William Dunlop (16 August 1869 – 25 May 1960) 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 ...

who played in the

English 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 Engl ...

for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and in the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional association football, football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers F.C., Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, wh ...

for

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. He played as a half-back, either at

wing half 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 ...

or in the centre.

Career

Dunlop was born in

Annbank Annbank is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is around five miles east of Ayr. Originally a mining settlement, it once had a rail link to Ayr via the Auchincruive Waggonway. The village has a village hall, bakery, shop, bowling green, j ...

South Ayrshire South Ayrshire ( sco, Sooth Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir a Deas, ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. On 30 June 2 ...

, and played for his hometown club (taking part in a trial for the Scotland national team in 1890) before coming to England to sign for

at the start of 1893. He was the uncle (though only two years older) of his new club's star forward

Jimmy Miller James Miller (March 23, 1942 – October 22, 1994) was an American record producer and musician. While he produced albums for dozens of different bands and artists, he is most closely associated for his work with several key musical acts of t ...

, while another former Annbank player, defender

Robert Smellie Robert Gordon "Bob" Smellie (August 23, 1923 – September 29, 2005) was a Canadian politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1959 to 1966, and served as a cabinet mini ...

, was also in the Sunderland side (he and Dunlop were teammates in the team's run to the quarter-finals of the

1891–92 Scottish Cup The 1891–92 Scottish Cup was the 19th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Celtic when they beat Queen's Park 5–1 in the final after a replay. Calendar Fifth round * Match Abandoned F ...

). Dunlop made his debut for the

Wearside Wearside () is a built-up area in both Tyne and Wear and County Durham, Northern England. It is named after the River Wear which flows through it and traditionally all in the County of Durham. In the 2011 census, its official name was the Sunder ...

club on 28 January 1893 in a 4–2 home win against

The Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

, and played a few more games at the end of the 1892–93 season once the League title was secured. From the following season onwards he was a regular in the first team, contributing to their runners-up position in 1894 and third League championship in the 1894–95 season and making 146 appearances in League and

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 ...

. He also played on the winning side in a post-season

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against Scottish champions Heart of Midlothian, dubbed by some the " 1895 World Championship". Dunlop returned to Scotland in 1899 to join

, and played six

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

games in the 1899–1900 season – in each case covering for one of the regular half-backs,

Neilly Gibson Neil Gibson (23 February 1873 – January 1947) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Rangers, Partick Thistle and the Scotland national team. Career Adept at playing in either left or right wing half position, Gibson joined Rangers in 18 ...

Bobby Neil Robert Scott Gibson Neill (24 September 1875 – 2 March 1913) was a Scottish footballer who played for Hibernian, Liverpool, Rangers and Scotland. He played at centre half and at wing half. Record of pre-war Scottish League Players John Lit ...

and Jacky Robertson – plus a few more games in other competitions, in a couple of which Jimmy Miller also played. He moved on to

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

in the summer of 1900 before returning to Annbank a few months later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunlop, Billy 1869 births 1960 deaths Footballers from South Ayrshire Scottish men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Sunderland A.F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Place of death missing Annbank F.C. players People from Annbank