Alan Henry Morgan Rees (17 February 1938 – 17 March 2022) was a Welsh rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Wales, and at club level for Maesteg RFC, as a fly-half. He played club level rugby league (RL) for Leeds. He also played county

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

from 1955 to 1971.

Background

Alan Rees was born in

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

, Wales.

International honours

Alan Rees won three caps for Wales (RU) in 1962 against England, Scotland and France.

Cricket career

Rees also played cricket for

, making 216 first-class appearances between 1955 and 1968. A fine fielder, he appeared as a substitute in the Third Test Match against Australia at Headingley, taking the catch that dismissed Peter Burge off the bowling of Fred Trueman. This appearance makes him one of the few players to have played on both the rugby and cricket grounds at Headingley. In the match against Middlesex at Lord's in 1965, he became only the second player ever to be given out as "

handled the ball Handled the ball was formerly one of the methods of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket, but was integrated into the Law on obstructing the field when the Laws of Cricket were rewritten in 2017. It dictated that either batsman can be g ...

" in the County Championship. In 1970 and 1971, he reappeared in Gillette Cup and John Player league matches.

Later life

After his playing career ended, Rees worked as a sports development officer for Afan Borough Council. He died at Morriston Hospital in 2022, aged 84.

References

External links

Statistics at espn.com
*
Statistics at wru.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Alan 1938 births 2022 deaths Cricketers from Neath Footballers who switched code Glamorgan cricketers Leeds Rhinos players Maesteg RFC players Rugby league players from Neath Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Neath Wales international rugby union players Welsh cricketers Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players Rugby league wingers Rugby league centres