View source for Jerry Shea

{{short description|Welsh rugby union and rugby league footballer}}
{{about||persons of a similar name|Gerry Shea (disambiguation)|the fictional Irish character|Diarmuid O'Se}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Jerry Shea
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Jeremiah Shea
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1892|8|12}}
| birth_place = [[Newport, Wales|Newport]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110617025728/http://www.blackandambers.co.uk/Personnel.aspx?pr=107269 Newport RFC player profiles]</ref> Wales
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1947|6|30|1892|8|12}}
| death_place = [[Newport, Wales|Newport]], Wales
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=9}}
| weight = 
| module = {{infobox rugby biography | embed = yes
| position   = [[Rugby union positions#Centre|Centre]]
| amatyears1 = 1919      | amatteam1  = [[Pill Harriers RFC]]
| amatyears2 = 1919–1921 | amatteam2  = [[Newport RFC]]
| repyears1  = 1919–1921 | repteam1   = [[Wales national rugby union team|Wales]]<ref>[http://www.wru.co.uk/eng/matchcentre/squads_wales_player_archive.php?player=31854&includeref=dynamic WRU player profile]</ref>| 
| repcaps1   = 4         | reppoints1 = 19
| ru_ntupdate =
}}
| module2 = {{infobox rugby league biography | embed = yes
| position = [[Rugby league positions#Backs|Back]] 
| year1start   = 1921 | year1end = 24
| club1        = [[Wigan Warriors|Wigan]]
| appearances1 =      | points1  =
| teamA = [[Wales national rugby league team|Wales]]
| yearAstart   = 1922 | yearAend = 23 
| appearancesA = 2    | pointsA  = 0
}}
| module3 = {{Infobox boxer | embed=yes
| weight = [[Middleweight]]
| reach = 
| nationality = British
| style = Orthodox
| total = 69
| wins = 52
| KO = 22
| losses = 9
| draws = 7
| no contests = 
}}
}}

'''Jeremiah Shea''' (12 August 1892 – 30 June 1947) was a Welsh international dual-code [[rugby football|rugby]] centre who played club rugby for [[Newport RFC|Newport]] and [[Pill Harriers RFC|Pill Harriers]] under the [[rugby union]] code and later represented [[Wigan Warriors|Wigan]] as a professional [[rugby league]] footballer. Shea was an all round athlete, and was an accomplished swimmer and professional [[boxing|boxer]]. He is best known as being the first rugby union player to achieve the ''Full House'' of scoring in an international match.

==Rugby union 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 national rugby union team|Wales]], against the post-war touring [[New Zealand Army rugby team|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 Rugby and Cricket Ground|St. Helens]] in the [[1920 Five Nations Championship|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 (rugby)|try]], conversion, drop goal, and penalty goal, the first player to do so at an international level.<ref name="Griffiths74">Griffiths (1988), pg 74.</ref> 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 (sportsman)|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 defence 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.<ref name="Griffiths75">Griffiths (1988), pg 75.</ref>

The feat of achieving all four rugby union scores was held by Shea alone until [[Lewis Jones (rugby, born 1931)|Lewis Jones]] emulated him thirty years later when on tour with the [[British and Irish Lions|British Lions]] against Australia.<ref name="Griffiths75"/>

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.<ref name="Smith208">Smith (1980), pg 208.</ref> 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.<ref name="Griffiths75"/><ref name="Smith205">Smith (1980), pg 205.</ref> 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 Warriors|Wigan]] in December of that year for a then record fee of £700.<ref name="Smith209">Smith (1980), pg 209.</ref>

===International matches played===
'''Wales'''<ref name="Smith471">Smith (1980), pg 471.</ref>
* {{ru|ENG}} 1920, 1921
* {{flagicon|NZL}} [[New Zealand Army rugby team|New Zealand Army XV]] 1919
* {{ru|SCO}} 1920

