 encounter with England and a 1933 match against Australia. In-between his Welsh caps, Williams also toured Australia with Great Britain in 1932. He played in 15 games of the tour and one Test against Australia. Williams died in Manchester in 1973; in 1975 his Wales rugby union cap was awarded to him posthumously under an 'amnesty'.

Les Diables Rouges

Billy Williams was one of the players who successfully toured in France with Salford in 1934, during which the Salford team earned the name "

Les Diables Rouges The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been the ...

", the seventeen players were;

Joe Bradbury Joseph Bradbury was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s. He played at club level for Salford, Castleford (List of Castleford Tigers players, Heritage № 234) and Huddersfield Giants, Huddersfield ( ...

Bob Brown Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is a former Australian politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian Senate on the Tasm ...

Aubrey Casewell John Aubrey Casewell (fourth ¼ 1909 – second ¼ 1974) was a Welsh professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s, and coached in the 1940s. He played at representative level for Wales, and at club level for Salford ...

Paddy Dalton Patrick Dalton (second ¼ – death unknown) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s. He played at representative level for England, and English League XIII, and at club level for Salford, as ...

Bert Day Hubert Charles Day (8 May 1908 – 27 June 1977) was a rugby hooker who played rugby union for Newport and rugby league for Salford. He was awarded five caps for Wales under union rules and was part of the Welsh side that won the 1931 Five N ...

, Cliff Evans,

Jack Feetham John "Jack" Feetham (birth unknown – death unknown) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Hull King ...

, George Harris,

Barney Hudson Bernard "Barney" Hudson (birth registered first ¼ 1906 – 1971) was an English rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Horden Rugby Football Cl ...

Emlyn Jenkins Emlyn Jenkins (1 December 1910 – October 1993) was a Welsh cinema manager, trainee teacher, landlord of a public house, rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s, and coached rugby league in the 1 ...

Alf Middleton Alfred "Alf" Middleton (birth unknown – death unknown) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Salford (capt ...

Sammy Miller Samuel Hamilton Miller, MBE (born 11 November 1933) is a Northern Irish championship winning motorcycle racer, in both road racing and trials. He was appointed an MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2013, Miller was named an FIM Legend for ...

Harold Osbaldestin Harold Osbaldestin (20 February 1909 – September 1955) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played at club level for Salford, as a . Background Harold Osbaldestin was born in Whelley, Wiga ...

Les Pearson Leslie "Les" Pearson (birth unknown – death unknown) was a professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s. He played at club level for Salford and Oldham RLFC ( Heritage № 470) as a wartime guest player, as a , i.e. number 2 o ...

Gus Risman Augustus "Gus" John Ferdinand Risman (21 March 1911 – 17 October 1994) was a Welsh professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s through to the 1950s, and coached in the 1940s through to the 1970s. A devastating three-quarter ...

, Billy Watkins, and Billy Williams.

Challenge Cup Final appearances

Billy Watkins played left-, i.e. number 8, in

's 7-4 victory over Barrow in the 1938

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves a ...

Final during the 1937–38 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, in front of a crowd of 51,243.

County Cup Final appearances

About Billy Williams' time, there was

's 2-15 defeat by

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The populati ...

in the

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholi ...

County Cup The county football associations are the local governing bodies of association football in England and the Crown dependencies. County FAs exist to govern all aspects of football in England. They are responsible for administering club and play ...

Final during the 1929–30 season at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

on Saturday 23 November 1929, the 10-8 victory over Swinton in the

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

Final during the 1931–32 season at

The Cliff A cliff is a vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliff, The Cliff or The Cliffs may also refer to: Buildings * Cliff Brewery, a former brewery near Ipswich, England * Cliff Palace, largest cliff dwelling in North America * The Cliffs, a h ...

Broughton, Salford Broughton is a suburb and district of Salford, City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, on the east bank of the River Irwell, it is northwest of Manchester and south of Prestwich. Historically in Lancashire, Broughton was a township an ...

on Saturday 21 November 1931, the 21-12 victory over

in the

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a max ...

Final during the 1934–35 season at

Station Road, Swinton Station Road was a stadium in Pendlebury, near Manchester, England. It was the home of Swinton Rugby League Club between 1929 and 1992 and was widely recognised as one of the finest grounds in the Rugby League. Swinton moved to Station Road w ...

on Saturday 20 October 1934, the 15-7 victory over

in the

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart bec ...

Final during the 1935–36 season at

Wilderspool Stadium Wilderspool Stadium was a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England. The ground was Warrington RLFC's old ground before moving to the Halliwell Jones Stadium. History In 1898, Warrington RLFC moved to the Wilderspool Stadium. A 10-year le ...

on Saturday 19 October 1935, the 5-2 victory over

in the

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

Final during the 1936–37 season at

on Saturday 17 October 1936.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk (statistics currently missing due to not having appeared for both Great Britain, and England)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Billy 1905 births 1973 deaths Cross Keys RFC players Crumlin RFC players Dual-code rugby internationals Great Britain national rugby league team players People from Crumlin, Caerphilly Rugby league players from Caerphilly County Borough Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Crumlin Salford Red Devils captains Salford Red Devils players Wales international rugby union players Wales national rugby league team players Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players