William Henry Rafferty (born 30 December 1950) is a retired 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 ...

who played as a forward. He appeared in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

, Blackpool, Plymouth Argyle, Carlisle United,

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, Newcastle United,

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and AFC Bournemouth, scoring 145 goals in 468 matches. He finished his career in Portugal with spells at Louletano and Farense. Rafferty began his league career with

after joining them from Port Glasgow but found opportunities few and far between. A move to Blackpool in 1972 saw him play and score more regularly before joining Plymouth Argyle a year later. With his striking partner,

Paul Mariner Paul Mariner (22 May 1953 – 9 July 2021) was an English football player and coach. A centre forward during his playing days, Mariner began his career with Chorley. He became a professional player in 1973 with Plymouth Argyle, where he scored ...

, he became an important player in the Argyle side that won promotion to the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

in 1975. Their partnership contributed 47 goals to the campaign, with Rafferty scoring 26. He then joined Carlisle United where he continued to score regularly. He moved on to

and Newcastle United. After Newcastle he joined

in 1980. At Portsmouth, Rafferty once again became a key striker, winning the Third Division championship in 1983 before joining AFC Bournemouth, which would be his last league club in

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 ...

."Billy Rafferty"
Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database. Retrieved 24 January 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rafferty, Billy 1950 births Living people Coventry City F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Louletano D.C. players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Footballers from Glasgow Association football forwards Scottish footballers Scottish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Primeira Liga players