Player Profile

George Parsons, a dual Welsh international in rugby union and league, was born in Newbridge on the same day as the Queen. He won one official cap for Wales in rugby union, also representing them in Victory Internationals, before winning 13 Wales and two Great Britain caps in rugby league. After attending Abertillery County School he played for Abertillery, Newbridge, Newport and Cardiff and was a member of the combined Abertillery/Cross Keys team against Australia in 1947. He played for Newport as a 17-year-old and was capped for Wales at 19, the youngest forward ever to play in an international at the time, gaining notoriety when he was asked to leave a France-bound train by the Welsh Rugby Union because he had associated with people from rugby league. Although reinstated, he signed for St Helens in 1948 after being approached by no fewer than 22 clubs. He went on to make 296 appearances for them for Saints and in 1953 was a member of the team which beat Wigan in the Lancashire Cup Final. Three years later he was in the first Saints team to win the Challenge Cup as they beat Halifax 13-2. A member of the St Helens RLFC Hall of Fame, he played for Rochdale Hornets from 1957-58, scoring four tries in 52 appearances, before joining Salford and scoring three tries in 42 appearances. He coached Salford between 1960-63 before returning to Llangynidr in South Wales. There, he was a senior manager in the Pilkington factory in the town and was also a magistrate and a Liberal Party councillor. He died in Llangynidr on November 24th 2009 aged 83.