Cecil Fleming Biggs (2 May 1881 – 5 October 1944) was a British sportsman who played
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 it ...
at centre 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 the
Barbarians
A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...
, and as a
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 str ...
er represented
Glamorgan. Biggs was one of six brothers to play rugby for Cardiff, and captained the team for a season in 1904/05. Although he was never capped at an international level, he has been described as "...one of the great uncapped Welsh players."
[Davies (1975), pg 242.]
Rugby career
Biggs came from a large sporting family. Six of his brothers played for Cardiff Rugby Football Club, most notably
Norman
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Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
(1886–1899) and
Selwyn (1889–1901). Norman, Selwyn and Cecil himself were all captains of Cardiff RFC and all three also played for the Barbarians, though, unlike Norman and Selwyn, Cecil never represented
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
..
Cecil Biggs joined Cardiff in the 1898/99 season, and by the next year he had been given his Reserves team cap.
[Davies (1975), pg 47.] By the 1900/01 season he was part of the first team and in his first season he was the team's second highest
try
Try or TRY may refer to:
Music Albums
* ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio
* ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs
* "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987)
* "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014)
* "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004)
* " Try (Ju ...
scorer with 16.
[Davies (1975), pg 48.] For the next three seasons, Biggs was the club's top scorer with 16, 16 and 24 tries respectively. In the 1904/05 season Cecil was elected as first team captain,
[Davies (1975), pg 53.] after serving as
Gwyn Nicholl's vice-captain in the previous season.
[Davies (1975), pg 51.] Biggs chose as his vice-captain the prop forward
Billy O'Neill (in many records shown as Billy Neill)
Despite playing for Cardiff in the 1905/06 season, Biggs missed the encounter between Cardiff and the
first touring All Blacks team. The next season saw the
first tour of the South African national side, and Biggs was part of the Cardiff team to face them. Of all the Cardiff players on that day only Biggs and Dicky David were uncapped at international level, and David would be selected to play for Wales in
1907
Events
January
* January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000.
February
* February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco ...
. Cardiff beat the
South Africans
The population of South Africa is about 58.8 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. The South African National Census of 2022 was the most recent census held; the next will be in 2032.
In 2011, Statistics South ...
17–0, made all the more impressive by the fact that Biggs was injured in the first few minutes of the game, which as good as reduced the team to 14 men.
[Billot (1974), pg 60.]
External links
Cricket ArchiveCricket biography of Cecil Biggs with portrait
Bibliography
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biggs, Cecil
English rugby union players
1881 births
1944 deaths
Cardiff RFC players
People from Kingston upon Thames
Barbarian F.C. players
English cricketers
Glamorgan cricketers
Rugby union players from Cardiff
Cricketers from Cardiff
Rugby union centres