Syd Williams - Utility back
Wales RLHeritage No | 176 |
Date Of Birth | 17/04/1918 |
Place Of Birth | Aberavon |
Clubs | Salford Red Devils, Wigan Warriors, Oldham RLFC, Aberavon, Aberavon Quins, Maesteg, British Army RU |
Honours | Wales RL, Wales, Wales Schools |
Invitational | Barbarians |
Sydney Arthur Williams played three times for Wales in rugby union and five in rugby league, giving him the status as a dual code international. He won a Wales Schools RU under-15 cap in 1932 against England at Cardiff before making his Aberavon debut at aged 16. He also played matches for Aberavon Quins and Maesteg during his rugby union career. He was the first player from Aberavon to represent the Barbarians, scoring four tries on his debut against East Midlands in a 23-11 win at Northampton in 1939 and also appearing for them against Swansea. In 1937-38 he scored 37 tries for Aberavon and notched another 25 the following season. This success meant he finally turned professional in October 1939 and signed for Salford. During World War II, he became a corporal in the Army and played in seven services rugby union internationals. He even turned out for Scotland Combined Services in 1944, representing the Pioneer Corps. He made one guest appearance for both Wigan and Oldham during the war, but primarily continued with Salford, racking up 222 appearances and scoring 81 tries and kicking 43 goals before he retired in 1952. He returned to South Wales to run a café business and died in Neath on 28 August 1976, aged 58.
PLAYER FOR | P | W | D | L | TRY | GOALS | DG | PTS | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wales RL | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
TOTAL | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Note: The statistics tab shows all of the player’s known appearances for this particular Wales side against international sides or other non-capped recognised first class matches. To see exactly how many full test rugby league caps for Wales (or any other country) that this player has, please click the “Test Summary” tab. Nines individual player records are not shown, please click here for full details about Nines. Please also note that clubs’ current names are used throughout this website, due to the database only being able to feed one name per club (e.g. Wigan will also be known as Wigan Warriors throughout all player profiles).