Wilf Wooller

Wilf Wooller was one of the most naturally gifted sportsmen ever produced in Wales. He was capped 18 times for Wales at rugby, captained Glamorgan County Cricket Club from 1947-60, played soccer for Cardiff City and represented Wales at squash. He was the captain when Glamorgan won their first County Championship crown in 1948, served as secretary for 30 years and was club president for six years before his death. He played in the first Welsh rugby team to win at Twickenham in 1933, paved the way for two tries in Wales’ famous victory over Jack Manchester’s 1935 All Blacks and captained Wales in 1939.

On the cricket pitch he was a pugnacious all-rounder, fearless fielder and tough-as-teak ‘skipper’. Over the course of 24 years with Glamorgan he scored 13, 593 runs (average 22.57) and took 958 wickets (average 29.96), he also took 412 catches. On the rugby field he was an elegant centre who combined pace, power and skill for both club, Cardiff, and country.

Born at Rhos- on-Sea on the North Wales coast, he had four brothers who all played Minor Counties cricket. He attended Llandudno County School and Rydal School, before heading to Cambridge University. It was at school that he was converted from a forward to a back and he won his first cap for Wales against England while still at school. At Cambridge he took a degree in Anthropology and won three rugby Blues (1933-1935) and two at cricket (1935-1936). Although he never earned a call to play cricket for England as a player, he was a Test selector from 1955 to 1961. He briefly played for Cardiff City in 1939, and also had an outing for Barry Town, and he played squash for the Wales national team.

At the start of WW2 he enlisted as a gunner with the 77th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment. In 1940, he turned out for an Army XV which beat France at the Parc des Princes, scoring three tries. He was posted to the Far East, where he was captured by the Japanese in Java in 1942 and incarcerated in Singapore’s notorious Changi prison. For a while he worked on the Burma railway, and owed his survival to his iron will.

He became a highly respected broadcaster and sports writer, contributing to the BBC and Daily Telegraph, and was the commentator for the six sixes struck by Gary Sobers against Glamorgan at St Helen’s in 1968. Never afraid to be outspoken, his views on Apartheid and maintaining sporting links with South Africa often left him out on a limb.

Wilfred Wooller (Cricket / Rugby player) Born in Rhos-on-Sea on 20 November 1912; Died in Cardiff on 10 March 1997