Bancroft, William J 'Billy'

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Born : 2 March 1871
Place of birth : Swansea
Died : 3 March 1959, Swansea
Position : Full back
Swansea career : 1888/89 – 1902/03
Honours : 33 Wales caps (4PG, 1DG, 20C, 1GM = 60 points)
Other : He made his Swansea debut in 1889 which was the start of an extremely illustrious career. He will be remembered by most people as Swansea’s greatest ever full back. He was the club’s record points scorer in 12 of the 14 seasons from 1888/89 – 1901/02.

His younger brother John (Jack) also played with distinction for both Swansea and Wales for many seasons. Another brother, George, played for the club’s 2nd XV.

Billy Bancroft established a then world record 33 consecutive appearances for Wales at full back spanning the period 1890 – 1901, captaining them on 11 occasions. He scored a total of 60 points for Wales and took every penalty awarded during his international appearances.

‘Banky’ also captained Swansea in 1893/94 and then for 5 consecutive seasons from 1896/97 to 1900/01 and retired after the end of the 1902/03 season.

He played cricket as an all rounder for Swansea, South Wales, Glamorgan (he became their 1st professional player in 1895) and the West of England, later becoming a successful coach. After retirement from cricket in 1914, he became groundsman at St Helen’s, following the tradition of his father and grandfather.