St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future
Three
Transcript:
This is the third part of the eleven part audio trail on David ‘Dai’ Samuel. This object, along with others in the trail, is on display at St Helen’s.
This object is Dai Samuel’s Swansea RFC cap awarded to him during the 1889 to 90 season. The cap represents Dai’s contribution to the Swansea club’s achievement of back to back Welsh Championships between 1889 and 1891. Despite missing the early part of the season, Dai made 12 appearances for the first fifteen. In total, Dai Samuel made 64 appearances for Swansea’s first fifteen, moving on from the second fifteen after only three games. Dai’s brother Jack, made 21 appearances during this first season. It was their play together in the Swansea pack that garnered the greatest praise for the brothers, which in itself is the reason we cannot talk of one without the other today. By the following 1890 to 91 season, and the second Welsh Championship, Dai and Jack Samuel really stood out, as both destructive and attacking forwards, Dai making 27 appearances and missing just two matches all season. Jack missed just one. This regular selection illustrated their importance to the team.
This Swansea cap itself is a mauve/blue cap with the "S.F.C." monogram on the front, the initials for “Swansea Football Club”. It once had silver tassels, which are now missing. There is no date on the brim of the cap, as is common, but the St Helen’s Archive have confirmed the date of its award.
The successes of the Swansea side resulted in six players being selected for the final international of the season. Dai, and Jack, were amongst those chosen. Wales beat Ireland at Stradey Park, Llanelli by six points to four, in front of a crowd of 10,000. William ‘Billy’ Bancroft dropped a goal from near the half-way line and Dai Samuel scored Wales’ try.
During the 1891 to 92 season The Samuel brothers only appeared in the Swansea side until November and their absence thereafter was the cause of much speculation in the local press. Whether from disagreements with the club or more mundane reasons, is not known. They did not appear again until the following season, in December of 1892.
Dai and Jack Samuel would continue to play for Swansea until the end of the 1892 to 93 season, but the story of their back to back champion seasons continues in the following few entries in the trail, in a range of different objects in our collection.
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