Colin Dixon - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Colin J. Dixon was a Welsh

Welsh people

The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

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...

and professional Rugby League World Cup

Rugby League World Cup

The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by members of the Rugby League International Federation . It has been held nearly once every 4 years on average since its inaugural tournament in France in 1954...

winning footballer who at club level has played rugby union (RU) for Cardiff International Athletic Club, and at representative level has played rugby league (RL) for Great Britain

Great Britain national rugby league team

The Great Britain national rugby league team represents the United Kingdom in rugby league football. Administered by the Rugby Football League , the team is nicknamed "The Lions" or "Great Britain Lions"....

, and Wales

Wales national rugby league team

The Wales national rugby league team represent Wales in international rugby league football matches. Currently the team is seventh in the RLIF World Rankings. The team were run under the auspices of the Rugby Football League, but an independent body, Wales Rugby League, now runs the team from...

, and at club level for Halifax

Halifax RLFC

Halifax RLFC is one of the most historic rugby league clubs in the game, formed over a century ago, in 1873 in the Yorkshire town of Halifax. Known as 'Fax', the official club colours are blue and white hoops, blue shorts and blue socks . They share The Shay stadium with football club FC Halifax Town...

, Salford

Salford City Reds

Salford City Reds are an English rugby league club based in Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1873, they currently play in the Super League. They have won six Rugby Football League Championships and one Challenge Cup...

, and Hull Kingston Rovers

Hull Kingston Rovers

Hull Kingston Rovers or Hull KR is an English professional rugby league football club based in Hull, England. The club formed in 1882 and currently competes in Super League, having won promotion from National League One in 2006...

, playing at , or , i.e. number 3 or 4, 11 or 12, or 13.

Rugby career

Dixon, like Gus Risman

Gus Risman

Augustus "Gus" John F. Risman was a Welsh rugby league footballer of the 1920s through to the 1950s.A devastating three-quarter who also played at , and /, Risman was born in Cardiff, brought up in Barry where he went to Barry County School, and played rugby union in South Wales as a schoolboy...

and Billy Boston

Billy Boston

William John "Billy" Boston MBE is a former Wales and Great Britain professional Rugby League World Cup winning footballer. Boston is a member of the Rugby League Hall of Fame, Welsh Sports Hall of Fame and was, along with Shaun Edwards the first to be voted into the Wigan Hall Of Fame...

, was a product of South Church Street School in Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

's Butetown

Butetown

Butetown is a community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a model housing estate built in the early nineteenth century by John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, for whose title the area was named...

. Playing in the Cardiff RFC

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...

Youth team, he was already showing something of his future potential but was overlooked by 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...

(RU) Youth. As a seventeen year old he signed for Halifax

Halifax RLFC

in 1961.

Initially he played as a , providing many tries

Try

A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...

for his John "Johnny" Freeman, by coincidence also a former pupil of South Church Street School, but it was not until he moved to the back row of the pack in 1963 that he revealed his tremendous power.

In 1964 he was a key player in the first Halifax

Halifax RLFC

side to win the championship since 1907. As captain in the 1967 and 1968 seasons he led the side by example and was rewarded with his first Great Britain

Great Britain national rugby league team

cap in 1968. Transferred a few weeks later to Salford

Salford City Reds

for a record £15,000 (based on average earnings, this would be approximately £366,000 in 2007), he played in the Challenge Cup

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....

Final of 1969 losing to Castleford

Castleford Tigers

Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. They participate in the professional European competition Super League. They are sometimes known as 'Cas', 'Cas Tigers', 'Classy Cas' or the 'Black & Amber'...

. Had Salford

Salford City Reds

won he would almost certainly have been awarded the Lance Todd Trophy

Lance Todd Trophy

The Lance Todd Trophy is awarded to the Man-of-the-Match in rugby league football's Challenge Cup Final.The trophy was introduced in 1946, in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was killed in a road accident during the Second World War...

. That same season he was the League's highest scoring forward with 20 tries

Try

A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...

.

He played 418 times for Salford

Salford City Reds

with 738 appearances in all first class games. Perhaps the highlight of his successful club career was winning the League Championship with Salford

Salford City Reds

in 1973-74 and again in 1975-76. He played his last game for Salford

Salford City Reds

in 1980, but played a final season in the Premiership winning Hull Kingston Rovers

Hull Kingston Rovers

team of 1980-81.

As an international he won 15 caps for Wales

Wales national rugby league team

and 14 for Great Britain

Great Britain national rugby league team

. He played in the Great Britain

Great Britain national rugby league team

1972 World Cup

1972 Rugby League World Cup

The sixth Rugby League World Cup was held in France in October and November of 1972. Australia started as the favourites to retain the trophy they had won just two years previously. New Zealand had beaten all three of the other nations in 1971 and France were expected to be tough opponents on their...

winning side and toured Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...

in 1974, playing in all three Tests against Australia (1 win, 2 losses) and all three in New Zealand

New Zealand national rugby league team

The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...

(2 wins, 1 loss).

External links

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