James Arthur Clare (1857 – 4 January 1930) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born 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 ...

three-quarter who played club rugby for Cardiff Rugby Football Club and international rugby 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 ...

. He achieved just a single cap, in the second international encounter between Wales and his birth country England.

Rugby career

Clare was born in London in 1857 but moved to

Penarth Penarth (, ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg), Wales, exactly south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a weal ...

, where he became a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

in the

Cardiff Docks Cardiff Docks ( cy, Dociau Caerdydd) is a port in southern Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost . Once the main port for the export of South Wales coal, the Port ...

, guiding ships through the harbour. While working in the Cardiff area he began playing rugby for Cardiff Rugby Club. In 1883 Clare was selected to represent his adopted country when he played for Wales in the opening game of the 1883 Home Nations Championship against England. This was only the third international game Wales had played and was the first ever game of the inaugural

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

. Under the captaincy of Charles Lewis, Clare played three-quarters along with

David Gwynn David 'Dai' Gwynn (28 December 1861 – 8 March 1910) was a Welsh international rugby union wing who played club rugby for Swansea, and county rugby for Lancashire. Gwynn played for Wales on six occasions and was the brother of William Gwynn ...

and Cardiff team-mate

William Norton William Joseph Norton (2 November 1900 – 4 December 1963) was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957, Leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1960, Minister for Social Welfare from ...

. Wales lost the game by two goals and four tries to nil, and Clare was not reselected to represent Wales again.

International matches played

WalesSmith (1980), pg 465. * 1883

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clare, James 1857 births 1930 deaths Cardiff RFC players English rugby union players People educated at Christ College, Brecon Rugby union players from London Wales international rugby union players Welsh rugby union players Rugby union three-quarters