Benjamin Beynon (14 March 1894 – 21 May 1969) was a Welsh international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

fly-halfWelsh Rugby Union player profiles
/ref> who played club rugby for

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

, and would later play professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

for

Oldham RLFC Oldham R.L.F.C., also known as the Roughyeds, is a professional rugby league football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The club currently competes in the RFL League 1, the third tier of British Rugby League. Formed in 1876 as Oldh ...

( Heritage № 215). Beynon was also an association footballer for Swansea Town.

Rugby career

Beynon played rugby union for his home team club, Swansea, playing his first game in 1913. He was first selected to represent

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

on 17 January 1920, when he faced England at St. Helens. Wales ran out comprehensive winners, mainly thanks to Newport's

Jerry Shea Jeremiah Shea (12 August 1892 – 30 June 1947) was a Welsh international dual-code rugby centre who played club rugby for Newport and Pill Harriers under the rugby union code and later represented Wigan as a professional rugby league footb ...

scoring 16 points on his own. His second and last match was against Scotland three weeks later. It was unknown if Beynon would have won more caps, as he became a professional footballer for Swansea Town in the same year, which prevented him from playing rugby union. The

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running ...

even withheld his actual cap to commemorate his appearance as they believed he was professional before he represented Wales at union. Beynon was the first Swansea player to turn out for a rugby union,

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

(Oldham) and association football teams.

International rugby matches played

WalesSmith (1980), pg 463. * 1920 * 1920

Association football career

Beynon played association football for Waunwen and then Swansea Town, playing his first game for the 'Swans' on 28 November 1914. Just two months later Beynon played the most notable game for Swansea when he was selected to face First Division side

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

draw. Swansea won a shock 1–0 victory, Beynon scoring the goal, his only score in four FA Cup appearances.Jenkins (1980), pg 20. His final game for Swansea was on 17 April 1922, and during his career he managed to score a hat-trick, in a match at the

Vetch Field The Vetch Field was a football stadium in Swansea, Wales. It was used for football matches and was the home ground of Swansea City until the club moved to the newly built Liberty Stadium in 2005. Opened in 1912, the ground held around 12,000 at ...

in September 1920 against

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Bibliography

* *

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Statistics at orl-heritagetrust.org.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beynon, Ben 1894 births 1969 deaths Association footballers not categorized by position Oldham R.L.F.C. players Rugby league players from Swansea Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Swansea Swansea City A.F.C. players Swansea RFC players Wales international rugby union players Welsh footballers Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players