Harold "Hal" James Jones (22 December 1907 – 16 October 1955) 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 who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for

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 Neath RFC, Maesteg RFC,

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Caerdydd) is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after ...

Glamorgan Police RFC Glamorgan Police RFC was a Welsh rugby union team that served the Glamorgan Police force before the amalgamation of the four district police forces of South Wales in 1969. The team was the most notable of the four early police rugby teams of Wale ...

and

Glamorgan County RFC Glamorgan County RFC is a Welsh rugby union club that manages an invitational team, known as Glamorgan that originally played rugby at county level. The team is made up of amateur players from sports clubs in the Glamorgan region and historically ...

, as a lock, i.e. number 4 or 5, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

, and at club level for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

and

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

as a , or , i.e. number 8 or 10, or, 11 or 12, during the era of contested

scrum Scrum may refer to: Sport * Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league ** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union * Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi Media and popular culture * M ...

Background

Hal Jones was born in

Ogmore Vale Ogmore Vale ( cy, Cwm Ogwr) is a village (and electoral ward) in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore. The village's main source of income came from coal mining. Up until the year 1865, the Ogmore valley was a quiet, isolate ...

, Wales, he and his wife; Ida were the landlord, and landlady of The Goat

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

lic house in Steeton,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, England, and he died aged 47 in

Staincliffe Staincliffe is a cross-over district of both Batley and Dewsbury, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the name is believed to derive from ''staine'', meaning stone and ''cliffe'', cliff. The area is ...

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

, West Riding of Yorkshire.

Playing career

Rugby league career

Harold Jones made his début for Wigan in the 7–8 defeat by

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

at Mather Lane (adjacent to the

Bridgewater Canal The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, Greater Manchester, Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was ...

on Saturday 31 August 1929, he scored his first try for Wigan in the 23–6 victory over

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

on Wednesday 1 January 1930, he scored his last try for Wigan in the 15–8 victory over

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

Naughton Park The DCBL Stadium (historically known as Lowerhouse Lane and Naughton Park) is a rugby league stadium in Widnes, Cheshire, England. It is the home of Rugby League side Widnes Vikings of the Betfred Championship, and American football side Halto ...

on Saturday 4 March 1933, he played his last match for Wigan in the 10–11 defeat by Halifax at Thrum Hall, Halifax on Saturday 11 November 1933. and played right-, i.e. number 10, in

's 5-18 defeat by

in the

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

Final during the 1936-37 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on Saturday 8 May 1937, in front of a crowd of 47,699.

International honours

Hal Jones won caps for

(RU) while at Neath RFC in 1929 against England, and Scotland. Jones also won three caps for

(RL) in 1935–1936 while at

. Harold Jones was selected 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 ...

while at Keighley for the

1936 Great Britain Lions tour The 1936 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team of Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and August 1936. The tour involved a schedule of 24 games, 16 in Australia including a three-t ...

of Australia and New Zealand but did not play in any of the test matches, although he did play in some of the games against representative sides.

Honoured at Keighley

Harold Jones is a Keighley Cougars Hall of Fame Inductee.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Harold 1907 births 1955 deaths Glamorgan Police officers Cardiff RFC players Glamorgan County RFC players Glamorgan Police RFC players Keighley Cougars players Maesteg RFC players Neath RFC players Publicans Rugby league players from Bridgend County Borough Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Bridgend County Borough Wales international rugby union players Wales national rugby league team players Welsh police officers Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players Wigan Warriors players