William Charles Common Steele (born 18 April 1947) also known as Billy Steele,Bath, p161 is a former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international

rugby union player 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 ...

. The first club he played for was

Langholm RFC Langholm Rugby Football Club are a rugby union team founded in 1871. They play their home games at Milntown, Langholm, Dumfries and Galloway. The team currently play in the East Regional League Division Two following relegation from East Reg ...

, in his hometown of

Langholm Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Location and geography Langholm sits nort ...

in south west Scotland.Bath, p161 He represented the British & Irish Lions on the 1974 tour to South Africa and at the time played club rugby for

Bedford F.C. Real Bedford Football Club is a football club based in Bedford, England. Established in 2002 as a merger of Bedford United and US Valerio, the club are currently members of the and play at McMullen Park. They are affiliated to the Bedfordshir ...

His "day job" was in the RAF. As Richard Bath says: :"''Never the quickest of wingers, Steele's gritty defensive qualities and combative nature combined perfectly with some of the more attacking Scottish internationals of his day, particularly Andy Irvine and

David Shedden David Shedden (24 May 1944 in Kilwinning – 27 October 2017 in Linwood) was a Scotland international rugby union footballer, who played on the wing. He died in October 2017 aged 73. Rugby Union career Amateur career Shedden went to Spier's ...

''."

References

* Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) 1947 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Bedford Blues players Langholm RFC players Combined Services rugby union players 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel Royal Air Force Physical Training instructors Royal Air Force rugby union players Rugby union players from Langholm {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub