Billy Meredith's International Career

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.