ALAN REES (February 17, 1938 – March 17, 2022)
Former Leeds halfback Alan Rees was a real all-rounder who represented Wales at rugby union and England at cricket – and achieved the rare feat of running out at both the Rugby League and cricket grounds at Headingley.
Having played union for Maesteg, Aberavon, Leicester and Llanelli and faced England at Twickenham, and Scotland and winners France at Cardiff Arms Park during the 1862 Five Nations Championship, the fly-half turned professional that summer.
He had previously rejected overtures from Lions selectors because touring would have interfered with his cricket.
Port Talbot-born Rees, who has died aged 84, made his Leeds debut in a 22-5 home win over Batley in September 1962, and three days later, claimed his first try in a 55-2 victory at Dewsbury.
He was settling in nicely when he suffered a nasty nose injury in a bad-tempered home game against Oldham.
The infamous big freeze of 1963 gave Rees time to recover, and he was involved again by the time of a memorable Challenge Cup second-round tie at Wigan, where his field-goal (then worth two points with a try accounting for three) helped Leeds establish a 9-5 lead before they eventually lost 20-11.
Leeds finished seventh in the First Division, with Rees’s try in a 10-3 home win over Castleford proving to be his last for the club.
With opportunities limited by the emergence of Mick Shoebottom, he retired from Rugby League in November 1965 after 27 appearances.
Rees joined the Glamorgan CCC staff as a teenager, making his debut aged 17 in 1955, and soon became a regular in their batting line-up.
He was capped by the county in 1963 and scored 1,206 runs in his best season the following year – top-scoring with 48 and 47 in Glamorgan’s victory over the touring Australians at Swansea.
He was noted for his fielding skills and was called up to act as a substitute fielder in the third Test between England and Australia in Leeds in July 1964, taking a fine catch off Fred Trueman’s bowling to dismiss Peter Burge, who had made 160.
Australia won the series 1-0 with four matches drawn, and therefore retained the Ashes.
Rees’s cricket career was also significant for him becoming only the second batsman to be dismissed for handling the ball, during a match against Middlesex at Lord’s in 1965.
In 1967, he opened the batting with Alan Jones in Glamorgan’s inaugural game at Sophia Gardens (against the Indian tourists) and struck the first-ever boundary at the new ground.
Rees scored 7,681 runs at an average of 24.07 for Glamorgan and was unfortunate not to be awarded a benefit because he was eventually released in 1968 to make way for overseas batsmen.
He retired from first-class cricket in that year with 216 appearances to his credit but re-appeared in several one-day matches in the early seventies.
Subsequently he became a council sports development officer in South Wales.
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