Top all time players Wales v England

England v Wales: Famous Fives

Legends, icons, heroes, villains and stand-out greats. Whatever you wish to call them, here are some famous names (and some that might be unfamiliar too) associated with English and Welsh football and their connection with this historic fixture.

England

George Camsell: This prolific goalscorer for club and country scored a hat-trick against Wales in a 6-0 rout on 20th November 1929 at Stamford Bridge. It was the second three goal salvo of the Middlesbrough and England forward’s international career following a hat-trick against Belgium just a few months earlier. It was also the first hat-trick scored at a home venue in England for over 29 years.

Sadly Camsell passed away a few months prior to England’s 1966 World Cup victory, his legacy a fruitful one that left behind many priceless memories and records. The marksman scored 18 goals in 18 games for his country, still the highest goals-to-games ratio of anyone who has played more than a single international.

Sir Bobby Charlton: You might think that this choice is a tad clichéd however our Bob has previous history when it comes to playing Wales. The man with a rocket shot scored 5 times against the principality with his first coming in a 5-1 victory on 23rd November 1960.
In his first game against the Dragons, a 1-1 draw at Ninian Park in 1959, the younger Charlton brother took to the pitch alongside a certain Brian Clough! In total, Sir Bobby played 9 times against Wales between 1959 and 1970.

Peter Shilton: The legendary England goalkeeper still holds the record for most appearances for his country and his connection with England v Wales games crosses the boundaries between hero and villain.

Shilton’s first game against Wales was as a 21-year-old playing for Leicester City in 1971 with Sir Alf Ramsey still in charge of the England side.
He kept a clean-sheet in a 0-0 draw and again on his subsequent two appearances against Wales however in 1977, he contributed to an infamous away win that still ranks as the Dragons’ only triumph at Wembley.

Shilton was adjudged to have brought down Leighton James, who dusted himself down to convert from the penalty-spot to set-up a memorable win.
After that calamity, the glovesman did not keep another clean-sheet against the Welsh in his remaining 3 games against them.

Frank Lampard: OK, maybe we’re scraping the barrel a little here but we’re after some recent historical context. Plus, who else other than Super Frank best symbolises England’s dominance over plodding sides like Wales rather than the glut of trophies the promise of the golden generation was supposed to represent?

I’m not making many friends on either side here. Still, Lampard has scored twice in the three most recent fixtures against Wales. England fans are looking forward to more from the Chelsea midfielder against their celtic cousins in September.

The Gaffer-Walter Winterbottom: When the English Football Association decided that perhaps a bunch of old duffers weren’t the best men suited to select a team, Walter Winterbottom was appointed as the first official manager of the national side in 1946.
Granted, Mr. Winterbottom had no managerial experience of his own to call upon but he’d played over two dozen games for Manchester United so he must’ve seemed like a pair of safe hands.

The first of his 17 games in charge against Wales was a 3-0 drubbing of the visitors at Maine Road, former home to Manchester City. He managed England in four World Cup finals during his tenure and his final match against Wales produced an equally as emphatic result, a 4-0 win to savour at Wembley.

Wales

Billy Meredith: One of the first superstars of football, Meredith was also one of the most colourful and successful characters in the early history of the game.
The outside forward helped Wales win their first British Home Championship title in 1907, drawing 1-1 with England at Craven Cottage along the way. Meredith also scored against Ireland in the same year as Wales won their maiden crown undefeated.

Meredith played for both Manchester United and Manchester City and was instrumental in one of the first players’ movements to push for higher wages and he retired aged 49-years-old, not before making his final appearance in an FA Cup semi-final.

He was chosen 71 times by selectors although he played only 48 games for Wales as his club refused on occasion to let him join up with his national team-mates.
The striker has also been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame-undoubtedly a shot in the arm for Welsh football and whilst Meredith’s inclusion in this list has only loose connections to the England v Wales fixture, his contribution to both country’s football history is more than worthy of note.

Dai Astley: The inside forward scored twice against England in a 4-2 victory at Ninian Park on 22nd October 1938 as Wales’ golden years of the 1920s and 1930s began to fade into history.
Astley helped the Dragons win the 1933 Home Championship and even went on to manage Inter Milan in 1948. He also notched a not too shabby 12 goals in 13 appearances for his country.

John Charles: Arguably one of the greatest footballers ever, Charles is certainly regarded as the greatest all-round footballer to come from Wales.
The ‘Gentle Giant’ was comfortable playing as a centre-forward or centre-back and was never cautioned or sent-off in his career.

Charles featured alongside a host of other Welsh greats such as Trevor Ford and Cliff Jones as his national side enjoyed success in the 1950s.
Although Charles scored an own goal to let England back into the game, Wales defeated their neighbours on 22nd October 1955 by a 2-1 scoreline in Cardiff.

At the other end of the pitch, Charles netted three times in his other games against England, including a brace in a 3-2 defeat at Wembley in 1954 but never again ended up on the winning side.

The legendary Welshman played 38 times for the Dragons, including appearances that inspired their passage to the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup, scoring a total of 15 goals.

Ian Rush: There have been a plethora of feared Welsh goalscorers in the last 30 years however none of them have yet equalled Ian Rush’s record 28-goal haul in a red shirt.
Rush made his international debut against Scotland in May 1980, just days after the Welsh tore England apart 4-1 at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham.
The former Liverpool and Juventus striker scored a consolation goal for Wales in their 2-1 defeat to England at Wembley in 1983 during the penultimate Home Championships however that was his lot against the rivals from across the border.

Sadly for the prolific club goalscorer, following a splendid 1-0 win against England in 1984, he was not afforded another opportunity to appear in an England v Wales fixture.

The Gaffer-Mark Hughes: Some readers may regard the choice of the former Manchester United and Barcelona striker as manager a controversial one. After all, it was Jimmy Murphy who oversaw the national side’s greatest triumph, reaching the 1958 World Cup quarter-finals.

We’re going for Hughes; however, as his five-year spell in charge of the national side did much to reinvigorate Welsh football as he took the Dragons to the brink of qualification for Euro 2004, only narrowly losing a murky play-off against Russia.
Granted, the manager was fortunate in some respects. A group of up and coming youngsters such as Robert Earnshaw, Craig Bellamy, Simon Davies and Danny Gabbidon joined the experienced heads of Gary Speed, Robbie Savage, Ryan Giggs and John Hartson in the side.

Wales would still remain relative minnows on the world stage though and a fully-fit and available squad, whilst more than capable on paper, was not always there to choose from.

The 2-1 victory over Italy at the Millennium Stadium during that Euro 2004 qualifying campaign brought an electric response from the crowd and one of the finest nights in recent Welsh football history, under Hughes’ guidance.

It’s worth remembering ‘Sparky’s’ contribution during his playing days too. His debut goal in a 1-0 win against England in 1984 was one of 16 from the 72 appearances he made. ‘Nuff said.

William Geldart is editor of The Football Blog, a site that encourages football opinion and discussion, for the fans, by the fans. Join in the conversation at www.the-football-blog.co.uk

Union Cane wrote:It says a lot that Ryan Giggs isn't featured on the Wales list, had he been 'fit' and not 'injured' for all those international games before magically appearing for Manchester United days later then history could have been quite different I'm sure. We can therefore safely lay the blame for the continued minnowness of the Welsh at the door of Alec Ferguson.