Current Llanelli president, Phil Bennett, described his contribution to the Scarlets as “immeasurable” and said the club “owed him a huge amount.”
He won two caps in the 1947 Five Nations Championship, in wins over France in Paris (3-0) and Ireland, but wasn’t considered after that, despite playing in all three trials in 1946-47 and scored two tries in the final trial for ‘The Rest’ in a 6-6 draw with ‘Wales’.
Educated at Gwendraeth Grammar School, he left school at 14 to go and work underground at the local pit at Cross Hands Colliery. He played for both Penygroes and Tumble before moving on to the Scarlets.
His Llanelli debut came on 1 September, 1945, at Felinfoel and the then 20-year-old wing marked the occasion with a hat-trick of tries in a 25-0 win. He made it five tries in his first two outings for his new club with two more touchdowns at Bath in an even more impressive 16-0 win a week later.
He ended his first season as the club’s leading try scorer with 15 and led the charts again at the end of the 1947-48 season with 13. He played in the 16-8 defeat against the New Zealand Army ‘Kiwis’ on 30 October, 1945 and also lined-up against the touring Australians at Stradey Park in a 6-4 defeat on 28 October, 1947.
He rose from being a player at Stradey Park to become chairman (1967-71) and then President (1983-86). During his time as chairman he oversaw the appointment of Tom Hudson as fitness guru and helped steer the club back to the top tier of Welsh rugby.
Having started life as a coal miner in his early teens, he also worked as a milkman before studying to become a mechanical engineer at Swansea College. Once qualified, he worked as an engineer at the Tir John Power Station, neat Swansea and as a shift manager at Burry Port’s Carmarthen Bay Power Station.
At the age of 25 he retired from the first-class game to concentrate on his studies, but went on to captain Tumble in 1952-53 before playing again for Penygroes.
The Welsh Rugby Union offer its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Peter Rees and would like to put on record its thanks for his service to the game.
