Frank Williams (birth unknown – death unknown) was a Welsh rugby union and professional rugby league footballer and journalist. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Swansea RFC, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain and Wales, and at club level for Halifax as a wing.[2] After retiring from rugby, he became a journalist, and worked as the sports editor for the Halifax Courier & Guardian for over 20 years.
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| Born | Birmingham, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | unknown | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Wing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rugby career
editBorn in Birmingham, Williams moved to Swansea at a young age. He began playing rugby union at school, and represented Wales against England schoolboys.[3]
He began playing for Swansea RFC as a centre at the age of 17, and played for the club until 1913, when he was persuaded to turn professional and join rugby league club Halifax.[3]
Williams won a cap for Wales while at Halifax in 1914, and was also included in the squad for the 1914 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand. He won two caps against Australia on the tour, including in the famous "Rorke's Drift" Test.
His playing career ended in 1919–20, when he was forced to retire for medical reasons.[3]
News career
editAfter ending his playing career, Williams became a journalist for the Halifax Guardian until the paper merged with the Halifax Courier in 1921. After briefly returning to rugby in a coaching role, he joined the newly merged newspaper (now known as the Halifax Courier & Guardian). In 1938, he became sports editor for the newspaper, and remained in the role until his retirement in 1960.[3]
References
edit- ^ "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ^ Williams, Graham; Lush, Peter; Farrar, David (2009). The British Rugby League Records Book. London League. pp. 108–114. ISBN 978-1-903659-49-6.
- ^ a b c d "Retirement of Mr. Frank Williams". Halifax Daily Courier & Guardian. 22 December 1960. p. 2 – via British Newspaper Archive.