Idwal Rees was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 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...

 centre who played club rugby for Swansea

Swansea RFC

Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. Its home ground is St Helens Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea. The team is sometimes known as The Whites because of the primary colour of the team strip...

 and Cambridge University

Cambridge University R.U.F.C.

The Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club, or CURUFC, is the rugby union club of Cambridge University, and plays Oxford University in the annual Varsity Match at Twickenham stadium every December. CURUFC players wear light blue and white hooped jerseys with a red lion crest...

.

Rugby career

Rees first played rugby for Swansea Grammar School, but when he graduated to Swansea University at the age of 17, he gave up rugby as he believed he was too light to play. In 1928/29 season he joined Swansea University RFC, playing alongside future Welsh internationals, Watcyn Thomas

Watcyn Thomas

Watcyn Thomas was a Welsh rugby union player who captained Wales in the early 1930s.Thomas was born in Llanelli and educated at Llanelli County School and at University College, Swansea. While still at school he was the first captain of the newly formed Welsh Secondary Schools XV in 1924. He then...

 and Claude Davey

Claude Davey

Claude Davey was a Wales international rugby union player who played club rugby for several teams, most notably Sale and Swansea. He was awarded 23 caps for Wales and captained his country eight times...

. Rees played for Swansea in the 1929/30 season, moving from scrum-half to full-back to centre; but in October 1931 he went to Cambridge where he achieved his rugby 'blue' in 1931 and 1932.

When Rees obtained a job at Fettes College

Fettes College

Fettes College is an independent school for boarding and day pupils in Edinburgh, Scotland with over two thirds of its pupils in residence on campus...

 he played for Edinburgh Wanderers

Murrayfield Wanderers RFC

Murrayfield Wanderers Football Club are a rugby union side based in Edinburgh, Scotland.Formed in 1997 after the amalgamation of Murrayfield RFC and Edinburgh Wanderers FC, both clubs brought together a long history of rugby excellence which can trace its roots back to 1868 when the Edinburgh...

, but during the school holidays he returned to Wales, playing for Swansea.

International matches played

Wales 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938 1935 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938