William Neill (1929 – 27 October 1997) was a Northern 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 in the Irish League with

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 ...

from 1950 to 1963. With the ''Glens'', he won the Irish League championship in 1952–53, the Gold Cup twice, the

City Cup The City Cup was a rugby league competition involving Australian premiership teams. The post season tournament was a regular feature in the years 1912–1925. City Cups were also played in 1937, 1942 and 1959. The inaugural city cup was contested ...

and the Ulster Cup once each. He was capped fourteen times by the Irish League XI between 1952 and 1959, and played in unofficial

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

matches in a tour of North America (1953) and against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

(1958). He was named the

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is the older of two association football player of the year awards in Northern Ireland. (The other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award.) It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters ...

for the 1959–60 season. The Billy Neill MBE Soccer School of Excellence in

Dundonald, County Down Dundonald () is a large settlement and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies east of Belfast and is often considered a suburb of the city. It is home to the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald International Ice Bowl, Dundonald Omnipark ...

is named after him."Football: Soccer centre tribute", '' News Letter'', March 31, 2001

Sources

Billy Neill
''Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats'' *

References

Association football managers from Northern Ireland NIFL Premiership players NIFL Premiership managers Ulster Footballers of the Year Glentoran F.C. players Glentoran F.C. managers Members of the Order of the British Empire Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland 1997 deaths 1929 births Irish League representative players Men's association football wing halves {{NorthernIreland-footy-bio-stub