Thomas Scourfield (26 February 1909 – 14 February 1976) was a Welsh dual code

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 ...

international full back who played club rugby for

Ynysybwl Ynysybwl ( cy, Ynys-y-bŵl ) is a village in Cwm Clydach in Wales. It is situated in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, roughly north-north-west of Cardiff, north of Pontypridd and south of Merthyr Tydfil, and forms part of the communit ...

and Torquay as an amateur

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 ...

player and played 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 ...

with

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

. He won a single international cap with both the league and union Wales teams.

Rugby union career

Scourfield was born in

Pontypridd () (colloquially: Ponty) is a town and a community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Geography comprises the electoral wards of , Hawthorn, Pontypridd Town, 'Rhondda', Rhydyfelin Central/Ilan ( Rhydfelen), Trallwng (Trallwn) and Treforest (). The ...

in 1909 before moving to

. In 1930 Scourfield was selected for his one and only appearance for Wales in a game against France as part of the

1930 Five Nations Championship The 1930 Five Nations Championship was the sixteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the forty-th ...

. Under the captaincy of Guy Morgan, Scourfield made the trip to Paris to play the French at Stade Colombes. The game was an extremely bad-tempered affair from a French team well known throughout the 1930s for their rough play. The game took a turn for the worse when Scourfield collected a loose ball from the back and kicked it into touch. One of the French players who was chasing the ball, ignored the fact that the ball was cleared, continued his race towards Scourfield and punched him in the head. Later on

Bert Day Hubert Charles Day (8 May 1908 – 27 June 1977) was a rugby hooker who played rugby union for Newport and rugby league for Salford. He was awarded five caps for Wales under union rules and was part of the Welsh side that won the 1931 Five Na ...

, the Welsh hooker, was kicked in the face requiring nine stitches. When Welsh forward Tom Arthur retaliated on the wrong French player, the game fell into running fist fights, with the referee having to halt the game on several occasions. Wales won the game 11–0, but Scourfield did not represent Wales at rugby union again.

International matches played

Wales (union)Smith (1980), pg 471. * 1930

Rugby league career

In 1932 Scourfield turned his back on the amateur rugby union game by turning professional with Huddersfield. His first appearance for the club was against Bradford Northern on 26 November 1932, and in 1933 he won a Cup Final winners medal against Warrington, in front of a record crowd of nearly 42,000 people. Tommy Scourfield played in

's 8–11 defeat by

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

in the 1934–35

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 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 on Saturday 4 May 1935, in front of a crowd of 39,000. He won his only international cap for the Wales league team in 1935 in an encounter with England at Liverpool.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Scourfield, Thomas 1909 births 1976 deaths Dual-code rugby internationals Huddersfield Giants players London Welsh RFC players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby union fullbacks Rugby league players from Pontypridd Wales international rugby union players Wales national rugby league team players Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players Rugby union players from Pontypridd