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W. LEWIS (Abertlllerv).I

WELSHMEN UP NORTH.I

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A WELSH KAP IN STORE -0

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A WELSH KAP IN STORE -0 PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS TO OVAL-KICKERS. BY P. F. BUSH. Wm. Spiller, of Cardiff, Near St. Fagan's My dear Bobby,"—As your leg has been poisoned in playing for Cardiff, I am going to disturb your rest by attempting to poison the minds of the people against you in the ensuing linis, It will be quite enough to say, for a start, that one fi-ne morning in July of the year 1886 the people who live in the immediate vicinity of the level-crossing at the rural retreat of St. Fagan's were startled by hearing the shrill scream of a train whistle, as they thought, when they knew that no train had any busi- ness within miles of the sylvan suburb. Instantly the place was in a state of commotion, and, when the oldest inhabi- tant and his following had made strict inquiries, the train whistle resolved itself into the first musical sounds from your childish lungs. Lt appeared that you had been frightened by catching a sight of the stork which had deposited you at Gacol Cottage" -hence the howl. But let us stork about wirat happened after- wards, for a while. Having received a thorough training at the h-ands-and ground ash stJicks-of your paternal relative, w'ho at that period guarded the peaceful interest of the villagers, you removed, at the tender age of eleven, to the breezy heights of P,en,a.rtih. Here your football career may be said to have begun, a-nd that it has become a big 'un future events, as narrated, will show. You favoured the Victoria School, and they had entered for the Penarth Schools League. It is worthy of more than passing notice that your initial efforts were thus under the more dangerous code, Soccer. Victoria finished second in t'he league, a.nd for your share in her exploits you became entitled to, and duly raived a very fine silver mediatl. You sojourned in the seaside suburb for the space of twelve months, and then, pining for the birds and trees, the woods and flowers of your nafbive "city," you brought your father back to St. Fagan's, there to settle down in peace and comfort. T'he .peace and comfort consisted partly in walking to and fro daily to Lan&- downe-road School. Here you came under the influence of R. Smith, Esq., t.he headmaster, a.nd to that fortunate circumstance I attribute m'ainly the fact tihat you are such a thundering upright I and decent chap. Here, ailoo, Soccer pursued you, and, besides playing in the First XI. of your school, you were selected for the Town XI. in your first year at school, and actually captained the Town. Team the next year. In one match for Lansdowne I remember you scored eight lovely goals off your own foot, and this. is a feat which, I believe, remains a record. Leaving school, w-ith adl the honours thick upon your brow, you joined, when fifteen, the St. Fagan's Rugby team, for whoon you played at outside half, with that sterling Httle player, Charlie Cul- verwell, as your inside. Perhaps you don't remember it, but I played for Old St. Mary's Haitians against you about this time. We be-at you by two dropped goals, one converted, a.nd a try to nil. One of us two dropped the goais, and it wasn't you. The year 1903 oadne, and with it the disbandment of the St. Fagan's team, owing to lack of players. You and Charlie were invited to come and spoil the Liandaff Yard team; you accepted the invite, and how far you succeeded in your laudable attempt may be seen from the fact that you and Charlie and thir- teen others won the Cardiff and District Union cup and medals. The next move was to Pontypridd, for you were both asked to play for that town, and, with the desire to improve your football chances, you decided to hie you to the place with the longest station in Wales. You joined Duncan M'Gregor in the centre, and Charlie stuck to half. The Sootto-Welsh partnership was so eminently successful that Ponty won nearly all her marches this season, 1904. You did a great deal of good to Freddy Lewis, .my William, for he played on the wing to you, and it is ever so well known that a good centre makes a good wing. | i Until Frede-ricus went to Treorky then, you formed a very powerful wing. Perhaps your best game that season was against Bristol, at Bristol, on Easter Monday. They had beaten Swansea on the Saturday previous, and, possibly, that had something to do with it; but the fact remains that you played a gT'and game, with the result thaft Ponty won j by sixteen points to eleven, very much to the disgust of my Bristol brother. i A Bitter Pi II. Your period of bad luck began with 1906, for when everything was going well for you, and it seemed that you would very likely be picked for the trial match, you met with a -bad accident at Newnort, 1 breaking your collar-bone whilst playing 'against the Harriers of "Pillgwenlly. Tim was a bitter piM, indd, and harried you considerably, but it did not really worry you so much as the next stroke of bad luck, which came upon you at Gloucester in the following season. You bad, meantime, got your transfer to Cardiff, and were playing a very