Dai Fitzgerald
| Full name | David Fitzgerald | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Cardiff, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Cardiff, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Coal agent Storeman |
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| Position(s) | Back | ||
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| Senior career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| 1895-1896 1896-1903 |
Leigh R.L.F.C. Batley R.L.F.C. |
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| Position(s) | Centre | ||
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| Amateur team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| 1894 |
 Wales
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2 | ((7)) |
David "Dai" Fitzgerald (1872 – 30 November 1951) was a Welsh rugby centre who played club rugby under the union code for Cardiff and later switched to professional rugby league team Batley. He played international rugby union for Wales winning two caps, and in his first match for Wales scored all the points in a victory over Scotland.
Fitzgerald first played rugby in Cardiff for the now defunct club, St. Davids, one of several Welsh teams built around Catholic churches. He switched to first class club, Cardiff RFC, from which he also played for Hibernains Football Club, an invitational team, made from players in Cardiff, who could claim Irish descent. In 1891 Fitzgerald was part of the Cardiff team that played host to the very first Barbarian team to play against the club.
Fitzgerald was first selected for Wales as part of the 1894 Home Nations Championship in a match against Scotland. Fitzgerald was brought in to replace Conway Rees, and was placed at centre along with the Welsh captain Arthur Gould. Wales were heavily beaten in the previous game away to England, mainly due to in-fighting within the team; but surprisingly the Welsh selectors kept faith in the squad, with Fitzgerald being the only new cap brought into the team. Fitzgerald played a very strong game, winning it singlehanded with a drop goal and a try. No other players from either side scored, giving Wales a 7-0 win. Fitzgerald was reselected for the very next game, played away to Ireland. Played on a boggy pitch the Welsh lost by a single penalty goal, Fitzgerald was replaced for the next season by Owen Badger and never represented Wales again.
Despite not playing for Wales, Fitzgerald still turned out for county team Glamorgan, but in 1895 he severed himself from the union code when he 'Went North', joining Leigh.
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