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Billy Meredith's International Career

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Football annuals state that he has played in fifty-one matches for Wales. If any sceptic troubled to write Meredith about these figures, which have been disputed, he would supply all the dates to substantiate this amazing record. He took great pride in playing for Wales, and was one of those rare persons who put all such performances in a book.
J. A. H. Catton, The Story of Association Football (1926)

Billy Meredith was one of the first superstars of professional football, and his career had it all- success, political strife, controversy, conflict with authority- but it seems that in his record keeping he was simply wrong.
Sources agree that he played 48 games for Wales (the Welsh Football Data Archive has 47). 
Incidentally Catton went on to state that Meredith had once told him that he wished he had been born in England:  You know the house where I was born was only 300 yards or so over the border. What a time I should have had if I had been an Englishman. I'm sick of being on the losing side. 
 In A–Z of Manchester Football (1978) Derek Brandon claims that Meredith was selected for 71 consecutive internationals. Thus  is an exaggeration and of course erroneous, as Meredith could not have been selected in 1906 (see below), and in order to have fitted in 71 internationals he would have had to have been selected as a 17 year old playing for Chirk AAA in 1892. He was named among the reserves in February 1894 when he was still listed as a Chirk player.
Meredith's final appearance for Wales was in their 111th international outing. He was 45 years and 229 days old.
He featured in a trial match in January 1921 (to make up the numbers) but was not selected for the subsequent internationals. 














Goals
Total
Goals
1
16.03.95
Ireland
2
2
Wales
Solitude, Belfast


2
18.03.95
England
1
1
Wales
Queens Club, London


3
29.02.96
Wales
6
1
Ireland
Racecourse, Wrexham
2
2
4
16.03.96
Wales
1
9
England
Arms Park, Cardiff


5
06.03.97
Ireland
4
3
Wales
Solitude, Belfast
2
4
6
20.03.97
Wales
2
2
Scotland
Racecourse, Wrexham


7
29.03.97
England
4
0
Wales
Bramall Lane, Sheffield


8
19.02.98
Wales
0
1
Ireland
Oval, Llandudno


9
28.03.98
Wales
0
3
England
Racecourse, Wrexham


10
20.03.99
England
4
0
Wales
Ashton Gate, Bristol


11
24.02.00
Wales
2
0
Ireland
Oval, Llandudno
1
5
12
26.03.00
Wales
1
1
England
Arms Park, Cardiff
1
6
13
18.03.01
England
6
0
Wales
St James’ Newcastle


14
23.03.01
Ireland
0
1
Wales
Solitude, Belfast


15
03.03.02
Wales
0
0
England
Racecourse, Wrexham


16
15.03.02
Scotland
5
1
Wales
Cappielow Park, Greenock


17
02.03.03
England
2
1
Wales
Fratton Park, Portsmouth


18
09.03.03
Wales
0
1
Scotland
Arms Park, Cardiff


19
28.03.03
Ireland
2
0
Wales
Solitude, Belfast


20
29.02.04
Wales
2
0
England
Racecourse, Wrexham


21
06.03.05
Wales
3
1
Scotland
Racecourse, Wrexham
1
7
22
27.03.05
England
3
1
Wales
Anfield, Liverpool


23
23.02.07
Ireland
2
3
Wales
Solitude, Belfast
1
8
24
04.03.07
Wales
1
0
Scotland
Racecourse, Wrexham


25
18.03.07
England
1
1
Wales
Craven Cottage, London


26
16.03.08
Wales
1
7
England
Racecourse, Wrexham


27
11.04.08
Wales
0
1
Ireland
Athletic Ground, Aberdare


28
01.03.09
Wales
3
2
Scotland
Racecourse, Wrexham


29
15.03.09
England
2
0
Wales
City Ground, Nottingham


30
20.03.09
Ireland
2
3
Wales
Grosvenor Park, Belfast
1
9
31
05.03.10
Scotland
1
0
Wales
Rugby Park, Kilmarnock