fine game against the cathedral city, when sulddenly Arthur Hudson, kicking at the ball, missed it, and hoofed your shin instead. This caused a hole in your miajifly leg nearly large enough for an orange to be put in, though I don't expect you would have been eaten up witli pride if anyone had placed an orange im. the cavity. For six weeks thereaft-or you reposed in your little oot, No. 6 in No. 2 Ward, a,nd there, I am sorry to say, you are now, with this wretched blood-poisoning. It occurs to me that the best perfor- mance you have brought off in the Rugger world—for that eight goals Soccer episode takes some beati-ng--w-as last year, when you played for Mog. Griffiths* team against Pontypridd in a charity match. You were playing full- back, and, as a special act of charity, took the trouble to run right through the whole team and SOOtre a great try, which, by .the way, won the match, for it was the only score in the game. M'any county matches stand to your credit, and you have earned your cap very thoroughly by performing against 'Yorkshire three ,times and Gloucester- shire twice, not to mention the South of Ireland and the Australians. I wonder if you have had that cap yet, Billy! Your ability has brought about the "double event," so to speak, for you have been capped for cricket, having represented Glamorgan on five occasions. Playing at Swansea v. Surrey Club and Ground you brought off a fine perfor- mance. It was horrible weather, and the first day had been drawn blank. On the second, Surrey went in and made nearly 200, then proceeding to get Glamorgan out. They got eight wickets down for under the hundred, and then you went in. Poor old Billy Russell was your partner, but, unluckily, he got out, and Harry Creber came in last, with three- quarters of an hour to play. To Surrey it seemed that they had won, but they didn't know, evidently, that the best bats had been kept for the last. Uninteresting! I Well, to make an interesting yarn un- interesting, you and Harry C. kept up your ends for the rest of the day and saved the game. It looked as if you could have stayed in for the rest of the week! You have played for the Earl's side for many years, and got three centuries in 1904, with a great 133 (not out) v. Public Schools Nondeeeripts, in conse- quence of which you were picked for Glamorgan, but couldn't get off to play. Last season you gi^^ Gwyn Nicholls ba,-t season you g )I i ?le.,it Nv h eii tli-ey and Randall Davies ^rreat when they came to nlay for Whitchurch v. St. Fagan's. Whitchurch made 143; then you and your brother Oharles went in for St. Fagan's. I well remember the "Wes- tern Mail" on the subject: The Brothers Spiller opened the homesters' baftting. Fifty in a quarter of an hour. When stumps were drawn the ooore was 213— W. Spiller (not out) 135, with 22 4's, and C. Spiller (not out) 66. Rather different from that Surrey match, all sweet William? Your average varies from 17 to 50 for the Saints, while your wicket- keeping and fielding &re superb. A striking proof to your popularity wae furnished on your twenty-first birthday, when your colleagues in the cricket team presented you with a splendid silver cigarette case. lvhen the captain made the presentation you were so taken aback that your humorous old face was, for once, quite disturbed, and you thanked them in a "voice husky with emotion. In 1901 there was a sports at St. Fagan's in connection with the flower show. There were certain races for boys under sixteen, and Willie Spiller went in for them. He won the 120 yards flat, 120 hurdles, quarter-mile, high jump, long jump, and then, as a sort of refresher, he cantered over the mile: steeplechase on Shanks' pony, and won ¡ [ that too, and thus won a special medal presented by the Countess of Plymouth for the highest number of ^points. In social life your humorous songs are in great demand, and few can render them more excellently. It is always worth while to hear you warble, "Stop your tickling Jock," which is, perhaps, your favourite. But I expect you felt far from funny that night in the hotel at Exeter, when. the man who shared your room had retired early. When you went up you entereu your room as you thought, %nd was just about to spring upon the bed where your partner lay sleeping, to find out why he was scoring, and suddenly a feminine voice said, "Is that you, Jack?" Even then, however, your sense of humour and tact did not desert you, for, merely replying, "Yes, dear, but I have forgotten my tobacco pouch and am going down for it," you quietly sloped, feeling very small. It must have been rather awkward for | "Jack," tihough, for next day you found out that he didn't smoke. And that's a,bout all I'm going to plague you with, Billi-am, so look eh-arp and got quite fit again. Un-less I'm very mlleh mistaken, there's a Welsh Ka.p to I be kaptured this year by a straightfor- ward, honest little "'bobby," named William ap Spiller, so don't hang about' longer than you can help. And now, ¡ good-'bye. Ever yours, I

I RUGBY I

GWYN NICHOLLS AS AUTHOR.

I A BIG KICK.

IMID-WF-EK SOCCER.

CARDIFF -INSTITUTES' LEAGUE

I -\ SWANSEA.I

I Rugby Club Gossip. I

TAFFSIDE RECORD GONE.

Schools' Football 'I

PONTYPRIDD LEAGUE. _I

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