Jerry Shea
Personal information
Full name	Jeremiah Shea
Date of birth	August 12, 1892(1892-08-12)
Place of birth	Newport[1], Wales
Date of death	30 June 1947 (aged 54)
Place of death	Newport, Wales
Height	5ft. 9 ins.
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Centre
Clubs
1919 1919–1921 1921–?	Pill Harriers RFC Newport RFC Wigan Wasps
National team(s)		Caps	(points)
1919–1921	Wales[2]	4	(19)

Jerry Shea

Statistics
Real name	Jeremiah Shea
Rated at	Middleweight
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Nationality	British
Birth date	12 August 1892(1892-08-12)
Birth place	Newport, Wales
Death date	June 30, 1947 (aged 54)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	18
Wins	12
Wins by KO	4
Losses	4
Draws	2

Jerry Shea (12 August 1892–30 June 1947) was a Welsh international rugby union centre who played club rugby for Newport and Pill Harriers. Shea was an all round athlete, and was an accomplished swimmer and professional boxer. He is best known as being the first rugby union player to achieve the Full House of scoring in an international match.

Contents 1 Club and international rugby career 1.1 International matches played 2 Boxing career 3 External links 4 Bibliography 5 References

[edit] Club and international rugby career

Born in Newport in 1892, Shea initially played rugby union with Pill Harriers, a notoriously tough team from Newport Docks. It was with Pill that Shea gained his first cap for Wales, against the post-war touring New Zealand Army. in 1919, like many Pill players, he switched to Newport RFC, the Harriers first-class rivals. The next year he was selected to play for Wales against England at St Helens in the Five Nations Championship. Unsurprisingly for teams meeting for the first time since the end of the First World War, both teams contained many new caps. It was in this match that Shea would make history by scoring a try, conversion, drop goal, and penalty goal, the first player to do so at an international level.^[3] In a rain swept match, Shea opened the scoring in the first half with a penalty goal against the wind. England responded with a try and conversion, both from Harold Day, to take the first half 5-3. Within five minutes of the restart, Shea had drop kicked Wales back into the lead. With twenty minutes remaining, and the Welsh forwards in command, Shea broke through the English defense to score a try under the posts which he easily converted. Wick Powell then scored a second try for Wales, before Shea finished the match with another drop goal, for a convincing Welsh win.^[4]

The feat of achieving all four rugby union scores was held by Shea alone until Lewis Jones emulated him thirty years later when on tour with the British Lions against Australia.^[4]

Shea would play two more matches for Wales, both on the losing side. Shea found himself at the centre of a controversy before the start of the 1920 game against Scotland, when the Scottish Rugby Union threatened to pull out of the game against Wales as Shea was a professional boxer.^[5] A negative response from national newspapers towards the Scottish complaints ensured that the game went ahead. After the game, in which Scotland won 9-5; Shea was criticised in some sections of the press, for attempting to play the match against Scotland single-handed.^[4][6] Shea's final game was played against England on 15 January, 1921. Whether or not Shea would have achieved more caps for Wales is unknown as in 1921 he turned professional by joining rugby league side Wigan Wasps in December of that year for a then record fee of £700.^[7]

[edit] International matches played

Wales^[8]

•  England 1920, 1921
• New Zealand Army XV 1919
•  Scotland 1920

[edit] Boxing career

Shea's first official bout was on the 30 December 1918 against Alf Craig at The Ring, in Blackfriars, London. He lost the match by technical knockout and his next contest wouldn't be until August of the next year when he drew against Frank Moody. Shea's boxing results improved over the next three years with eleven wins out of the next 15 bouts. Of his loses, his most notable was against Ted "Kid" Lewis at the Pavilion in Mountain Ash, when Lewis won by a knockout in the first round. Seemingly retired from 1922, he returned on the 17 November, 1924 to face ex-welter weight champion, Johnny Basham. Shea won the contest on points.

[edit] External links

• Professional boxing record for Jerry Shea from Boxrec

[edit] Bibliography

• Griffiths, John (1988). Rugby's Strangest Matches, Extraordinary but true stories from over a century of rugby. Robson Books. ISBN 1861053541. 
• Smith, David; Williams, Gareth (1980). Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0708307663. 

[edit] References