Stuart Grenville Williams (9 July 1930 – 5 November 2013) was a

Welsh international The Welsh International is an international badminton championship held in Wales since 1928 and is thereby one of the oldest badminton tournaments in the world. The tournament was halted during World War II and until 1956, between 1960 and 1966, a ...

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 defender. He played his club football for

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Club career

Wrexham

Williams was born in

and attended Acton Park School before moving to Grove Park Grammar School, who he represented at football. He also played football for the Victoria Youth Club whilst working for an insurance company. He joined

(where his father was a director) as an amateur in August 1949, making five league appearances before being signed by

in November 1950.

West Bromwich Albion

At West Bromwich, he made his debut as a centre-forward before switching, firstly to wing-half, before settling into the full-back position. In

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

, Williams helped West Bromwich to reach the runners-up position 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 ...

and seemed certain to replace the injured Stan Rickaby in the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

, but manager

Vic Buckingham Victor Frederick Buckingham (23 October 1915 – 26 January 1995) was an English football player and manager. He played for the then second division side Tottenham Hotspur. As manager he won the 1953–54 FA Cup with West Bromwich Albion and f ...

opted instead for the more experienced Joe Kennedy. Described as having "a first rate temperament, splendid positional sense and a sure kick", Williams later developed a "notable" full-back partnership with

Don Howe Donald Howe (12 October 1935 – 23 December 2015) was an English football player, coach, manager and pundit. As a right back Howe featured for clubs West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal together with the England national football team in his pla ...

. Williams remained at West Bromwich for 12 years, making 226 league appearances, scoring six goals.

Southampton

In September 1962, he joined

for a fee of £15,000; the "Saints" manager Ted Bates needed Williams's experience to help guide the club towards the First Division. Williams made his debut on 19 September 1962, in a 2–1 victory over

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, when he took over at right-back from Roy Patrick. He rarely missed a match over the next four years, although in 1965–66, he switched to left-back with the right-back position being filled by several players, including Ken Jones and Tommy Hare, before the signing of David Webb in March 1966. Williams's final match for Southampton came on 22 April 1966, shortly before the end of the season which saw the Saints celebrate promotion to the top flight for the first time.

International career

Williams made his debut for

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 ...

in a friendly against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on 9 May 1954. He played for Wales on 43 occasions, including all Wales's group stage matches at the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

where Wales met

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the

Quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, going out 1–0 to a goal from

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

. In his autobiography "My Life and the Beautiful Game", written in 1977, Pelé says of this match:

I remember only too well some of the Welsh players I have faced; it will be hard ever to forget . . . the World Cup uarter-finalof 1958 in Sweden, and the excellent play of men like
Hopkins Hopkins is an English, Welsh and Irish patronymic surname. The English name means "son of Hob". ''Hob'' was a diminutive of ''Robert'', itself deriving from the Germanic warrior name ''Hrod-berht'', translated as "renowned-fame". The Robert spell ...
and Bowen, Stuart Williams and Sullivan, or the truly inspired goalkeeping of
Jack Kelsey Alfred John "Jack" Kelsey (19 November 1929 – 18 March 1992) was a Welsh international football goalkeeper, who also played for Arsenal. He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers to play for Wales. Early life Jack Kelsey was born at ...
."Quoted in "In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC"

Later career

After his playing career he held various coaching and management jobs including as a trainer with West Bromwich Albion,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

and Southampton and brief spell as manager with Iranian club

Paykan The Paykan ( fa, پيکان meaning ''Arrow'') is the first Iranian-made car produced by Iran Khodro (formerly called "Iran National") between 1967 and 2005. The car was very popular in Iran from its introduction until its discontinuation. I ...

in 1970–71, and Norwegian club

Viking FK Viking Fotballklubb, commonly known as Viking or Viking Stavanger internationally, is a Norwegian football club from the city of Stavanger. The club was founded in 1899. It is one of the most successful clubs in Norwegian football, having won 8 ...

in 1974. Williams settled in

, and after leaving the game he became a tyre salesman, and later a financial controller for a transport company.

Honours

West Bromwich Albion *

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 ...

runners-up: 1953–54 Southampton *

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: 1965–66

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Stuart 1930 births Footballers from Wrexham 2013 deaths Welsh footballers Wales international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Wrexham A.F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Welsh football managers Viking FK managers Paykan F.C. managers Association football defenders