Owen Williams (23 September 1896 – 9 December 1960) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player most notable for his career with

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

and

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 ...

. He also played twice for the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

Playing career

Williams was once on the books of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, but he was allowed to leave the area and so he moved to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He failed to settle at that club and so he returned to

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

, where he played non-league football for Easington Colliery Welfare. At the end of

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 ...

, an interest was shown in him by Clapton Orient, beginning a successful league career. Williams spent five years at Orient, making over 160 appearances. At Orient, he also earned two England international caps, in games against

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 ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. This made him the side's first international footballer and, along with John Townrow, shares the Orient record for most England national team appearances, both with just two. In February 1924 he signed for Middlesbrough, making his debut three days later against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. At the end of that season, Middlesbrough were relegated, but Williams stayed. In Williams' first full season at Boro' he joint top scored with Ian Dickson with seven goals each. Owen Williams became a member of the famous forward line that won the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

championship in 1926–27:

Billy Birrell William Birrell (13 March 1897 – 29 November 1968) was a Scottish professional footballer who made over 220 appearances as a forward in the Football League for Middlesbrough. He also made over 120 appearances in the Scottish League for Raith ...

Billy Pease Willie Pease (30 September 1899 – 2 October 1955) was an English international footballer, who played as an outside right. He played in the Football League for Northampton Town, Middlesbrough and Luton Town. Early and personal life Willie Pe ...

George Camsell George Henry Camsell (27 November 1902 – 7 March 1966) was an English footballer who scored a club record 325 league goals in 419 games for Middlesbrough, and 18 goals in nine appearances for England. His 59 goals in one season (1926–27) fo ...

Jacky Carr John Carr (26 November 1892 – 10 May 1942) was an English professional footballer. He made 449 league appearances for Middlesbrough, scoring 81 times. He was also capped twice for England. Playing career Club career Born in South Bank, near ...

and Williams. At the end of the 1929–30 season, following another relegation and promotion, he was transfer listed and moved to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

for £250 in August. After just over a year, and only four goals in sixteen appearances, he moved on again, this time to

Shildon Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Owen English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Leyton Orient F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Shildon A.F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players English Football League players England men's international footballers 1896 births 1960 deaths Easington Colliery A.F.C. players Footballers from Tyne and Wear