Billy Crone (31 August 1863 – 8 November 1944) also referred to as William Crone was an Irish

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 for

Distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

during the 1880s and 1890s. After retiring as a player he also coached both

and

. On 20 February 1897 he became the first coach in the history of modern football to take charge of a national team. Crone's younger brother

Bob Crone Robert Crone (4 January 1870 – 15 January 1943) was an Irish football player and coach. He was the younger brother of fellow player Billy Crone. Career Playing career Crone, who played as a full back, played club football in both Ireland a ...

was also a notable footballer, playing for

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 ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

and Notts County, as well as

and

. Crone, an all-round athletic, was also a useful

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and distance runner.

Playing career

Distillery

Crone spent sixteen seasons at

playing as a defender. His club teammates included fellow Irish internationals Olphert Stanfield, Jack Reynolds and Samuel Johnston. Crone could play anywhere across the back-line, but was most familiar as a left-back or left-half. He made 290 appearances for Distillery and helped the club win the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

four times. He also played for Distillery during the inaugural Irish League season of 1890-91 and went on to make 35 league appearances for the club before he retired in 1893.

Irish International

Between 1882 and 1890 Crone also played 12 times for

. He made his debut on 25 February 1882, while still in his teens, in a 7–1 defeat to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. This was only Ireland's second ever international. He remained a regular for Ireland throughout the following eight seasons. On 7 April 1888 he scored for Ireland in a 5–1 defeat to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. All of his 12 international appearances ended in defeat, a statistic which results in Crone holding the unfortunate record of finishing on the losing side more times than any other international player during the 1800s.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Crone became a coach at

, a post he held for fifteen seasons. On 20 February 1897 he also took charge of the

team for the 6–0 defeat against

. This was the first time in the history of modern football that a coach took charge of a national team.

Honours

;Distillery *

**''Winner'' 1883–84, 1884–85, 1885–86, 1888-89: 4 **''Runner Up'' 1887–88: 1 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Foo ...

**''Winner'' 1888–89: 1 **''Runner Up'' 1889–90: 1 *Belfast Charities Cup **''Runner Up'' 1883–84, 1889–90, 1891–92, 1892–93: 4

External links

Northern Ireland’s Footballing Greats
*

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Player stats

Irish Cup appearances
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crone, Billy 1863 births 1944 deaths Irish association footballers (before 1923) Pre-1950 IFA international footballers Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. managers Association football managers from Northern Ireland Association footballers from Belfast Association football defenders