William Halliday Welsh

Dr. William Halliday Welsh was a Scotland international rugby union player. He became the 58th President of the Scottish Rugby Union.[1]

William Halliday Welsh

Birth name	William Halliday Welsh
Date of birth	4 September 1879
Place of birth	Edinburgh, Scotland
Date of death	30 June 1972 (aged 92)
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight	75 kg (11 st 11 lb; 165 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) - Edinburgh University Merchistonians () Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) 1900 1901 Edinburgh District Cities District () National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1900–02 Scotland 8 (12)
58th President of the Scottish Rugby Union
In office 1938–1939
Preceded by	Alfred Lawrie
Succeeded by	Patrick Munro

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Welsh played for Edinburgh University.[2] He was part of a famous University back line in 1901–02 season: Alec Boswell Timms, James Barnett Allison (of Ireland), and Alfred Fell together with Welsh and Alexander William Duncan at Full Back. The half back pairing of Ernest Simson and Frank Fasson completed the international line-up of backs.[3]

For 4 straight seasons, the Edinburgh University side had won the Scottish Unofficial Championship from 1899 to 1903, albeit in 3 of those seasons they shared the title with Edinburgh Academicals and Hawick (1899–1900), Watsonians (1901–02), and Glasgow Academicals (1902–03). The 1900–01 season championship was won outright by the University.

He also played for Merchistonians.[4]

Provincial career

He played for Edinburgh District in 1900.[5]

He played for the Cities District in 1901.[6]

International career

He was capped 8 times for Scotland in the period 1900–02.[7]

The Scottish Referee included this biography of Welsh in the buildup to the Scotland versus Wales match in 1901: '[Welsh] is one of the best athletes Merchiston and Scotland have produced. Three-Quarter mile champion of Scotland and at present the holder of all three short distance championships. One of the fastest men who ever played for Scotland, perhaps only equalled by W. A. Peterkin and George Campbell Lindsay. A splendid tackler, and a fine kicker with either foot. A strong, determined runner, but a little lacking in dodging ability. Combines splendidly with Alec Boswell Timms. Capped against Ireland and England last year. Saved Scotland last year from defeat by England by his great tackling of William Bunting and Forrest when clean away.'[8]

Administrative career

He was President of the Scottish Rugby Union for the period 1938 to 1939.[9]

After being President, Welsh was elected as a Special Representative on the board of the SRU.[4]

References

1. "William Welsh | Rugby Union | Players and Officials". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
2. The Essential History of Rugby UNion:Scotland. Nick Oswald and John Griffiths. Headline Publishing. 2003
3. "Register". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
4. "Register". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
5. "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
6. "Register". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
7. "Rugby Union - ESPN Scrum - Statsguru - Player analysis - William Welsh - Test matches". en.espn.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
8. "Register". British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
9. "Scottish Rugby Record 2018/19" (PDF). 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2020-04-01.