Billy Cleaver
Cleaver in New Zealand in 1950 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | William Benjamin Cleaver 15 September 1921 Treorchy, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Died | 29 September 2003 (aged 82) Cardiff, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 13 st (180 lb; 83 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Pentre School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | University College of Wales, Cardiff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | mining engineer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
William Cleaver (15 September 1921 – 29 September 2003) was a Welsh international Rugby Union fly-half who played club rugby for Cardiff. He won 14 caps for Wales and was selected to play for the British Lions on the 1950 tour of Australia and New Zealand. He was in the Welsh team that won the 1950 Grand Slam.
Born in 1921 in Treorchy, Rhondda, Cleaver was an exciting attacking player with a shrewd change of pace. After one terrible game, under heavy weather conditions against Scotland, Cleaver gained the nickname 'Billy Kick'; though this was a harsh moniker considering his normal style of play. Cleaver was a coal miner by trade and spent most of his life within the industry, though in a managerial role for much of his later career. He was a keen patron of the arts: he was secretary of the Contemporary Arts Society for Wales (1972–91) and vice chairman of the Welsh Arts Council (1980–83).