Rees Thomas (3 January 1934 – 6 November 2017) was a Welsh professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a right back in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

, Brighton & Hove Albion,

Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as Bo ...

, Portsmouth and Aldershot.

Life and career

Thomas was born in 1934 in

Penywaun Penywaun (also in ) is a community, electoral ward and north-western suburb of Aberdare in the Cynon Valley within the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. At the 2011 census, the population of the ward was registered as 3,063. Etymology P ...

and attended the Gadlys School in

Aberdare Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tyd ...

. He captained the Wales schoolboys representative team. When he left school, he joined Brighton & Hove Albion, but soon returned to Wales where he signed for

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

as a junior. He turned professional in January 1951, and remained with the club for five more years, but never played for their league team. For some of that time, he was engaged on National Service duties with the RAF, and he also spent a spell

on loan In sports, a loan involves a particular player being able to temporarily play for a club other than the one to which they are currently contracted. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to a full season, sometimes persisting for multiple seasons ...

, with whom he made his

debut in 1953. In June 1956, Thomas rejoined Brighton & Hove Albion. He had a run in the league side in his first season, but lost his place to

Des Tennant Desmond Warren Tennant (17 October 1925 – 12 January 2009) was a Welsh professional footballer who scored 40 goals from 400 appearances in the Football League playing for Brighton & Hove Albion. Life and career Tennant was born in Aberdare a ...

, and moved on to

in January 1958. His performances for Bournemouth earned him a move to Portsmouth of the Second Division, but he played only 30 matches over two seasons, the second of which ended in relegation to the third tier and Thomas was released. His last league club was Aldershot of the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

, where he made 103 league appearances over three seasons. He then played for Southern League club

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

. Thomas and his wife, Ann, had three children. After retiring from football, he and his family settled in the Aberdare area where he worked as a postman. He died in 2017 at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Rees 1934 births 2017 deaths Footballers from Aberdare Welsh footballers Wales men's schools international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Portsmouth F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players