William Naismith Blyth (17 June 1895 – 1 July 1968), generally known as Billy Blyth, was a Scottish

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 ...

. Born in

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; gd, Dail Cheith, IPA: �t̪alˈçe is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-cent ...

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

, Blyth played as a schoolboy for local junior side Wemyss Athletic. He was briefly on the books of

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

before signing for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in May 1914. He quickly made his debut for the Gunners, in a

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

against Huddersfield Town on 21 November 1914, a game that Arsenal lost 3–0. Blyth made 12 appearances in 1914–15 but by then the First World War had broken out, and Blyth duly joined the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

, serving in France. Upon the end of hostilities and the resumption of football in 1919, Blyth returned to Arsenal and immediately became a regular in the newly promoted side. An energetic "midfield dynamo", Blyth usually figured on the left of midfield, as a left half or inside left. He became a mainstay in the side, with over 300 league games in 10 seasons, and became club captain in 1925. He also played in the

1927 FA Cup Final Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, Arsenal's first cup final, which they lost 1–0 to

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

. In total, he played 343 matches for Arsenal, scoring 51 goals. He moved to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in May 1929, playing his last first-team game in September 1930 before retiring at the end of the 1930–31 season. Blyth also starred in one of the first football-related films, the 1930 production '' The Great Game''. After retiring, Blyth moved back to Scotland, and ran a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

Port Seton Cockenzie and Port Seton ( sco, Cockennie ; gd, Cùil Choinnich, meaning "cove of Kenneth") is a unified town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is on the coast of the Firth of Forth, four miles east of Musselburgh. The burgh of Cockenzie was created ...

. He died in

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, England, in 1968 at the age of 73.

Honours

Player

Arsenal *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runner-up: 1926–27

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blyth, Billy 1895 births 1968 deaths People from Dalkeith Scottish footballers Association football midfielders Manchester City F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players English Football League players Sportspeople from Midlothian British Army personnel of World War I Royal Army Service Corps soldiers 20th-century English male actors English male film actors FA Cup Final players