Alan Key (rugby union)


Lieutenant colonel Alan Key was a British Army officer and England international rugby union player of the 1930s.
Born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, Key was educated at Cranleigh School in Surrey, where he gained his blues as a stand-off, before becoming a scrum-half for Old Cranleighans. He has the distinction of being first Old Cranleighan to be capped for England and ascended to the club captaincy in 1933.
Key was versatile enough to play in every backline position except fullback in matches for the Barbarians, though he was best suited to scrum-half. He was a Middlesex representative player and gained two England caps, against Ireland at Lansdowne Road in the 1930 Five Nations and Wales at Twickenham in the 1933 Home Nations.