Samuel Simmonds Clark (1857 – 25 May 1947) was an
English-born
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 ...
official and international rugby union full-back who played club rugby for
Neath
Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...
. Clark was the first Neath player to win an international cap 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 ...
while representing the club; and played in the second Welsh international match in 1882.
Rugby career
Clark was born in Dorset in 1857, but moved to Wales while in his childhood. By 1874, at the age of 17 he began playing for Neath Rugby Football Club,
Neath - Rugby Town
Rugbyrelics.com and on 27 April 1880 he was appointed as the secretary of the South Wales Football Association.[Smith (1980), pg 38.] The SWFU was a body, although only formed in 1878, which was attempting to organise rugby events within South Wales and was Welsh rugby's first union. When Richard Mullock
Richard Mullock (3 May 1851 – 1920) was a Welsh sporting administrator and official, who is most notable for organising the first Welsh rugby union international game and was instrumental in the creation of the Welsh Football Union, which bec ...
organised a Welsh XV to play 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 ...
in 1881, it was Clark who notified the press that "...the team which represented Wales was not elected by the committee of the South Wales Football Union; neither had they anything to do with it."[Smith (1980), pg 41.] Although this served in distancing the SWFU from the humiliating loss suffered by the Welsh team, it turned Mullock into the lone voice of Welsh international rugby.
On 12 March 1881, eleven representatives of rugby clubs and colleges from around Wales met at the Castle Hotel in Neath and formed the Welsh Football Union, which would eventually be renamed the Welsh Rugby Union
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby.
The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...
. The biggest omission from the meeting was Neath RFC. Not only was the meeting held in Neath, the club was the oldest in Wales and both Clark as secretary and J.T.D. Llewellyn as president of the SWFU were both Neath men.[Smith (1980), pg 44.] The SWFU had decided not to attend the meeting, which would form a union, which in turn would replace itself.[Smith (1980), pg 45.]
Although slighted at being replaced from his duties, Clark was soon on good terms with the WRU, and on 28 January 1882 he was chosen to represent Wales in their second international
The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...
game. The game was played away from home at Lansdowne Road
Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...
, and was the first ever meeting between the Welsh and Irish rugby teams. Clark was paired at full-back with Charles Lewis, and although an acrimonious match,[Griffiths (1987), pg 4:3.] Wales won by two goals to nil. Clark would need to wait over five years for his second and final international cap, again played against Ireland. The match was the final game of the 1887 Home Nations Championship, with Clark brought in to replace Cardiff's Hugh 'Sawdust' Hughes. The Welsh full-back position was in a phase of transition, and Clark was one of five different players would take up the role in the eight games leading up to Billy Bancroft
William James Bancroft (2 March 1871 – 3 March 1959) was a Welsh international fullback, who played club rugby for Swansea, and a county cricketer for Glamorgan, for whom he was the first professional player in 1895.
Bancroft was seen as ...
taking the position long-term. Although Wales were victorious over Ireland, Clark was himself replaced for the next season by Ned Roberts.
After his playing career, Clark became secretary for Neath RFC.
International games played
Wales[Smith (1980), pg 464.]
* 1882, 1887
Bibliography
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Samuel
1857 births
1947 deaths
English rugby union players
Neath RFC players
Rugby union fullbacks
Rugby union players from Weymouth
Wales international rugby union players
Welsh rugby union players
Wales Rugby Union officials