32
14.03.10
Wales
0
1
England
Arms Park, Cardiff


33
11.04.10
Wales
4
1
Ireland
Racecourse, Wrexham


34
28.01.11
Ireland
1
2
Wales
Windsor Park, Belfast


35
06.03.11
Wales
2
2
Scotland
Ninian Park, Cardiff


36
13.03.11
England
3
0
Wales
The Den, London


37
02.03.12
Scotland
1
0
Wales
Tynecastle, Edinburgh


38
11.03.12
Wales
0
2
England
Racecourse, Wrexham


39
13.04.12
Wales
2
3
Ireland
Ninian Park, Cardiff


40
18.01.13
Ireland
0
1
Wales
Grosvenor Park, Belfast


41
03.03.13
Wales
0
0
Scotland
Racecourse, Wrexham


42
17.03.13
England
4
3
Wales
Ashton Gate, Bristol
1
10
43
19.01.14
Wales
1
2
Ireland
Racecourse, Wrexham


44
28.02.14
Scotland
0
0
Wales
Parkhead, Glasgow


45
16.03.14
Wales
0
2
England
Ninian Park, Cardiff


46
14.02.20
Ireland
2
2
Wales
The Oval, Belfast


47
26.02.20
Wales
1
1
Scotland
Ninian Park, Cardiff


48
15.03.20
England
1
2
Wales
Highbury, London



Meredith was a Manchester City player for games 1-21, and a Manchester United player for games 22-48.

Every one of these matches was in the British Home Championships.  Here is a breakdown of the results of the matches Meredith played in:



P
W
D
L
Win %
All
48
13
11
24
27
England
20
2
4
14
10
Ireland
16
8
2
6
50
Scotland
12
3
5
4
25

Between his debut and his final international Wales played 15 matches in which Meredith did not appear:



Wales
Meredith
1
23.03.95
2-2 v Scotland at The Racecourse, Wrexham.
League Division 2- Lincoln City 3 Manchester City 11. Meredith scored twice in what must have been a remarkable game.

2
21.03.96
0-4 v Scotland at Carolina Port, Dundee.
League Division 2- Manchester City were beaten 4-1 away to Newcastle United.

3
19.03.98
Wales v Scotland at Fir Park, Motherwell – 5-2 to Scotland.
League Division 2- Manchester City lost 2-1 away to Lincoln City.

4
04.03.99
Wales lost 1-0 to Ireland in Belfast.
League Division 2- Meredith scored a hattrick as Manchester City beat Barnsley 5-0 at Hyde Road.

5
18.03.99
Scotland put 6 past Wales at The Racecourse.
Division 2: Manchester City draw 1-1 away to Walsall.

6
03.02.00 
Scotland 5 Wales 2 at Pittodrie.
Division 1:- Meredith scored in a 1-1 draw away to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

7
02.03.01
Wales draw 1-1 with Scotland at The Racecourse, Wrexham.

City lost 2-0 to Derby County at the Baseball Ground ( Div 1
8
22.02.02
Wales 0- Ireland 3 at Cardiff Arms Park.
A 3-0 win at Hyde Road v Wolverhampton Wanderers.

9
12.03.04
Wales and Scotland drew 1-1 at Dundee.
Meredith got a brace as City beat Blackburn Rovers 5-2 at Ewood Park.

10
21.03.04
Wales lost 1-0 to Ireland at Bangor.
Meredith scored in a 6-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.

11
08.04.05
Ireland 2 Wales 2 in Belfast.
Meredith scored a penalty for Manchester City in a 1-0 win over Woolwich Arsenal at Hyde Road.

12
03.03.06
Billy Meredith missed the 1906 British Home Championships as he was suspended from football from 05.08.05 until 30.04.06 for bribing an Aston Villa player to ‘throw’ a match against Manchester City.

13
19.03.06
14
02.04.06
15
07.03.08
Scotland defeated Wales 2-1 at Dundee.

FA Cup tie: Manchester United losing 2-1 away at Fulham.








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