Thomas Chalmers (19 March 1850 – 25 May 1926) was a Scottish international
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
and cricket player.
[Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany'' (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 )]
Biography
Thomas Chalmers was born in
Glasgow, the son of a merchant draper. He married Marion Dun Carrick, sister of the famed
James Stewart Carrick, in 1883 and they had one son, Archibald Patrick Chalmers, born in 1888. Thomas Chalmers died in Glasgow in 1926.
Rugby
One of the earliest Scottish players, he is sometimes considered the first great
Scottish rugby fullback. He played in the first six international test matches, all of them against , between 1871 and 1876,
including 's very first match. He was a solid tackler, good kicker and handy dribbler (a tactic of the time). He played club rugby for the
Glasgow Academicals
The Glasgow Academical Football Club is the third oldest rugby football club in Scotland. The club was also a founder member of the Scottish Football Union (the future SRU) in 1873.
History
Glasgow Hawks
In 1997 the decision was made to ...
, which was the strongest club in Scotland at the time.
He played in the world's first inter-district provincial match on 23 November 1872. Chalmers represented Glasgow District in their match against Edinburgh District on that date.
In October 1872, Chalmers took part in a trial match for the
Scotland team for the first
association football international match
''International Match'' (Swedish: ''Landskamp'') is a 1932 Swedish drama film directed by Gunnar Skoglund and starring Georg Blomstedt, Fritiof Billquist and Olof Sandborg. It was shot at the Råsunda Studios in Stockholm and on location in the ...
against
England and was named in the list of 17 possible players. Chalmers was praised as "a capital goalkeeper, albeit the rules were new to him." In the event, the entire Scottish team was made up of members of the
Queen's Park club.
He also represented the
West of Scotland District.
He was a cousin of the
Neilson brothers, who played for Scotland and then became Presidents of the
SRU SRU may refer to:
Organizations
* Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island, US
* Scottish Rugby Union
* Shri Rawatpura Sarkar University, Chhattisgarh, India
* Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, US
* Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai ...
(then the Scottish Football Union) and his nephew John Knox played in the 1903
Triple Crown winning rugby team.
Cricket
He also represented
Scotland at cricket. He was an excellent batsman and a good medium paced bowler. On one occasion playing for West of Scotland against Australia in 1878 he scored 38 against the bowling of
Fred Spofforth, Garrett and others.
See also
*
List of Scottish cricket and rugby union players
References
External links
GlasgowHawks.com - CMSat www.glasgowhawks.com History of the Glasgow Hawks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalmers, Thomas
1850 births
1926 deaths
Scottish rugby union players
Scotland international rugby union players
Rugby union players from Glasgow
History of rugby union in Scotland
Glasgow Academicals rugby union players
Scottish stockbrokers
Glasgow District (rugby union) players
West of Scotland District (rugby union) players
West of Scotland cricket players
Rugby union fullbacks