==Rugby league career==
Shea's first game for Wigan was on Christmas Eve, 1921, scoring a try on his début.<ref name="Jenkins">{{cite book|last=Jenkins|first=John M.|title=Who's Who of Welsh International Rugby Players|year=1991|publisher=Bridge Books|location=Wrexham|page=146|isbn=1-872424-10-4|display-authors=etal}}</ref> He remained with the club for three seasons, two of them as captain, though he never moved to Wigan and always travelled to matches from Wales.<ref name="Jenkins"/> On 11 December 1922 he became a dual-code international when he turned out for the Wales national rugby league team in an away match against England. He played his second and final league international match the next year, when Wales beat England 13–2 in an encounter at Wigan.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gate|first=Robert|title=Gone North: Volume 1|year=1986|publisher=R.E. Gate|location=Ripponden|page=142|isbn= 0-9511190-0-1}}</ref> After leaving Wigan, Shea was instrumental in setting up [[Pontypridd RLFC]], a lone professional league team in Wales that competed in the [[Rugby Football League|Northern League]], though the club failed to find support and folded the following season.<ref name="Jenkins"/> Jerry Shea played at {{rlp|ce}} in [[Wigan Warriors|Wigan]]'s 13-2 victory over [[Oldham R.L.F.C.|Oldham]] in the [[Rugby Football League Championship|Championship]] Final during the [[1921–22 Northern Rugby Football Union season|1921–22 season]] at [[The Cliff (training ground)|The Cliff]], [[Broughton, Greater Manchester|Broughton]] on Saturday 6 May 1922.<ref name="1921-1922 Championship Final">{{cite web|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=416|title=1921–1922 Championship Final|publisher=wigan.rlfans.com|date=31 December 2011|access-date=1 January 2012|archive-date=26 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826222156/http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=416|url-status=dead}}</ref> Jerry Shea played at {{rlp|ce}} in [[Wigan Warriors|Wigan]]'s 20–2 victory over [[Leigh Centurions|Leigh]] in the [[1922–23 Lancashire Cup]] Final during the [[1922–23 Northern Rugby Football League season|1922–23 season]] at [[The Willows, Salford]] on Saturday 25 November 1922.<ref name="1922-1923 Challenge Cup Final">{{cite web|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=417|title=1922–1923 Challenge Cup Final|publisher=wigan.rlfans.com|date=31 December 2011|access-date=1 January 2012|archive-date=27 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827035750/http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=417|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Boxing career==
As well as a rugby player Shea was also a professional boxer, fighting in the welter and middleweight categories. Shea's first professional bout was on 18 January 1916 against Twiggy Davies at The Park Hall, in [[Newport, Wales|Newport]]. He drew the match but just two weeks later he beat Davies by points decision at the same venue. Although Shea never fought for a major belt, he faced and beat several notable fighters during his nine-year professional career. He twice faced [[Frank Moody]], the British and Commonwealth champion, drawing on points in their first encounter in 1919, and then beating him by points in their rematch at the Empire Theatre in Cardiff the following year. Just two weeks after defeating Moody, Shea was lined up against [[Ted "Kid" Lewis]] at the Pavilion in [[Mountain Ash, Glamorgan|Mountain Ash]]. Lewis, the former World Welterweight champion, won by a knockout in the first round. In 1920, Shea beat future European Welterweight Champion, [[Rene DeVos]] at The Ring in Blackfriars, then in 1922 he defeated the future British light-heavyweight champion [[Gipsy Daniels]] at Newport. His final recorded fight was on 17 November 1924 when he faced ex-welterweight champ, [[Johnny Basham]]. Shea won the contest on points.

==External links==
* {{Boxrec|id=051679}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last=Griffiths|first=John|title=Rugby's Strangest Matches, Extraordinary but true stories from over a century of rugby|year=1988|publisher=Robson Books|isbn=1-86105-354-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/rugbysstrangestm0000grif}}
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=David|author2=Williams, Gareth|title=Fields of Praise: The Official History of The Welsh Rugby Union|year=1980|publisher=University of Wales Press|location=Cardiff|isbn=0-7083-0766-3}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Wigan - 1921–22 Championship Final winners}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shea, Jerry}}
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1947 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Welsh sportsmen]]
[[Category:Dual-code rugby internationals]]
[[Category:Middleweight boxers]]
[[Category:Newport RFC players]]
[[Category:Pill Harriers RFC players]]
[[Category:Rugby league players from Newport, Wales]]
[[Category:Rugby union centres]]
[[Category:Rugby union players from Newport, Wales]]
[[Category:Wales international rugby union players]]
[[Category:Wales national rugby league team players]]
[[Category:Welsh male boxers]]
[[Category:Welsh rugby league players]]
[[Category:Welsh rugby union players]]
[[Category:Wigan Warriors players]]