William Stage (22 March 1893 – 12 May 1957) was an English professional association footballer who played as an inside forward. He spent the largest part of his career with

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

where he became team captain and helped them reach the

Football League First Division 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 ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

Football career

Stage was born in

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

in North Yorkshire and joined nearby

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 ...

in April 1913 as an amateur, signing a professional contract in December 1913. He only made three appearances for 'Boro before

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 ...

caused league football to be suspended. After the war, he joined Scottish club Hibernian, making his

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 ...

debut at the start of the 1919–20 season. He played in every Hibs match during that season, scoring four league goals, plus one in the cup. Despite having been "ever-present", Stage left Hibernian at the end of the season; he then joined St Bernard's, of the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...

. St Bernard's were re-admitted to the Second Division in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

. In October 1921, Stage returned to England to join

, then playing in the Football League Second Division. In

, Stage was part of the Bury team that gained the runners-up position, thus earning promotion to the First Division. Stage went on to become captain of the club, winning the Lancashire Cup in 1926. In June 1928, after making over 200 appearances for Bury, Stage joined First Division rivals,

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

where he remained for two seasons before dropping into the Second Division when he joined

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in July 1930. By now nearing the end of his career, Stage spent a year at The Dell, mostly assisting the reserves. Described as "a fetcher and forager on the field", Stage only made four first-team appearances, twice in September and twice in November. His final professional appearance came on 22 November 1930, when he scored in a 3–1 defeat at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

Later career

After retiring from professional football, Stage returned to Lancashire where he settled in

, buying the Stanley Arms pub with his savings. He continued to play football at a non-league level, turning out for

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the sout ...

Rossendale United Rossendale United Football Club was a semi-professional football club based in the village of Newchurch within the Rossendale borough of Lancashire, England. The club was founded in 1898. Nicknamed the Stags, they had a long and eventful run wh ...

and

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

. His daughter, Florence, married the professional cyclist

Reg Harris Reginald Hargreaves Harris OBE (1 March 1920 – 22 June 1992) was a British track racing cyclist in the 1940s and 1950s. He won the world amateur sprint title in 1947, two Olympic silver medals in 1948, and the professional title in 19 ...

in April 1946.

Honours

Bury *

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 ti ...

runners-up: 1923–24 *

Lancashire Senior Cup The Lancashire County Football Association Cup (commonly known as the Lancashire Senior Cup) is a football knockout tournament involving teams from Lancashire, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Lancashire County Football Association ...

winners: 1926.

References

External links

Photograph of Stage on a cigarette card
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stage, Billy 1893 births 1957 deaths People from Whitby English footballers Association football forwards Middlesbrough F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players St Bernard's F.C. players Bury F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Darwen F.C. players Rossendale United F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Sportspeople from Yorkshire Footballers from North Yorkshire