William O'Neill (5 June 1878 – 2 April 1955), often recorded as Billy O'Neil or Billy Neil, was a Welsh dual-code 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 ...

and

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 ...

front row player who played club level

(RU) for

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a distri ...

, and as a professional

footballer he represented

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

( Heritage № 154). O'Neill was capped eleven times for the Wales rugby union national team, and twice for the Wales national league team. Although playing throughout the 1904/1905 season, he missed the classic 1905 Wales win over

the Original All Blacks The Original All Blacks (also known simply as "The Originals") were the first New Zealand national rugby union team to tour outside Australasia. They toured the British Isles, France and the United States of America during 1905–1906. Their op ...

. He is often registered in many sources under the name Billy Neill or Neil because the Welsh Rugby Union didn't want him to sound like he was Irish.

Rugby career

Educated at St Peter's School in

Roath Roath ( cy, Y Rhath) is a district and community to the north-east of the city centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. There is no community council for the area which is mostly covered by the Plasnewydd electoral ward, and stretches from Adamsdow ...

, O'Neill played rugby for St. Peters RFC. O'Neill was first selected to play international rugby for Wales in a game against Scotland as part of the

1904 Home Nations Championship The 1904 Home Nations Championship was the twenty-second series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 9 January and 19 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Table Results ...

. Now playing for first class team Cardiff, and under the captaincy of

Llwynypia Llwynypia ( cy, Llwynypia ) is a village and community (Wales), community (and electoral ward) in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, near Tonypandy in the Rhondda Fawr Valley. Before 1850 a lightly populated rural farming area, Llwynypia experienced a popu ...

Willie Llewellyn William Morris "Willie" Llewellyn (1 January 1878 – 12 March 1973) was a Welsh international rugby union player. He captained Wales in 1905 and London Welsh in 1902. He was a member of the winning Welsh team who beat the 1905 touring All Black ...

, Wales won the game fairly easily, despite the rough play from Scotland's Bedell-Sivright. O'Neill was reselected for the very next game against Ireland, which Wales narrowly lost. O'Neill played in all three matches of the 1905 Championship which saw Wales win the tournament and the

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

for the fourth time. O'Neill missed the next Wales game, the historic match against the first touring All Blacks, but was available for Cardiff against the same touring team ten days later. He also missed the Wales game against the first touring South African team, though was fit and well to represent both Glamorgan and Cardiff against the Springboks. Glamorgan lost 6-3, but the Cardiff team caused the biggest upset of the tour by outclassing the South Africans 17-0, only their second loss of the tour. O'Neill was back in the Welsh squad the next season playing two of the games in the 1907 Home Nations Championship, and was in all four matches of the 1908 tournament. Wales won all their matches and lifted their fifth Triple Crown, giving O'Neill his second trophy. In 1908, O'Neill turned his back on the amateur rugby union game by switching to professional rugby league. He joined Warrington, playing his first game for the club on 17 October 1908. After just two months as a professional rugby league footballer, he was selected for the Wales national league team, in an encounter with England at Broughton. He played one more international match, again against England, at Belle Vue,

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

in 1909. O'Neill played right-, i.e. number 10, in

's 10-3 victory over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the

1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain The 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the first ever such tour for the newly-formed Australia national rugby league team (or 'The Kangaroos'). The tour was to England and Wales and coincided with the first Wallabies Rugby Union tour of ...

tour match during the 1908–09 season at

Wilderspool Stadium Wilderspool Stadium was a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England. The ground was Warrington RLFC's old ground before moving to the Halliwell Jones Stadium. History In 1898, Warrington RLFC moved to the Wilderspool Stadium. A 10-year lea ...

, Saturday 14 November 1908, in front of a crowd of 5,000, due to the strikes in the cotton mills, the attendance was badly affected, the loss of earnings meant that some fans could not afford to watch the first tour by the Australian rugby league team.

International matches played

Wales (rugby union)Smith (1980), pg 469. * 1905, 1907, 1908 * 1908 * 1904, 1905, 1907, 1908 * 1904, 1905, 1908 Wales (rugby league) * 1908, 1909

Bibliography

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References

External links

Profile at cardiffrfc.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Billy 1878 births 1955 deaths Aberavon RFC players Cardiff RFC players Dual-code rugby internationals Rugby union players from Cardiff Rugby league players from Cardiff Rugby union props Wales international rugby union players Wales national rugby league team players Warrington Wolves players Glamorgan County RFC players Rugby league locks