Mike Nicholas - Second row
Wales RL
| Heritage No | 290 |
| Date Of Birth | 30/07/1946 |
| Place Of Birth | Margam |
| Education | Sandfields Comprehensive School |
| Clubs | Cardiff City Blue Dragons, Aberavon RL, Warrington Wolves, Aberavon, Aberavon Green Stars, Aberavon Quins |
| Honours | Wales RL |
| Invitational | Crawshays |
| Managed | Wales RL Management, Wales RL, South Wales (1996) |
The man everyone knows as "Nicko" turned professional in 1972, signing for Warrington, winning the first of his six Welsh caps against France in 1975. He toured Australia and New Zealand with Wales the same year but didn't appear in any of the World Cup matches. He started his career playing rugby union in his native Port Talbot, turning out for all three Aberavon clubs. It was while with the Wizards that he was snapped up by the Wire. After signing, he went to watch Aberavon play for one last time but was kindly told to leave the clubhouse after the game as he has turned professional. He made over 150 club appearances with Warrington, which included a Challenge Cup winners medal in 1974 where he scored a try in the Final at Wembley Stadium - just one of four trophies Wire claimed that season. He was selected for the Great Britain team to tour Australasia that year, but, despite being kitted out and photographed with the squad, injury in the final minute of the Final saw him miss the trip. Following his Warrington career, where he was sent off 13 times, he co-founded Cardiff City Blue Dragons in 1981 and also played for the club.
After his playing career, he became involved with rugby league in Wales behind the scenes. Initially, he was Wales Students team manager before taking that role with the full national side between 1993 and 2000, which included two World Cups. In 1996, he founded and managed South Wales RLFC who played just the one season, folding after the Super League backtracked on giving them a licence. He became president of Wales Rugby League in 2003, and that year helped to set up a new league, co-founding the Welsh Conference, helping in the formations of Bridgend Blue Bulls and Aberavon Fighting Irish. In 2005, he was a co-founder of Celtic Crusaders whilst he also sat on the board of South Wales Scorpions in their early days. More recently, he assisted in developing youth rugby league in North Wales. In 2012, he was inducted on to the Rugby Football League’s Roll of Honour, in 2014 was appointed into Warrington Wolves’ Hall of Fame, and in 2017 he entered the WRL Hall of Fame.
After his playing career, he became involved with rugby league in Wales behind the scenes. Initially, he was Wales Students team manager before taking that role with the full national side between 1993 and 2000, which included two World Cups. In 1996, he founded and managed South Wales RLFC who played just the one season, folding after the Super League backtracked on giving them a licence. He became president of Wales Rugby League in 2003, and that year helped to set up a new league, co-founding the Welsh Conference, helping in the formations of Bridgend Blue Bulls and Aberavon Fighting Irish. In 2005, he was a co-founder of Celtic Crusaders whilst he also sat on the board of South Wales Scorpions in their early days. More recently, he assisted in developing youth rugby league in North Wales. In 2012, he was inducted on to the Rugby Football League’s Roll of Honour, in 2014 was appointed into Warrington Wolves’ Hall of Fame, and in 2017 he entered the WRL Hall of Fame.
| PLAYER FOR | P | W | D | L | TRY | GOALS | DG | PTS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wales RL | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 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).
Please see the GDPR notice here.
