Full name William Rees Name Billy Rees Place of birth Blaengarw, Wales Role Footballer | Place of death Bridgend, Wales Height 1.8 m Playing position Position Inside forward | |
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Date of birth (1924-03-10)10 March 1924 Date of death 27 July 1996(1996-07-27) (aged 72) Died July 27, 1996, Bridgend, United Kingdom | ||
William "Billy" Rees (10 March 1924 – 27 July 1996) was a Welsh professional footballer and Wales international.
Career
Rees was born in Pwllcarn Terrace, Blaengarw. He had been working as a coal miner while playing amateur football for Carn Rovers when he was spotted by Cardiff City manager Cyril Spiers. He made eighty-three appearances in wartime fixtures for the club, scoring seventy-four times, as well as appearing in a wartime international for Wales against England in May 1945. With the Football League returning following the end of the war Rees became a major part of the side, helping them to promotion in the first season. He finished as top scorer the following year but at the end of the 1948-49 season his good form saw Tottenham Hotspur take him to London for £14,000, just weeks after winning the first of his four Wales caps against Northern Ireland.
Early into his Tottenham career he suffered from a number of minor injuries which caused his form to severely dip and he found himself out of the side. He was quickly sold to Leyton Orient at the end of the season for £14,500. He managed to return to form with Orient and spent six years at the club before ending his career with spells at non-league sides Headington United and Kettering Town.
Following his retirement from football he worked as a plant operator before later joining a pharmaceutical company based in Bridgend.