Barry Edward Girling was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-born international rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 forward who played club rugby for Cardiff

Cardiff RFC

Cardiff Rugby Football Club is a rugby union football club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, but soon relocated to Cardiff Arms Park where they have been based ever since...

 and international rugby for Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

. He won a single cap for Wales, in the country's first international match

1880-81 Home Nations rugby union matches

The 1880-81 Home Nations rugby union matches were a series of international rugby union friendlies held between the England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales national rugby union teams. This season is most notable for the introduction of Wales as an international rugby union nation, playing their first...

.

Rugby career

When Girling was selected for the very first Welsh team he was playing for club team Cardiff. The team selection for the Wales squad was undertaken in a hurry, as the match organiser, Richard Mullock

Richard Mullock

Richard Mullock was a Welsh sporting administrator and official, who is most notable for organising the first Welsh rugby union international game and was instrumental in the creation of the Welsh Football Union, which became the Welsh Rugby Union in 1934...

, had broken away from the South Wales Football Union to arrange the match with England. With no real links to any of the clubs outside Newport and Cardiff, Mullock chose a team made up of gentlemen players with connections to the old universities. Four members of Cardiff RFC were chosen for the Welsh team, club captain William David Phillips

William David Phillips

William David Phillips was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff Rugby Football Club and international rugby for Wales...

, vice-captain B. B. Mann

B. B. Mann

Bathurst Bellers Mann was an Irish-born international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff and international rugby for Wales...

, Leonard Watkins

Leonard Watkins

Leonard Watkins was a Welsh international rugby union half-back who played club rugby for Cardiff Rugby Football Club and international rugby for Wales. He won just a single game for Wales when he was selected for the first ever Welsh rugby international.- Rugby career :Watkins was born in...

and Girling. The Welsh team were unprepared for the far more experienced and well drilled England team, and ended the match losing by eight goals to nil, a humiliating result. When the second Welsh international was arranged against Ireland the next year, eleven of the original squad were nor reslected. Girling was one of those dropped, and never represented Wales again.

Although no longer part of the international scene, Girling continued playing for Cardiff, and when Phillips ended his captaincy of Cardiff, Girling was given the role for the 1882/83 season.