This set has been on show before but it is here to demonstrate that "football" was often used interchangeably to mean Soccer and Rugby. So here we have a Rugby player, W. J. Delahay, representing Welsh Rugby.
He was born on the second of September 1900, and his initials stood for William James, though oddly he was often referred to as Bobby. He played for Bridgend first and then for Cardiff, as a scrum-half, though when he played for Wales he was often either a fly or a centre, as he was in 1924 against the All Blacks. Cardiff lost but by all reports it was an excellent match. Whether through this performance, or not, he was Vice Captain of Cardiff R.F.C. for the season 1925/26, and Captain for the following.
His first Five Nations Championship was in 1922, and Wales won. The following year they were last. He did not take part in 1924. However he was again selected in 1925, and 1926, during which he served as Captain in the final game against France. In 1927 he left Cardiff and started to play for Torquay Athletic, basing himself down in Devon, and was there for about ten years. That brings us up to the start of the Second World War, and there the trail goes cold. However he must have survived because he died in September 1978.
Our original John Player Reference Book RB.17, published in 1950, tells us that this set was of "Small cards. Fronts in Colour. Backs in grey with descriptive texts. Home issue. August 1926."
That means that this set was actually issued before the "Football Caricatures by MAC", for that was not issued until September 1927. Maybe that is why the MAC set is more known and more plentiful.
Our World Tobacco Issues Indexes are much more short and not so sweet - and just say "Sm. Nd. (50)"