Billy Scarratt (1878–1958) was an English

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 gained recognition as one of the first star names at Shrewsbury Town. Scarratt joined Shrewsbury Town from his hometown team

Wellington Town Telford United Football Club was an English football club based in Telford, Shropshire. The club existed under various names for a total of 132 years from its formation in 1872. The club was a founder member of the Alliance Premier League (la ...

, and was to play for Shrewsbury for eight seasons prior to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Scarratt is credited as being the first ever goalscorer at Shrewsbury's former Gay Meadow home, scoring an own goal in the first ever known game, a practice match between the 'Reds' and the 'Whites' on 20 August 1910. He made amends for this shortly after on 10 September, in Shrewsbury Town's first match at Gay Meadow, versus

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 ...

Reserves. Whilst Shrewsbury lost 2–1, Scarratt scored in the right end and became the first Shrewsbury Town player to score at Gay Meadow. During his eight-season spell at Gay Meadow, Scarratt played in every position, including goalkeeper. His Shrewsbury career was ended by World War I, when he served in the

King's Shropshire Light Infantry The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in the Childers Reforms of 1881, but with antecedents dating back to 1755. It served in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. In 196 ...

. Having survived the war, he is not believed to have returned to football, instead he emigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to find work as a builder. He returned to Shropshire in 1930 (possibly as a result of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

) and settled in his hometown of Wellington before dying in 1958, aged 80.

External links

Scarratt's first goals at Gay Meadow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarratt, Billy Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Telford United F.C. players 1958 deaths 1878 births Association football utility players English footballers English expatriates in the United States British Army personnel of World War I King's Shropshire Light Infantry soldiers