William Sanderson Hume (18 December 1935 – 15 August 1990) was a Scottish professional

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

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

for

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

, St Mirren and

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

, in

the 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 Engla ...

, for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, and in the

Irish Football League Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

for

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 ...

. He played as a

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 ...

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Career

Hume was born in

Armadale, West Lothian Armadale ( sco, Airmadale, gd, Armadal) is a town within the county of West Lothian in the Central Belt of Scotland. It lies to the west of Bathgate and to the east of Blackridge. Armadale, formerly known as Barbauchlaw, is an ex-mining town wh ...

. He played for nearby Seafield United and Whitburn before joining

in 1955, for whom he made his

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

debut during the 1956–57 season. He played four

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, scoring once, and the next season played five Division Two games, again scoring once, and one game in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

. Despite interest from Rangers, Hume then came to England and signed for

of 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 ...

in February 1958, making his first-team debut in a friendly against

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Unable to dislodge Dick Neal from the

left-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 ...

position, Hume had to wait for his

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 Engla ...

debut until 18 March 1959, deputising for Neal in an away game against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

which Birmingham won 4–2. He played eight league games in the 1959–60 season, succeeding Bunny Larkin at

inside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, but scored only twice, and returned to Scotland in 1960. Hume made a few appearances for St Mirren and for

before trying his luck in Ireland, first with Bangor and then

. He scored for Glentoran in a Gold Cup final to earn himself a winners' medal, and represented the club in their first modern foray into European competition, the

of 1962–63. Drawn to play

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

, Glentoran lost the first leg 2–0, but took the lead in the away leg as Hume "swept

he ball He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

inside for Matt Doherty to volley it into the roof of the net", only to lose 6–2. Returning to Scotland once more, Hume was briefly on the books of

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Formed as Alloa in 1880, the football club shortly changed its name to Alloa Association, and then to Alloa Ath ...

before becoming a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

in junior football, firstly for three years at Armadale Thistle and then at

Bathgate Thistle Bathgate Thistle Football Club are a Scottish football club, based in the town of Bathgate, West Lothian. They play in the . Nicknamed ''Thistle'', they were formed in 1937 and presently play their home games at Creamery Park, which has room ...

. Hume died in hospital in

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

, West Lothian, in August 1990 at the age of 54.

References

External links

*
Photo of the 1954 team, including Hume
at Whitburn JFC's site (now via archive.org) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hume, Billy 1935 births 1990 deaths Footballers from West Lothian Scottish footballers Association football midfielders Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Berwick Rangers F.C. players Bangor F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Alloa Athletic F.C. players Armadale Thistle F.C. players Bathgate Thistle F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players NIFL Premiership players Player-coaches Whitburn Junior F.C. players People from Armadale, West Lothian