Wales via Harrogate

Q&A

Q. The Wales fly-half Arwel Thomas plays for Bristol. When did Wales last field a player who represented a club outside the Principality apart from London Welsh?

A. A P Skamp is surely mistaken in suggesting that John Gwilliam is the most recent example of a player capped for Wales, excluding London Welsh.

Even if one disregards players capped for Wales while playing for Cambridge or Oxford University as too transient to be meaningful (Brian Thomas of Neath and Keith Hughes of London Welsh to name but two in the Sixties and Seventies), there is Jeff Young, who played hooker for Wales from 1968 to 1973 and initially capped out of Harrogate before playing for RAF and London Welsh and Ron Jones, the Coventry back-row forward who played five times for Wales in 1967 and 1968. - Capt Lodwig Lewis (ret), Rhiwbina

A. There are many cases of people playing for either Cambridge and Oxford Universities in the Sixties and very early Seventies.

The last two, I think, are Gerald Davies and Keith Hughes. In the case of Hughes, however, after the University match of 1969 he was a member of New Dock Stars in Llanelli, immediately before being capped against Ireland in 1970, although his official club was Cambridge University. - Gene Hyver, Monte Carlo

Q. Why do Bath rugby football club miss out the number 13 in their shirt notation?

A. I believe the number 13 was withdrawn after Clifford Walwin was fatally injured at the Recreation ground after a collision with a Cross Keys player in a game played in January 1920. - W A Harrison, Keynsham

Q. Why are far fewer goals scored in the North American NHL than in British ice hockey games, even when, in the latter, apparently evenly matched team play each other?

A. As a football supporter I can guess the answer - the different styles of play in both sports are the key. As in football, where the English game involves a lot more goals than, for example, the Italian game, it is obviously the same with ice hockey. Perhaps the English defence or goalkeepers are less strong and the strikers are very powerful. If this is the case, then that is the reason for so many goals being scored in England. In North America physically strong players play in defence, leaving the forwards with a harder job. - Rafi Cooper, London N3

ANSWERS PLEASE

Q. Which football team in the Premiership or the Endsleigh League has the most non- English players on its books? - Tim Mickleburgh, Grimsby

Q. Which player has won the most championship medals (the former First Division and the Premiership) with different clubs, and which player has won the most FA Cup winners' medals with different clubs? - James Cribben, Welwyn Garden City

Q. What is the longest distance any football team in the world has had to travel to fulfil an away League fixture? - Adrian Brodkin, London N2

If you know the answers to any of these questions or have a question of your own, write to: Q & A, Sports Desk, Independent on Sunday, 1 Canada Square, London E14 5DL.

Fax: 0171-293 2894