Geoff Wheel

{{Short description|Wales international rugby union footballer (1951–2024)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}} {{Infobox rugby biography | name = Geoff Wheel | image = | caption = | birth_name = Geoffrey Wheel | birth_date = {{birth date|1951|6|30|df=y}} | birth_place = Swansea, Wales | death_date = {{death date and age|2024|12|26|1951|6|30|df=y}} | death_place = | height = | weight = | position = Lock | amatyears1 = | amatteam1 = Mumbles RFC | amatyears2 = | amatteam2 = Swansea RFC | ru_amclubcaps = | ru_amclubpoints = | ru_amupdate = | repteam1 = Wales | repyears1 = 1974–1982 | repcaps1 = 32 | reppoints1 = 0 | ru_ntupdate = | coachteams1 = | coachyears1 = | ru_coachupdate = }}

'''Geoffrey Wheel''' (30 June 1951 – 26 December 2024) was a Wales international rugby union player who attained 32 international caps.<ref>[http://www.wru.co.uk/14256.php?player=26390&includeref=dynamic Wales profile]{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> A lock-forward, he played club rugby for Mumbles RFC and then Swansea RFC.

Wheel made his international debut on 2 February 1974 versus Ireland and between 1974 and 1982 he formed a formidable second-row partnership for Wales with Allan Martin during the second 'golden-age' of the Wales international team.

In 1977 Wheel, along with Willie Duggan of Ireland, became the first players to be sent off in a Five Nations international match.

Wheel was the organist in the Parish of St Thomas in Swansea where he also ran Geoff's Tuck Shop at the Boys Brigade every Wednesday.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} In 2011 he agreed to become the president of a Welsh male voice choir, the Swansea-based Gwalia Singers.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

Wheel died from motor neurone disease on 26 December 2024, at the age of 73.<ref>{{cite news |title=Former Wales and Swansea lock Wheel dies aged 73 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cdxzggd0p2go |access-date=27 December 2024 |publisher=BBC Sport |date=26 December 2024}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheel, Geoff}} Category:1951 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Barbarian F.C. players Category:Rugby union players from Swansea Category:Deaths from motor neuron disease in the United Kingdom Category:Swansea RFC players Category:Wales international rugby union players Category:Welsh rugby union players Category:Rugby union locks Category:Neurological disease deaths in Wales Category:20th-century Welsh sportsmen