Johnny Rogers - Half back
Wales RLHeritage No | 58 |
Date Of Birth | 01/10/1892 |
Place Of Birth | Abergwynfi |
Clubs | Wakefield Trinity, Huddersfield Giants, Cardiff, Bridgend Ravens |
Honours | Great Britain, Wales RL, Other Nationalities |
John Henry Rogers won seven caps for Great Britain in addition to his Welsh caps. He was born in Abergwynfi and later lived in Tondu. He made his Bridgend RU debut at the age of 14 after being discovered by Ben Gronow, who used to watch midweek junior rugby matches and spotted young Johnny. Shortly afterwards, when dressing for a match at Bridgend, Ben was told that one of their wing three-quarters was unable to play. Johnny was in the crowd so was sent for to fill the vacant place. After finding clothes and boots that were small enough, he played so well in the game, he was invited to be permanent first reserve in the backs. Johnny moved from Bridgend to join Cardiff in 1911 and made 35 appearances there before turning professional with Huddersfield on St David's Day 1913, making his debut on the same day. Huddersfield beat Bramley 73-5 with Johnny scoring three tries and a goal. His record at Huddersfield is one of the club's best ever. By the time he left the club, he'd made 262 appearances, scoring 106 tries and kicked 42 goals equalling 402 points. In this "team of all talents", he won four Yorkshire Cup winners medals, two Championship Final winners medals and two Challenge Cup winners medals. Huddersfield won all three in 1914-15 in addition to the Yorkshire League, so were proud holders of "All Four Cups", something that all clubs aimed for but rarely got in the pre-summer era. He was selected for the first Lions tour after the Great War, which was in 1920, but broke his leg against Auckland keeping him out of the rest of the tour. He also went on to represent Other Nationalities against England in February 1921 in the "Welsh international that never was" as all of the Other Nationalities players were Welsh. He played his last game for Huddersfield in 1924-25 before signing for Wakefield Trinity on 9 January 1925. He stayed in the north, and was licensee of the Plumber’s Arms in Huddersfield, and when he retired continued to live there for three years until the time of his death on July 26, 1958, aged 65.
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