Frank Williams (birth unknown – death unknown) was a Welsh

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 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 ...

footballer and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. He played club level rugby union (RU) for

Swansea RFC Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premiership. The club play at St Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea and are also known as ''The Whites,'' in reference to their home kit colours. History ...

, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

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 ...

, and at club level for Halifax as a . After retiring from rugby, he became a journalist, and worked as the sports editor for the '' Halifax Courier & Guardian'' for over 20 years.

Rugby career

Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, Williams moved to

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 ...

at a young age. He began playing

at school, and represented Wales against England schoolboys. He began playing for

as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

at the age of 17, and played for the club until 1913, when he was persuaded to turn professional and join

club Halifax. Williams won a

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

while at Halifax in 1914, and was also included in the squad for the

1914 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1914 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand was the second ever British national rugby league team or 'Lions' tour of Australasia, where it was winter and matches were played against the Australian and New Zealand national sides, ...

. He won two

s against Australia on the tour, including in the famous "Rorke's Drift" Test. His playing career ended in 1919–20, when he was forced to retire for medical reasons.

News career

After ending his playing career, Williams became a journalist for the ''Halifax Guardian'' until the paper merged with the ''

Halifax Courier Halifax () is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It is the commercial, cultural and administrative centre of the borough, and the headquarters of Calderdale Council. In the 15th cent ...

'' in 1921. After briefly returning to rugby in a coaching role, he joined the newly merged newspaper (now known as the ''Halifax Courier & Guardian''). In 1938, he became sports editor for the newspaper, and remained in the role until his retirement in 1960.

References

External links

Team – Past Players – W at swansearfc.co.uk
Profile at swansearfc.co.uk
-> {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Frank Footballers who switched code Great Britain national rugby league team players Halifax R.L.F.C. players Place of birth missing Place of death missing Rugby league wingers Swansea RFC players Wales national rugby league team players Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players Year of birth missing Year of death missing