Cardiff City F.C. Directors and Chairmen - Sydney Nicholls (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Sydney 'Sid' Herbert Nicholls (29 May 1868 24 November 1946) was an English-born dual code rugby forward who played club rugby under the union code for Cardiff and in his later years league rugby with Hull. Nicholls won four caps for Wales and was part of the Welsh team that beat the first touring Southern Hemisphere team the New Zealand Natives. He was the elder brother of Wales rugby legend Gwyn Nicholls, and his son Jack Nicholls was a Welsh international footballer. Nicholls was born in 1868 in Hartpury, England to Hartley Nicholls, a farm supervisor, and his wife Jane Eliza (nee, Millard). The second eldest of five children, he had an elder sister and five younger brothers, the third of his brothers being Gwyn Nicholls. In the mid 1870s the family left England and crossed over to Wales, where the family settled in Roath. After the end of his rugby career, Nicholls became a publican and in 1894 he acquired a business interest in the Grand Hotel, opposite the Cardiff Arms Park. Nicholls would run the Grand up until 1901, when he decided to become a professional rugby league player. Now a veteran player, Nicholls was still able to demand a five figure sum for his switch to the league code. He left Wales for Hull that year, returning in 1910. He was instrumental in the growth of Cardiff City F.C. and "Cardiff City was admitted to the Second Division of the Southern League in 1910. A Board of Directors was elected with S. H. Nicholls as the first chairman." He went on to become Chairman of Council of South Wales Football Association between 1920-1921 and was a Director of Cardiff City when they reached the F.A. Cup final in 1927. He was influential in critical team decisions in the run up to the cup final and almost removed the Cardiff Capt... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=21626742