Wilfred Francis Billington (28 January 1930 – 1 October 2023) was an English 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 as a goalkeeper in England and Australia. He began his career with Rochdale, later playing for Blackburn Rovers, Workington Reds, and Headington United. In Australia, Billington was best known as the goalkeeper for

South Coast United South Coast United Soccer Club (formerly known as South Coast Croatia Soccer Club) is a semi-professional Australian soccer club from the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club was founded in 1984 by Wollongong's Croatian Australian com ...

's championship-winning side led by former England international

Jim Kelly James Edward Kelly (born February 14, 1960) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He also spent two seasons with the Houston Gamblers of the United State ...

Early life

Born in Blackburn, Billington attended St Alban's School. His schoolmates included Jack Walker, who went on to help the Blackburn Rovers win the Premier League in 1995.

Professional career

After a brief stint at Rochdale, Billington joined Blackburn Rovers, his hometown club. He was with Blackburn for six years, playing regularly for the reserve team in the Central League. In the summer of 1954, Billington was signed by Workington manager

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winnin ...

as the cover goalkeeper for

Malcolm Newlands Malcolm Newlands (28 March 1925 – 10 February 1996) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Born in Wishaw, Newlands played for Carluke Rovers, St Mirren, Preston North End and Workington Workington i ...

. After Newlands was injured, Billington played the opening match of the 1954–1955 season at Darlington, which the club won 2–1. He made a total of 19 appearances during his first season, and 24 during his second. Eighteen months into his transfer to Workington, the '' Liverpool Echo'' noted that Billington was regarded as "extremely promising", commending his performance at

Prenton Park Prenton Park is a large outdoor seated association football stadium in Birkenhead, England. It is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers, as well as Liverpool's women and reserves teams. The ground has had several rebuilds, with the most recent o ...

during his first season. Similarly, the '' Derby Evening Telegraph'' called Billington one of Shankly's best signings, noting that he had "developed into an extremely sound and reliable goalkeeper". Shankly himself had told the press following the hard-fought match against the Tranmere Rovers that he predicted Billington would be selected as England goalkeeper within two years' time. In December 1955, when Shankly was confirmed to be moving to Huddersfield Town, the '' Lincolnshire Echo'' called Billington "one of the best oalkeepersin the Third North" and suggested that he was a natural choice to follow suit. Over the course of his five-year Workington Reds career, Billington made a total of 55 League and Cup appearances, and kept 16 clean sheets. He also made 75 appearances for the Workington Reserves playing in the

North Eastern League The North Eastern League was an association football league for teams in the North East of England. The league was founded in 1906 and was initially successful, with teams defecting from the rival Northern Football Alliance to play. Although som ...

. In his final match for the club in 1958, he conceded 6 goals in a 6–3 defeat at Mansfield Town. Billington moved south after his release by Workington manager Joe Harvey, transferring to Headington United, which later became Oxford United, for the 1958–59 season. He decided to emigrate to Australia after a two-year offer to move there. Later deciding to live there permanently, he played for

Balgownie Rangers Balgownie Rangers Football Club is an association football club based in Balgownie, New South Wales. They play in the Illawarra District League. Founded in 1883, Balgownie is believed to be the oldest running association football club in Australi ...

and Melbourne Hellas. In 1963, Billington played for South Coast United in the New South Wales grand final, defeating APIA Leichhardt 4–0 for the title in front of a crowd of 30,158 at the

Sydney Sports Ground The Sydney Sports Ground No. 1 was a Stadium and Dirt track racing venue in Sydney, New South Wales. The ground was located where the car park of the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) currently sits. The ground had two main grandstands and was surro ...

. This broke the Australian attendance record at the time. The following week, Billington played in the

1963 Australia Cup The 1963 Australia Cup was the second season of the Australia Cup, which was the main national association football knockout cup competition in Australia. 24 clubs from around Australia qualified to enter the competition. Teams Round 1 ---- - ...

against APIA, who enacted revenge against South Coast United. Whilst Billington played well, saving point-blank shots from Leo Baumgartner and John Giacometti, he was unable to prevent a 0–2 loss to APIA.

Personal life

Billington returned to England in the mid-1960s after leaving South Coast United, but announced his return to Australia in 1966. He lived in Wollongong and worked in a steelworks, first as a fitter and then as a salesman. At age 55, he obtained an honours degree from

Wollongong University The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university ...

in Australia, and later worked for a politician. His son also played as a goalkeeper. At the beginning of October 2023, Billington died at the age of 93.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billington, Wilf 1930 births 2023 deaths English men's footballers Rochdale A.F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Balgownie Rangers FC players Safeway United players English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Footballers from Blackburn

External links

Podcast interview with Wilf Billington (26 July 2019)