Bert Hollingdale was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 international rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 forward who played club rugby for Swansea Rugby Football Club

Swansea RFC

Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. Its home ground is St Helens Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea. The team is sometimes known as The Whites because of the primary colour of the team strip...

 and was capped for Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

 on two occasions. His younger brother Tom

Thomas Hollingdale

The Rev Thomas "Tom" Henry Hollingdale AKC , was a Church of England cleric and Wales international rugby player.-Rugby career:...

 also played rugby, though he played for rival club Neath

Neath RFC

Neath Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The first team is known as the Welsh All Blacks because of the team colours: black with only a white cross pattée as an emblem...

 and had a more successful international career, representing Wales six times.

Hollingdale made his Welsh international debut on 14 December 1912 against the touring South African

1912-13 South Africa rugby union tour

The 1912–13 South Africa rugby union tour was a collection of friendly rugby union games undertaken by the South Africa national rugby union team against England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France. The tour also took in several matches against British and Irish club, county and invitational teams...

 team. He would face the South Africans twelve days later as part of the Swansea team that achieved a tight victory over the tourists. His second and final cap was during the 1913 Five Nations Championship

1913 Five Nations Championship

The 1913 Five Nations Championship was the fourth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the thirty-first series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby...

when he was selected to face England. The Welsh team lost badly and Hollingdale was one of eight players from the side that would not represent Wales again.

International matches played
Wales 1913 1912