William Berridge Welsh (11 February 1907 – 27 February 1987) was a Scottish international

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 later

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 ...

footballer, who played for and the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

.Bath, p. 118 Welsh scored his début try in his first international against the 1927-8 Waratahs from

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, and was capped 21 times for Scotland.McLaren, p. 11 He also played for

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

. He toured with the 1930 British Lions, including a match against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

, and was the only Scot on the squad. The Welsh player

Ivor Jones Ivor is an English masculine given name derived either directly from the Norse ''Ívarr'', or from Welsh (which spells it ''Ifor''), Irish (sometimes ''Ibar''), or Scottish, all of which likely derive it also from the original Norse form.The Oxford ...

, who played alongside him in the tour, described Willie Welsh as "one of the truly great forwards".

Bill McLaren William Pollock McLaren (16 October 1923 – 19 January 2010) was a Scottish rugby union commentator, teacher, journalist and one time rugby player. Known as 'the voice of rugby', he retired from commentating in 2002. Renowned throughout th ...

, who would later play for

Hawick RFC Hawick Rugby Football Club is an semi-pro rugby union side, currently playing in the Scottish Premiership and Border League. The club was founded in 1885 and are based at Mansfield Park at Hawick in the Scottish Borders. Splinter from Hawick an ...

himself, remembers the game of Willie Welsh.

"I was brought up on stories of the great Scottish players of the twenties, many of whom I never saw play but knew all about… I used to go with my father to see matches at a very early age, the great Hawick heroes including Willie Welsh,
Jock Beattie Jock Beattie (5 January 1907 – 10 February 1977) was a Scotland international rugby union player. Rugby Union career Amateur career Beattie played for Hawick Linden. He then played for Hawick. He played for the Co-Optimists. Provincia ...
and
Jerry Foster Robert (Jerry) Amos Foster (7 December 1907 – 17 July 1984) was a Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland international rugby union player. He played at Prop (rugby union), Prop. Rugby Union career Amateur career He played as a forwar ...
, so I had an all-consuming desire to wear the green jersey of Hawick."McLaren, p. 6

Welsh was also a fine rugby sevens player:

"My father's generation regarded Willie as one of the finest all-round footballers ever to play for Hawick. He was best known as a loose-forward and he had speed and exceptionally safe hands. He was skilled enough to have played as a back, and indeed he did so on one famous occasion, the Jed-Forest final of 1932, that I heard about as a boy, when a Hawick
seven 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...
, containing five forwards were 0–15 down at the change-over to a powerful
Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...
seven containing internationalists
Harry Lind Harry Lind (27 March 1906 – 18 December 1986, DunfermlinePlayer profile
on scrum.com. Retrieved ...
and Alf Wilson. Some of the Hawick support were leaving the ground and they missed an incredible Hawick rally in which Willie Welsh played a major role, helping Hawick to an 18–15 victory."

He was on the

1930 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia The 1930 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia was the twelfth tour by a British Isles team and the fifth to New Zealand and Australia. This tour is recognised as the first to represent a bona fide British teamGodwin (1981), pg 231. ...

Rugby league

Welsh later went over to

because of the unemployment crisis in the 1930s.McLaren, p. 12 He played for

London Highfield Liverpool Stanley was a semi-professional rugby league club from Liverpool, England. It was renamed Liverpool City in 1951, but was otherwise unrelated to the original Liverpool club of the same name. The club's origins date back to 1880 when i ...

in 1933–34.Bath, p. 87 He attempted to return to Hawick RFC to coach their rugby sevens squad, but due to the strictness of the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

's rules regarding contact with rugby league, he was forced to quit after a few minutes.

References

Cited sources

* Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany'' (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ) * McLaren, Bill ''Talking of Rugby'' (1991, Stanley Paul, London )

External links

player profile
on scrum.com 1907 births 1987 deaths British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Dual-code rugby internationals Hawick RFC players Liverpool City (rugby league) players Rugby league players from Hawick Rugby union players from Hawick Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby league players Scottish rugby union players {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub