Billy Thomas (rugby union)
rugby player

William James Thomas (1 September 1933 — 7 March 2013) was a Welsh international rugby union player.
Thomas was born in Bargoed and educated at Lewis School, Pengam.
A hooker, Thomas made 258 appearances in nine seasons with Cardiff and won two Wales caps, debuting against France in Paris during the 1961 Five Nations Championship, then playing the same fixture two years later. He also played for Abertillery, Bargoed and Newport over the course of his career.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Billy Thomas (rugby union)” is rugby player. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Billy, Thomas and rugby, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “rugby player” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 17, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q125727671. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1933, 2013 and 1961.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Billy Thomas (rugby union)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Billy Thomas (rugby union) primary sources, Billy Thomas (rugby union) archive and Billy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Billy Thomas (rugby union)”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Billy Thomas (rugby union)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.