William Patrick "Bill" Collopy (5 May 1894 — 15 July 1972) was an Irish 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 ...

player. Born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Collopy was the eldest son of

George Collopy George Smith Collopy (23 March 1867 — 1 September 1925) was an Irish international rugby union player. Collopy was originally from Limerick, where he played rugby for Garryowen, but had joined Dublin club Bective Rangers by the time of his two ...

, an

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

forward, and a brother of

Dick Collopy Richard J. Collopy was an Irish international rugby union player. Born in Dublin, Collopy was the son of 1890s Ireland forward George Collopy. Collopy suffered severe injuries serving as a lieutenant in the Royal Air Force during World War I. A ...

, who was an Ireland teammate in the Ireland front row of the early 1920s. Collopy, a

Bective Rangers Bective Rangers Football Club is a rugby union club in Dublin, Ireland founded in 1881. The Club is affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union and played in Division 1A of the Leinster League until the 2024-25 Season. H ...

player, made his Ireland debut as a hooker in the 1914 Five Nations, then missed a lot of rugby due to World War I, during which he served with the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It was created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of the regiment, the ...

. He played some rugby for the Army following the armistice and returned to the Ireland front row in 1921. Continuing with Ireland until 1924, Collopy finished with 19 caps, the most from his family, and also had the distinction of captaining the team for several matches.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collopy, Bill 1894 births 1972 deaths Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Ireland national rugby union team captains Rugby union props Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Bective Rangers players Royal Field Artillery soldiers British Army personnel of World War I

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