William "Pusher" Yiend (1865 – 22 January 1939) 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 ...

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 it ...

forward who played club rugby for

Hartlepool Rovers Hartlepool Rovers F.C. are a rugby union club who play at The New Friarage, West View Road in Hartlepool. The club play in Durham/Northumberland 1, the seventh tier of the English rugby union system after being relegated from North One East at ...

and international rugby for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 1890 Yiend became one of the original members of the Barbarians Football Club. Yiend was also a cricketer, who represented

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

for one season before the club joined the Minor Counties Championship.

Rugby career

Yiend was born in

Winchcombe Winchcombe () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Tewkesbury in the county of Gloucestershire, England, it is 6 miles north-east of Cheltenham. The population was recorded as 4,538 in the 2011 census and estimated at 5,347 in ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in 1861 to George Yiend, a mason and master grocer, and Rebecca Yiend (formerly Webb) Yiend played for several teams before gaining international recognition, including Peterborough, and

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of ...

, before they turned to

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 11 ...

. Yiend was first selected to play international rugby for England in the country's first encounter with an overseas touring team; The New Zealand Natives. Despite a comfortable win over the New Zealand team, Yiend would not play for England for another two seasons. During the 1890–91 season, Yiend was approached by

William Percy Carpmael William Percy Carpmael (20 May 1864 – 27 December 1936) was the founder and first president of the rugby union Barbarian Football Club. Carpmael was born the eldest of eight in Briscobel, Streatham in England.Starmer-Smith (1977), pg 13 ...

to join his newly formed invitational tourists, the Barbarians. Yiend accepted and became a member of the first Barbarian squad. Yiend was next selected for England during the

1892 Home Nations Championship The 1892 Home Nations Championship was the tenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 2 January and 5 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. England took the 1892 Champion ...

. Yiend played in all three games, each of which England won, making Yiend a

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

winning player. Yiend missed the opening game of the 1893 Championship, but was back in the team to face Ireland in a narrow win. His final game was the encounter with Scotland in the same Championship tournament, and finished in a defeat, the only international game in which Yiend finished on the losing side. On 19 October 1895 Yiend became the first internationally capped player to play for Leicester Tigers when he made his début at Welford Road against Guy's Hospital. He had moved to

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

for work and played 10 games in his only season at the club.

Bibliography

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References

External links

Biography of Arthur Budd with an England team photograph including William Yiend
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yiend, William 1865 births 1939 deaths Barbarian F.C. players England international rugby union players English rugby union players Gloucester Rugby players Hartlepool Rovers players Keighley Cougars players Leicester Tigers players Rugby union forwards Rugby union players from Gloucestershire