Dai Fitzgerald | |||||||
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OVERALL STATISTICS | |||||||
| BIRTH | AGE | SIGNED ON | FROM | ||||
| DEBUT | LAST MATCH | LEFT | |||||
| CAREER | APPEARANCES (SUBS) | ||||||
| TRIES | GOALS | DGOALS | PTS | ||||
Biography of Dai Fitzgerald |
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 HERITAGE NO : Dai Fitzgerald BOOTS FOR HIRE? No doubt about it, Dai was a man of mystery or should that be a man on a mission? Dai was born in Cardiff in 1872. In 1891 he was living with his parents, Thomas and Margaret, at 5 Thomas Street, Cardiff and working as a labourer in the Cardiff dockyards. He was also performing very well in the Cardiff team and seemed destined for significant honours. In 1893 he appears to have spent his Spring holidays in South Lancashire around the towns of Leigh, Wigan and St. Helens. Perhaps he alighted at the wrong station on his jollies to Blackpool? Mike Latham, the esteemed Leigh RL Club Historian advises us that he was ‘tempted’ to demonstrate his rugby prowess and join the merry mob at Leigh RFC. Mike mentions that his journey and subsequent stay in Lancashire caused an almighty ‘stink’ in South Wales where they have been known to take their rugby seriously. There was even loose talk of financial incentives being offered to Dai, scandalous! We had first assumed that Dai had gone directly to Leigh and agreed to play there. However, Dai was in the Saints’ team to play Wigan in an away fixture on Wednesday the 19th of April, 1893. Interestingly, Dai made his debut for the Leigh Club two days later on Friday the 21st of April against Tyldesley. Also in the Leigh team on that day was Tom Foulkes. We know that the Saints and Leigh had a great rapport but what on earth was going on? Could it have been a bidding war, no cash exchanged of course to was everything pure and innocent. As it happened Dai settled down to live and play rugby in Leigh and gained a reputation as a classy centre. Indeed Dai has the Heritage Number 23 with the Leythers playing for them after the Northern Union had kicked off in 1895. At some point Dai relocated to Yorkshire and in the Spring of 1904 he married Annie Marie Greenaway in Dewsbury. In 1911 we find the couple and daughter Lorna living at 4 Howlet Street, Batley. By the outbreak of World War Two Dai had returned to Cardiff and was living on Station Road in the city. He died in Cardiff in October 1951 at the age of 79. |
| Date | Match | Pos | Opponents | Comp | Venue | FT | FTO | T | G | DG | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19th Apr 1893 | 1 | L |
3 | Wigan* | FR | A | 0 | 2 | VIEW |
| *Unofficial Match. **Non Playing Sub. |
| WINS : | LOSSES : 1 | DRAWS : |
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