Moses Russell

Russell was born in Tredegar, in Monmouthshire and after leaving school he began work as a coal-miner. In his leisure time he played both association football and rugby as well as being a boxer and competent swimmer, once rescuing a drowning child from a river. His first professional club was Ton Pentre, whom he joined in 1911 before transferring to Merthyr Town later that year. Whilst with Merthyr Town, Russell helped them win the South Wales & Monmouthshire FA Cup. He made his debut for Wales playing at left half against Scotland on 2 March 1912. Although he was not selected for the next international, against England, he was called up to play Ireland on 13 April, this time in his preferred position at left back. Both matches ended in defeats, with Wales taking the "wooden spoon" in the 1912 British Home Championship. In the summer of 1912, Russell left South Wales to join Southport but with the club having financial problems, he returned to Merthyr on a free transfer in February 1913, rather than take a cut in his wages. Whilst with Merthyr, he gained his third "cap", against England on 16 March 1914. As a result of a bout of rheumatic fever, Russell lost most of his hair; his bald head made him appear some years older than his true age. As a result, several clubs rejected him as a "veteran". It is quite possible that the rheumatic fever caused Russell to visit the spa town of Builth Wells to aid his recovery as he subsequently wrote the following to the proprietor of the…

Having made the first three of his international appearances before the First World War whilst with Merthyr Town, Russell became a permanent fixture in the Wales team during the early 1920s, missing only one international match between 1920 and 1925. In the 1920 British Home Championship, Wales drew with Scotland and Ireland, but a 2–1 victory over England at Highbury on 15 March 1920 gave them only their second British Home Championship title. Scotland took the championship in each of the next three years, but in 1924, Wales claimed the "Triple Crown". After victories over Scotland and England, Wales met Ireland at Windsor Park, Belfast on 15 March with the Irish needing a victory to claim a share of the title. In a hard-fought match, Russell converted the penalty which gave Wales the victory by a 1–0 margin. Russell continued to turn out for Wales over the next few years, helping them to claim a fourth championship in 1927–28 before making his final appearance, aged 40, on 17 November 1928 in a 2–3 defeat by England. His 20 international appearances during his Plymouth Argyle career, made him Argyle's most-capped player, a record he held until Tony Capaldi made his 21st appearance for Northern Ireland (against Wales) on 6 February 2007. Although Russell made no further full international appearances, he accompanied a Welsh party that toured Canada in 1929. In a match at Hamilton, Ontario, play was getting a "little rough" when Russell fouled one of the Hamilton players,…

After one season at Thames, in which he made 13 appearances, Russell returned to Wales to spend a brief period at Llanelli before retiring. During the Second World War, Russell joined the Territorial Army; after the war, he worked at the Royal Propellant Factory at Chepstow, where he died in December 1946.

Merthyr Town South Wales & Monmouthshire FA Cup: 1912 Wales British Home Championship: 1920, 1924, 1928 Individual

Merthyr Town Hall of Fame