Frank Thomas Purdon was an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

-born rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 forward who played club rugby for Newport and Swansea

Swansea RFC

Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. Its home ground is St Helens Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea. The team is sometimes known as The Whites because of the primary colour of the team strip...

. Purdon was capped four times for Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

 including the very first Wales international

1880-81 Home Nations rugby union matches

The 1880-81 Home Nations rugby union matches were a series of international rugby union friendlies held between the England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales national rugby union teams. This season is most notable for the introduction of Wales as an international rugby union nation, playing their first...

, against England in 1881.

Rugby career

Purdon was selected, while a Newport player, for Richard Mullock

Richard Mullock

Richard Mullock was a Welsh sporting administrator and official, who is most notable for organising the first Welsh rugby union international game and was instrumental in the creation of the Welsh Football Union, which became the Welsh Rugby Union in 1934...

's Wales to face England in the first ever Welsh international at Blackheath on 19 February 1881. Wales were humiliated, and the national press blamed the team selection, with the players apparently chosen to appease the principal rugby clubs rather than selected on the basis of ability. Many of the Welsh players from that game never played for Wales again, but Purdon was back for Wales second international game, played in 1882

1881-82 Home Nations rugby union matches

The 1881-82 Home Nations rugby union matches are a series of international friendlies held between the England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales national rugby union teams. This was the last season before the introduction of the Home Nations Championship and was the last time the teams involved faced...

 against Ireland in Dublin.

Purdon played his last two matches for Wales after transferring to Swansea, and was a member of the Welsh squad that took part in the first Home Nations Championship

Six Nations Championship

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

 under the captaincy of Charles Lewis

Charles Lewis (rugby player)

Charles Prytherch Lewis was a Welsh international rugby union player, who won five caps between 1882 and 1884.-Life:...

. Wales lost both games and Purdon was not re-selected for the 1884 tournament.