England’s oldest rugby intl Walker dies at age of 103

Harry Walker, England’s oldest ex-international rugby union player, has died at the age of 103, his former club Coventry announced Thursday.

Walker, a prop, made nine Test appearances for England – making his debut at the advanced age of 32 in 1947 and had to buy his own pair of white shorts to play for his country as Coventry wore an all-blue strip.

“When we started singing ‘God Save The King,’ it got to me a bit,” he told the BBC in 2015 on making his debut when George VI was king.

However, the meanness of the Rugby Football Union eventually got to Walker – he and fellow teammate Mickey SteeleBodger were reprimanded for taking a taxi instead of a bus when they were at risk of missing eve of match training – and he declined the opportunity to win another cap.

“We had to buy our own shorts,” he told The Daily Telegraph in 2015.

“We all had jobs, so it cost money to play.

“All the while they [the RFU] filled the stadium.”

Coventry organized a party for his birthday earlier this year, leading him to remark ‘Coventry has always been me.’

Walker – who was once dropped by Coventry for scoring too many tries as it was not seen befitting for a prop to do such things – played in all the Five Nations matches in both the 1947 and 1948 tournaments.