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'Babs' is back with a crowd-pleasing roar and a celebratory re-run over Pendine Sands

Welsh Sports Hall of Fame Celebrates 'Roll of Honour' 35th Anniversary

Upcoming Events

25/06/2026

Commonwealth Games Lunch

In conjunction with Team Wales at Parkgate Hotel

03/07/2026

WSHOF Induction lunch at St Brides Hotel

08/07/2026

Celtic Manor and Chepstow Racecourse

22/10/2026

WSHOF Annual Dinner

At Parkgate Hotel

Latest News

‘Babs’ is back with a crowd-pleasing roar and a celebratory re-run over Pendine Sands

Speed star Parry Thomas joins the ‘Roll of Honour’ The engine roared, the fans gasped and the sun shone on…

TWO MORE HEROES OF 1976 GRAND SLAM WALES SIDE JOIN ‘ROLL OF HONOUR

Two heroes of the 1976 Wales Grand Slam winning team were surprised to find themselves added to the Welsh Sports…

Welsh Sports Hall of Fame Celebrates ‘Roll of Honour’ 35th Anniversary

The Welsh Sports Hall of Fame celebrated the 35th anniversary of its ‘Roll of Honour; at The Parkgate Hotel this week…

Billy Boston becomes Wales’ latest sporting knight

19.07.23 – Cardiff Bay Rugby Codebreakers Statue Unveiling – Rugby league legend Billy Boston during the unveiling of a statue…

‘Roll of Honour’ ready to hit 200 mark after 35 years

The Welsh Sports Hall of Fame ‘Roll of Honour’ has grown to 195 inductees from 31 different sports after the…

‘Famous Five’ honoured on another special ‘Roll of Honour’ night

Iwan Thomas was one of five famous Welsh sportsmen and women to be inducted onto the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame’s exclusive ‘Roll of Honour’…

On this month

Two sport Welsh skipper Tom Pearson is born

10/05/1872

Born in Bombay, India, and educated at the Mill Hill public school in England, Tom Pearson was born on Friday, 10 May, 1872. He went on to captain Wales at rugby and hockey and also represented his country at golf, tennis and squash. He marked his Wales rugby debut with a try against England at

Enter the ‘Tylorstown Terror’

15/05/1892

Jimmy Wilde was born on 15 May, 1892. Known as ‘The Mighty Atom’ or the ‘Ghost with the Hammer in His Hand’ or ‘The Tylorstown Terror’, he can lay claim to being one of Wales’ greatest boxers. He was the first official world flyweight champion and went 104 fights without defeat.

A draw in Paris

25/05/1933

Wales played their first official football international against a team outside the Home Nations on 25 May, 1933, when they met France in Paris. The game at Stade Colombes ended in a 1-1 draw with Tom Griffiths (Bolton Wanderers) scoring the vital game

French connection for Wales football team

25/05/1933

On Thursday, 25 May, 1933, the Wales football team played its first international against continental opposition with a trip to France to play in Paris. The game ended in a 1-1 draw with the Welsh goal coming from Bolton Wanderers centre half Tom Griffiths. It was Wales’ 155th international and every capped fixture up to

Mel Charles is born

14/05/1935

Mel Charles was born in Swansea on 14 May, 1935, the younger brother of Roll of Honour member John Charles. He played 31 times for Wales and made 379 appearances for Swansea Town, Arsenal, Cardiff City and Pot Vale, scoring 117 goals.

Lions kick-off with a win

10/05/1950

There were 14 Welsh players on the 1950 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia and four of them played in the first game on the tour against Nelson-Marlborough-Golden Bay-Motueka on 10 May at Trafalgar Park, Nelson. The Lions won 24-3 and Newport’s Malcolm Thomas scored 21 points with six penalties and

Ford scores twice for Wales

16/05/1951

Roll of Honour member Trevor Ford scored twice for Wales in their 3-2 win over Switzerland in a friendly at Wrexham. Ron Burgess got the other one in a win that came four days after a 2-1 triumph over Portugal in Cardiff. Ford also scored in that game. Wales went unbeaten in 1951, beating Ireland,

Euro title for Welsh duo

19/05/1976

John Toshack and Joey Jone helped Liverpool secure the UEFA Cup on 19 May, 1976, with a 1-1 draw with Club Bruges in the second leg. Liverpool had taken a 3-2 led with them to Belgium. For Toshack it was his second European title having helped Liverpool beat Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 1973 final.

