Tommy Rees
Encyclopedia
Thomas 'Tommy' Edgar Rees (22 August 1904 in Pontyclun
— in Oldham
) was a Welsh
international rugby
fullback who played rugby union
at club level for London Welsh. Rees played international rugby union for Wales
but later switched to professional rugby league
when he joined Oldham RLFC
.
in South Wales and as a teenager played rugby for local club team Pontyclun RFC
. Jack Meggins, a local headmaster from Talbot Green
, saw potential in Rees and recommended him in writing to invitational team Crawshays
. Crawshays accepted Rees, the first notable team in his career. Rees joined the British Army and became a soldier in the Welsh Guards
, and while serving in the Guards he was selected for the Army XV
.
In 1926, Rees was playing for Welsh exile team London Welsh, and after an excellent victory against Cross Keys
at Blackheath on 6 March, Rees along with fellow team-mates Windsor Lewis and Wick Powell
, was selected to face Ireland as part of the 1926 Five Nations Championship
. The game was played at St. Helen's, Swansea
, with the Welsh team being led by Swansea's
Rowe Harding
. The Wales team were victorious over Ireland, robbing the Irish of both the Triple Crown
and Grand Slam
. Rees scored his first international points during the game with a single conversion, and at the end of the match, the three London Welsh playees were carried from the pitch shoulder-high. The press recorded that Rees had "a great game that caused intense enthusiasm". Rees was reselected for the next Wales international, the final game of the 1926 tournament, away to France. Now captained by Bobby Delahay
, Wales won the game 7-5.
On Christmas Eve 1926, Rees was playing for London Welsh away to Cross Keys. In the first few minutes of the second half, while attempting a tackle, Rees broke his leg. Rees had been a certainty for the 1927 Championship
, and after his injury his place was taken by Ossie Male
. The next season, Rees was back in the Wales team, and was chosen to face the New South Wales Waratahs
at the Cardiff Arms Park
. Wales were well beaten, though Rees scored for Wales with another conversion. The selectors kept faith with Rees, and he played his final union international in the opening game of the 1928 tournament
, played at Swansea against England.
1927
footballer of the 1920s, '30s and '40s who at representative level played for Great Britain
, and at club level for Oldham
, and Broughton Rangers
, playing at , i.e. number 1.
In 1928 while only 23, Rees decide to switch to the professional league code, and 'Went North', joining Oldham RLFC. Rees had an eleven year career with Oldham setting many club records, including kicking 668 goals and playing 121 consecutive first team games. In 1939, towards the end of his club career, Rees joined Broughton Rangers
though the outbreak of the Second World War ended the playing of professional rugby. He continued to be involved in rugby after his retirement, becoming a rugby league referee. In 1947 he became a rugby league referee and later ran the line as a touch judge in the final of the Rugby League Challenge Cup
at Wembley
. He was a lifelong committee man, and served Oldham until ill-health forced his retirement. Tommy Rees is one of less than twenty-five Welshmen to have scored more than 1000-points in their rugby league career. Tom Rees won a single cap for Great Britain
while at Oldham in 1929 against Australia.
Pontyclun
Pontyclun is a village in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is served by the South Wales Main Line and has its own local rugby union club...
— in Oldham
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
) 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
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
fullback who played 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...
at club level for London Welsh. Rees played international rugby union 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...
but later switched to professional rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
when he joined Oldham RLFC
Oldham Roughyeds
Oldham Roughyeds is an English professional rugby league club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. They currently play in the Championship One. Oldham is one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895....
.
Rugby union career
Rees was born in PontyclunPontyclun
Pontyclun is a village in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is served by the South Wales Main Line and has its own local rugby union club...
in South Wales and as a teenager played rugby for local club team Pontyclun RFC
Pontyclun RFC
Pontyclun Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in Pontyclun, Wales. Pontyclun RFC is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Cardiff Blues.-Early history:...
. Jack Meggins, a local headmaster from Talbot Green
Talbot Green
Talbot Green is a village just north of the M4 motorway, in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales in the United Kingdom...
, saw potential in Rees and recommended him in writing to invitational team Crawshays
Crawshays RFC
Crawshays Welsh RFC is an invitational rugby union team.In 1922 Captain Geoffrey Crawshay was invited by the Engineer Commander of Devonport Services, SF Cooper, to bring a team of Welsh rugby union players to play Devonport Services RFC...
. Crawshays accepted Rees, the first notable team in his career. Rees joined the British Army and became a soldier in the Welsh Guards
Welsh Guards
The Welsh Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division.-Creation :The Welsh Guards came into existence on 26 February 1915 by Royal Warrant of His Majesty King George V in order to include Wales in the national component to the Foot Guards, "..though the order...
, and while serving in the Guards he was selected for the Army XV
Army Rugby Union
The Army Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the British Army and a constituent body of the Rugby Football Union . The ARU was formed on 31 December 1906 and marked the fulfilment of Lieutenant J.E.C...
.
In 1926, Rees was playing for Welsh exile team London Welsh, and after an excellent victory against Cross Keys
Cross Keys RFC
Cross Keys RFC is a rugby union club located in the Welsh village of Crosskeys. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons.- History :...
at Blackheath on 6 March, Rees along with fellow team-mates Windsor Lewis and Wick Powell
Wick Powell
William Charles "Wick" Powell was a Welsh international rugby union scrum-half who played club rugby for London Welsh and county rugby for Middlesex...
, was selected to face Ireland as part of the 1926 Five Nations Championship
1926 Five Nations Championship
The 1926 Five Nations Championship was the twelfth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the thirty-ninth series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby...
. The game was played at St. Helen's, Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, with the Welsh team being led by Swansea's
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...
Rowe Harding
Rowe Harding
W. Rowe Harding was a Welsh international rugby union wing who played club rugby for Swansea. An intelligent player, Harding played for several teams at club and international level. In 1926 he attended Cambridge University and played for Cambridge in a varsity match...
. The Wales team were victorious over Ireland, robbing the Irish of both the Triple Crown
Triple Crown (Rugby Union)
In rugby union, the Triple Crown is an honour contested annually by the four national teams of the British Isles who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship: England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. If any one team manages to win all their games against the other three they win the...
and Grand Slam
Grand Slam (Rugby Union)
In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship manages to beat all the others during one year's competition...
. Rees scored his first international points during the game with a single conversion, and at the end of the match, the three London Welsh playees were carried from the pitch shoulder-high. The press recorded that Rees had "a great game that caused intense enthusiasm". Rees was reselected for the next Wales international, the final game of the 1926 tournament, away to France. Now captained by Bobby Delahay
Bobby Delahay
William James 'Bobby' Delahay was a Welsh international rugby union who played club rugby for Bridgend and Cardiff...
, Wales won the game 7-5.
On Christmas Eve 1926, Rees was playing for London Welsh away to Cross Keys. In the first few minutes of the second half, while attempting a tackle, Rees broke his leg. Rees had been a certainty for the 1927 Championship
1927 Five Nations Championship
The 1927 Five Nations Championship was the thirteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the fortieth series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby...
, and after his injury his place was taken by Ossie Male
Ossie Male
Ossie Male was a Welsh international full back who played club rugby for Cardiff and was capped 11 times for Wales and captained his country on three occasions. In 1924, Male was at the centre of an embarrassing decision made by the Welsh Rugby Union that prevented him facing the French rugby team...
. The next season, Rees was back in the Wales team, and was chosen to face the New South Wales Waratahs
1927-28 Waratahs tour of the British Isles, France and Canada
Between July 1927 and March 1928 the New South Wales Waratahs, the top Australian representative rugby union side of the time, conducted a world tour encompassing Ceylon, Britain, France and Canada on which they played five Tests and twenty-six minor tour matches....
at the Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...
. Wales were well beaten, though Rees scored for Wales with another conversion. The selectors kept faith with Rees, and he played his final union international in the opening game of the 1928 tournament
1928 Five Nations Championship
The 1928 Five Nations Championship was the fourteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the forty-first series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby...
, played at Swansea against England.
International matches played
Wales (rugby union) 1928 1926 1926 New South Wales WaratahsNew South Wales Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...
1927
Rugby league career
Tom Rees was a British professional rugby leagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
footballer of the 1920s, '30s and '40s who at representative level played 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 at club level for Oldham
Oldham Roughyeds
Oldham Roughyeds is an English professional rugby league club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. They currently play in the Championship One. Oldham is one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895....
, and Broughton Rangers
Broughton Rangers
Broughton Rangers was a British rugby football, and subsequently a rugby league club. It was based in Broughton, Salford.-History:Broughton Rangers was founded in 1877 as Broughton and added Rangers for its second season...
, playing at , i.e. number 1.
In 1928 while only 23, Rees decide to switch to the professional league code, and 'Went North', joining Oldham RLFC. Rees had an eleven year career with Oldham setting many club records, including kicking 668 goals and playing 121 consecutive first team games. In 1939, towards the end of his club career, Rees joined Broughton Rangers
Broughton Rangers
Broughton Rangers was a British rugby football, and subsequently a rugby league club. It was based in Broughton, Salford.-History:Broughton Rangers was founded in 1877 as Broughton and added Rangers for its second season...
though the outbreak of the Second World War ended the playing of professional rugby. He continued to be involved in rugby after his retirement, becoming a rugby league referee. In 1947 he became a rugby league referee and later ran the line as a touch judge in the final of the Rugby League 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....
at Wembley
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
. He was a lifelong committee man, and served Oldham until ill-health forced his retirement. Tommy Rees is one of less than twenty-five Welshmen to have scored more than 1000-points in their rugby league career. Tom Rees won a single cap 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"....
while at Oldham in 1929 against Australia.