Fred Birt

Fred Birt was a Welsh international rugby union centre who played club rugby for Newport and county rugby for Monmouthshire. He won seven caps for Wales between 1911 and 1913, playing against England, Ireland, Scotland and South Africa, and scored his points for Wales with a penalty goal against England in 1911 and a drop goal against Scotland in 1912. He is best remembered for the match on 24 October 1912, when Newport became the first side to beat the touring South Africans, 9-3, with all nine points coming from Birt through a drop goal, a try and a conversion. As a boy he had been a ball boy for the Welsh rugby star Arthur Gould at Newport, and he joined the club as a senior in time for the 1906-07 season. Outside rugby he was also a member of the Wales bowls team. He was born in 1886 and died in 1956.