Heartbreak at Ninian Park

22/05/1976

Wales were held to a 1-1 draw by Yugoslavia on 22 May, 1976, in the quarter-finals of the UEFA European Championship. It meant Terry Yorath’s side were knocked out of the competition having lost the first leg in Zagreb 2-0. Wales were the only Home Nation to reach the last eight (Wales, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet

Dutch beaten on countback

23/05/1979

Jeff Hopkins hit 71 runs as Wales won their first ICC Trophy Group B Match on 22 and 23 May, 1979. The brother of Glamorgan batsman John, Jeff played four times for Middlesex and played for Wales in the 1979 tournament. Wales batted first in the 60 overs contest and scored 170. When the Dutch

World champ Laura Daniels bowls up

31/05/1985

Laura Daniels, the World Championship doubles winner in 2016, World Champion of Champions singles winner in 2017 and the Commonwealth Games singles silver medalist in 2018, was born on 31 May, 1985. She took up bowls at the age of 12 after watching her elder brothers play the game.

Happy Birthday Geraint!

25/05/1986

Double Olympic gold medalist Geraint Thomas was born in Cardiff on 25 May, 1986. He struck gold for Team GB at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics in the team pursuit. He was also a gold medalists for Team Wales in the road race at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. In 2017, he became the first Welshman,

Rugby World Cup debut for Wales

25/05/1987

Wales made their Rugby World Cup debut in Wellington on 25 May, 1987, against Ireland. They won the Pool 2 game 13-7 and went on to top the pool with three wins. That set-up a quarter-final against England, which they won. They were beaten by eventual champions New Zealand in the semi-finals before beating Australia

Parisian debut for Loosemore

28/05/1990

Welsh tennis No 1 Sarah Loosemore made her French Open debut in the first round of the Ladies Singles in Paris on 28 May, 1990. She was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by American Jennifer Santrock. She also lost in the first round in 1991. She also played in the Australian Open and Wimbledon for four years.

Robbo picks up Welsh title

11/05/1992

Steve Robinson became a world champion at very short notice in 1993, but one of his earliest title fights came closer to home when he beat Neil Haddock to win the Welsh Super-Featherweight title on 11 May, 1992, at the Llanelli Bowls Centre. Llanelli-born Haddock went on to win the British title the following year,

Woosnam wins the PGA title at Wentworth

26/05/1997

Ian Woosnam won his 29th and final victory on the European Tour when he shot -13 to take the Volvo PGA title on 26 May, 1997. It was his second victory at the Wentworth course, following on from his previous triumph in 1988. Woosie was the third Welsh golfer to win the event. Brian Huggett

An indoor FA Cup Final in Cardiff

17/05/2003

History was made on 17 May, 2003, when the 122nd FA Cup final, the world’s oldest domestic football cup competition, was played under a roof for the first time. It was the third year the Millennium Stadium had hosted the final and, due to bad weather, it was agreed that the game would be played

Cleverley on top of the world

21/05/2011

Nathan Cleverley became the World Boxing Organisation World Light Heavyweight champion at the O2 Arena in London on 21 May, 2011, when he beat Poland’s Aleksy Kuziemski. Cleverley was already the British, Commonwealth and European champion and went on to defend his crown four times before he was beaten by Russia’s Sergey Kovalev in Cardiff

Gethin scoops Heineken Cup title

18/05/2013

Wales’ most capped rugby union player Gethin Jenkins was a winner with Cardiff Blues in the 2010 European Challenge Cup final against Toulon in Marseille. On 18 May, 2013, he came on after 61 minutes for Toulon in the first of their three successive Heineken Cup wins when they beat Clermont Auvergne in Dublin.

Hat-trick for Mark Williams

07/05/2018

Mark Williams bridged a 15 year gap as he won his third World Snooker title in Sheffield, beating John Higgins 18-16 in the final. A year earlier he had failed to qualify for the Crucible and was poised to quit the game. He won £425,000 for his win as he added to his previous triumphs