William Robert Vaulks (born 13 September 1993) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club Sheffield Wednesday and the Wales national team. He began his professional career at Tranmere Rovers in 2012 but did not make a senior appearance, going on loan to Workington of the Conference North before joining Scottish club

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

in February 2013. He played 142 games for the club, including the

2015 Scottish Cup Final The 2015 Scottish Cup Final was the 130th final of the Scottish Cup, the most prestigious knockout football competition in Scotland. The match took place at Hampden Park on 30 May 2015 and was contested by Falkirk and Inverness Caledonian Thistle. ...

and two Scottish Championship play-off finals. In 2016 he joined Rotherham United for an undisclosed fee, where he was Player of the Season as they won the League One playoffs in 2018. In 2019, he signed for Cardiff. In March 2019 he made his debut for the

Welsh national team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth Bal ...

whom he qualifies for through his mother.

Club career

Tranmere Rovers

Vaulks was born in Wirral, Merseyside and grew up supporting

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. He began his career with local League One club Tranmere Rovers, signing amateur forms in March 2003, at the age of 9 years old. Vaulks remained with Tranmere and was rewarded with his first professional contract in June 2010. He was called up for one senior match, a 2–1 extra-time win at

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

in the League Cup first round on 13 August 2012, in which he was an unused substitute.

Workington

In August 2012, Vaulks joined Workington of the Conference North. initially on a one-month loan. He made his senior debut on 22 August in a 1–0 loss at

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, as a 65th-minute substitute for Mark Boyd. His loan was subsequently extended twice, before he signed a permanent deal with Workington at the start of December 2012. He made 24 appearances in all competitions for the

Cumbrian The Cumberland dialect is a local Northern English dialect in decline, spoken in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands, not to be confused with the area's extinct Celtic language, Cumbric. Some parts of Cumbria have a mo ...

club, scoring the equaliser in a 2–1 win over Droylsden at Borough Park.

Falkirk

In February 2013, due to a clause in his Workington contract that allowed him to leave for a professional club, he signed for Scottish Football League First Division side

. He made his debut on 9 March in a 2–0 loss at

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

, and ended the season with six appearances. On 9 November 2013, Vaulks scored his first goal for the Bairns, to open a 4–1 win over

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 ...

at Falkirk Stadium. In January 2014, Vaulks was called to a trial by English Championship club Blackburn Rovers. He played 42 games over the season, including all four of the play-off games as the club lost 2–1 to Hamilton Academical in the final. He was named in the

PFA Scotland Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Team of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 44 footballers in the four national tiers of the Scottish foot ...

for the Scottish Championship in 2013–14. On 10 May 2014, he extended his contract with Falkirk until the end of May 2017. Vaulks played the full 90 minutes of the

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

on 30 May 2015, a 2–1 loss to

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

. A year later, he played again the play-offs as Falkirk were beaten to a place in the Scottish Premiership by

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Rotherham United

On 22 July 2016 Vaulks signed for Rotherham United on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He scored on his Rotherham debut in a 2–2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers on 6 August. He played 42 times in all competitions during the 2016–17 season as The Millers were relegated to League One. Vaulks' goal against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

on the last day of the regular season was his 7th goal in 49 games in all competitions as Rotherham finished the 2017–18 season in fourth place hence qualifying for play-offs. After drawing 2–2 away at

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

in the first leg, he scored Rotherham's second in the return fixture as they progressed to the final 4–2 on aggregate. In the final he played the full 120 minutes as The Millers beat Shrewsbury Town to win the 2018 EFL League One play-off Final and promotion back to the Championship. At the end of the season Vaulks was given the Rotherham United's Player of the Year award. On 6 March 2019, Vaulks signed a one-year contract extension. Three days later as captain, he was sent off in the 28th minute of a 2–0 loss at South Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United, for a foul on

George Baldock George Henry Ivor Baldock (Greek: Τζορτζ Μπόλντοκ; born 9 March 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a right back for club Sheffield United. Born in England, he plays for the Greece national team. Club career Milton K ...

Cardiff City

On 27 June 2019, Vaulks signed for Cardiff City for an undisclosed fee on a three-year deal, in a record sale for Rotherham. He made his debut on 10 August in a 2–1 victory over Luton Town as a second-half substitute in place of

Gavin Whyte Gavin Whyte (born 31 January 1996) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Cardiff City and the Northern Ireland national team. Club career Crusaders Whyte's Crusaders team won three league titles in four years ...

, and scored his first goal on New Year's Day at the end of a 6–1 loss at Queens Park Rangers. Vaulks scored twice at home to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on 26 December 2020, but in a 3–2 loss. The following 24 April, after coming on as a last-minute substitute, he was sent off in a 2–1 win over Wycombe Wanderers at the Cardiff City Stadium for a high challenge on Curtis Thompson. On June 10, 2022, Cardiff announced Vaulks would leave the club when his contract expires on June 30.

Sheffield Wednesday

On 21 June 2022, Vaulks would join Sheffield Wednesday following the expiration of his Cardiff City contract. Vaulks made his Wednesday debut, against Portsmouth on 30 July 2022 coming off the bench for Fisayo Dele-Bashiru. On 1 October 2022, he scored his first goal in Wednesday colours against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, scoring the winning goal.

International career

Vaulks qualifies to play for Wales through his mother, and in March 2019 manager

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...

called him up to the national team for games against Slovakia and Trinidad and Tobago. He made his debut in the friendly against the Trinidadians at the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C. It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home i ...

in Wrexham on 20 March, playing the full match and assisting the only goal by

Ben Woodburn Benjamin Luke Woodburn (born 15 October 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Preston North End and the Wales national team. Woodburn joined the football academy of Liverpool when he was seven years old. Nearly a deca ...

in added time. Vaulks made his competitive debut that summer in a 2–1 defeat to Croatia.

Personal life

In January 2023, Vaulks agreed to support the Baton of Hope charity in memory of his two grandfathers. he took up dancing lessons and performed his hard work after the play off final in the changing room

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Falkirk * Stirlingshire Cup: 2013–14 * Scottish Cup runner-up: 2014–15 Rotherham United * EFL League One play-offs:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Sheffield Wednesday * EFL League One play-offs:

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Individual *

2013–14 Scottish Championship The 2013–14 Scottish Championship was the 19th season in the current format of 10 teams in the second-tier of Scottish football. This was the first season of the competition being part of the newly formed Scottish Professional Football League a ...

* Rotherham United Goal of the Season: 2016–17 * Rotherham United Player of the Season: 2017–18

References

External links

*
Falkirk F.C. profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaulks, Will 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Wirral English footballers Welsh footballers Wales men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football defenders Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players National League (English football) players Scottish Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players English people of Welsh descent Footballers from Merseyside