Billy Caskey (born 10 December 1954 in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

) is a retired professional soccer

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

from Northern Ireland. He played in the

Irish Football League Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

and Major Indoor Soccer League. He also earned seven

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

, scoring one goal, with the

Northern Ireland national football team The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1920, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland natio ...

between 1978 and 1982.

Club career

Caskey began his career with

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

and East Belfast before moving to

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

in October 1974. Caskey played for Glentoran until 1978. He was named as the

Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year The Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year (often called the NIFWA Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in the IFA Premiership. It is one of two ass ...

for the 1976/77 season. In the summer of 1978, the team sent him on loan to the

Tulsa Roughnecks Tulsa Roughnecks may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams: *Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984), the original top-flight team that played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1984. *Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000), the team ...

of the

. When he returned to Glentoran in the fall, the team sent him and

Victor Moreland Victor "Vic" Moreland (born 15 June 1957 in Belfast) is a retired professional footballer from Northern Ireland who began his career in Northern Ireland, spent two seasons in the Football League before moving to the United States. He then played ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

for £90,000. He played two seasons for Derby County, going on loan with Tulsa in 1979. In 1980, Derby County sold his contract to the Roughnecks. In 1983, Tulsa won the NASL championship, but Caskey was sidelined with a broken leg. In the fall of 1984, Caskey returned to Glentoran where he won the 1985 Irish Cup. In the spring of 1985, he returned to the United States and played for the Roughnecks who were now an independent team following the collapse of the NASL. In the fall, he signed with the Dallas Sidekicks of Major Indoor Soccer League. He holds the record for most penalty minutes (34) in the MISL whilst plying for the Dallas Sidekicks. Caskey was suspended from the MISL on 11 August 1986 for three seasons after assaulting a referee during Game 4 of the Dallas Sidekicks Eastern Division Semi-final series with

Minnesota Strikers The Minnesota Strikers were an American soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) for the 1984 season and in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1984 through 1988. The team was based in Minneapolis/St. Paul metropoli ...

in 1986. This ended his indoor career. He was the first Sidekick ever to be ejected from a playoff game and to be expelled from the league.Dallas Sidekicks player profile
/ref> He returned to Northern Ireland and played with Glentoran until 1993. A year later, he signed with Dundela and completed his professional career with them in 1996. He then played with amateur teams, including Abbey Villa F.C. until 2005 when a knee injury forced him into retirement.

National team

On 11 November 1978, Caskey earned the first of his international

, and scored his first and only goal, with the

in a 2–0 victory over

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. He went on to play seven times with Northern Ireland, his last game coming in a 4–0 loss to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 24 March 1982.

References

External links

NASL/MISL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caskey, Billy 1954 births Living people Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Players of the Year Dallas Sidekicks (original MISL) players Derby County F.C. players Dundela F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Expatriate association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Association football forwards Crusaders F.C. players Association football midfielders