William Holmes (29 October 1926 – 3 December 2020) was an English professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
who played as a
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
* Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Sm ...
.
Career
Born in
Hunslet,
Holmes spent his early career with
Leeds United and
Lancaster City
Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Footb ...
.
Holmes played as an amateur for
Wolverhampton Wanderers,
before playing with
Doncaster Rovers, where he made two appearances in the Football League. He played non-league football with
Morecambe
Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea.
Name
The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...
, before scoring 16 goals in 21 league games for
Blackburn Rovers. After another spell at Morecambe, he signed for
Bradford City
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes.
Th ...
in September 1953, leaving the club in June 1954 to play for
Southport. During his time with Bradford City he made 22 appearances in the Football League, scoring five goals. He also made two appearances for them in the FA Cup.
He was a squad member at the
1952 Olympics 1952 Olympics refers to both:
*The 1952 Winter Olympics, which were held in Oslo, Norway
*The 1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the X ...
,
but he did not play in any matches.
He died on 3 December 2020, at the age of 94.
Sources
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Bill
1926 births
2020 deaths
English men's footballers
Leeds United F.C. players
Lancaster City F.C. players
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players
Doncaster Rovers F.C. players
Morecambe F.C. players
Blackburn Rovers F.C. players
Bradford City A.F.C. players
Southport F.C. players
English Football League players
Men's association football forwards
People from Hunslet