Cecil Biggs

Cecil Biggs

Full name	Cecil Frederick Biggs
Date of birth	2 May 1881
Place of birth	Kingston upon Thames, England
Date of death	5 October 1944 (aged 63)
Place of death	Southam, England
Notable relative(s)	Norman Biggs, brother Selwyn Biggs, brother
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Centre
Amateur clubs
Years	Club / team
1898-1907 1899	Cardiff RFC Barbarian F.C.[1]

Cecil Frederick Biggs (2 May 1881 – 5 October 1944) was a British sportsman who played rugby union at centre for Cardiff and the Barbarians, and as a Cricketer represented Glamorgan. Biggs was one of six brothers to play rugby for Cardiff, and captained the team for a season in 1904/05. Although he was never capped at an international level, he has been described as "...one of the great uncapped Welsh players."^[2]

Rugby career

Biggs came from a large sporting family. Six of his brothers played for Cardiff Rugby Football Club, most notably Norman (1886–1899) and Selwyn (1889–1901). Norman, Selwyn and Biggs himself were all captains of Cardiff RFC and all three also played for invitational touring team, the Barbarians, though Cecil never represented Wales, unlike Norman and Selwyn.

Biggs joined Cardiff in the 1898/99 season, and by the next year he had been given his Reserves team cap.^[3] By the 1900/01 season Biggs was part of the first team and in this first season he was the team's second highest try scorer with 16.^[4] For the next three seasons, Biggs was the club's top scorer with 16, 16 and 24 tries. In the 1904/05 season, Biggs was elected as team captain,^[5] after serving as Gwyn Nicholl's vice-captain in the previous season.^[6] Biggs chose as his vice-captain Billy O'Neill a prop-forward.

Despite being part of the 1905/06 season for Cardiff, Biggs missed the encounter between Cardiff and the first touring All Blacks team. The next season saw the first tour of the South African national side, and Biggs was part of the Cardiff team to face them. Of all the Cardiff players on that day only Biggs and Dicky David were uncapped at international level, and David would be selected to play for Wales in 1907. Cardiff beat the South Africans 17-0, made all the more impressive by the fact that Biggs was injured in the first few minutes of the game, which as good as reduced the team to 14 men.^[7]

External links

• Cricket Archive Cricket biography of Cecil Biggs with portrait

Bibliography

• Billot, John (1974). Springboks in Wales. Ferndale: Ron Jones Publications.
• Davies, D.E. (1975). Cardiff Rugby Club, History and Statistics 1876-1975. Risca: The Starling Press. ISBN 0-9504421-0-0.
• Parry-Jones, David (1999). Prince Gwyn, Gwyn Nicholls and the First Golden Era of Welsh Rugby. Bridgend: seren. ISBN 1-85411-262-7.
• Smith, David; Williams, Gareth (1980). Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-0766-3.

References

1. "Barbarian player profile: C. F. Biggs". barbarianfc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
2. Davies (1975), pg 242.
3. Davies (1975), pg 47.
4. Davies (1975), pg 48.
5. Davies (1975), pg 53.
6. Davies (1975), pg 51.
7. Billot (1974), pg 60.