Wilf Wooller

Wilf Wooller

Wilfred Wooller in 1948
Personal information
Full name	Wilfred Wooller
Born	(1912-11-20)20 November 1912 Rhos-on-Sea, Denbighshire, Wales
Died	10 March 1997(1997-03-10) (aged 84) Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm medium-fast
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1947–1948	Marylebone Cricket Club
1938–1962	Glamorgan
1935–1936	Cambridge University
1930–1934	Denbighshire
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 430 Runs scored 13,593 Batting average 22.57 100s/50s 5/64 Top score 128 Balls bowled 59,547 Wickets 958 Bowling average 29.96 5 wickets in innings 43 10 wickets in match 5 Best bowling 8/45 Catches/stumpings 412/–
Source: Cricinfo, 11 June 2012

Wilfred Wooller (20 November 1912 – 10 March 1997) was a Welsh cricketer, rugby union footballer, cricket administrator and journalist.

Wilf Wooller was born at Rhos-on-Sea in Denbighshire. He was educated at Rydal School (now Rydal Penrhos) and Cambridge. He was acclaimed as one of the greatest all round sportsmen that Wales has ever produced. He captained Glamorgan CCC for 14 years, was Secretary for thirty and President for six.

Wilf Wooller was married twice, firstly to Gillian Windsor-Clive, an unsuccessful wartime marriage that was dissolved in 1946, and later in 1948, to Enid James. The couple had five children. Wooller survived incarceration by the Japanese in the Changi prisoner of war camp in Singapore during the Second World War. He was a successful BBC broadcaster and "Sunday Telegraph" sports journalist.

Wooller first played rugby for Rydal School and played his first international game for Wales while still a schoolboy. This was mainly due to the fact that in October 1932 Wooller failed to pass Latin, and therefore could not progress to Cambridge. In 1932 he played a few games for North Wales Schoolboys, then he turned out for Sale at centre in the school holidays. While representing Sale he played alongside established Welsh international Claude Davey and the two joined up in a 1933 Welsh selection game as part of the 'Possibles' team. Wooller himself believed the selectors were 'mucking about' with him and Davey, so the two were over physical with their opposing numbers, which forced the selectors to choose both of them to face England at Twickenham in 1933. The 1933 England game is seen as a classic in Welsh rugby history as it was the game when the 'Twickenham bogey' was broken after nine failed attempts to beat England on their home ground. Wooler played his part in the match, which is normally remembered as Ronnie Boon's game, when he chased a breakaway Walter Elliot with forty yards to the tryline and tackled him ten yards short of a try.