William Strafford Bell (born 1860) was a Welsh
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
defender.
He was part of the
Wales national team between 1881 and 1886, playing five matches. He played his first match on 26 February 1881 against
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and his last match on 10 April 1886 against
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
He played club football for
Crewe Alexandra F.C.
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...
from 1884 to 1891, playing six games in Crewe's first season in the first incarnation of
The Combination
The Combination was a league during the early days of English football. It had two incarnations; the first ran only for the 1888–89 season for teams across the Northern England and the Midlands, and was wound up before completion. The second ...
league in 1888-89, and the following two seasons in the
Football Alliance
The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92.
History
In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...
, making a total of 26 appearances in all competitions. On 22 March 1890, he played in his own
benefit match
A benefit is a match or season of activities granted by a sporting body to a loyal sportsman to boost their income before retirement. Often this is in the form of a match for which all the ticket proceeds are given to the player in question. Howeve ...
, against
Burslem 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 of ...
, which Crewe won 4–2. He made his final appearance for Crewe in January 1891, also against Burslem Port Vale.
Personal life
William Strafford Bell was born on 22nd August 1860 in
Newtown, Wales
Newtown ( cy, Y Drenewydd) is a town in Powys, Wales. It lies on the River Severn in the community of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn, within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It was designated a new town in 1967 and saw population growth ...
to George Bell and Mary Ann Strafford.
On 6th April 1885, Bell married Sarah Price in
Gorton, Manchester. They had a son together, William Strafford Bell Jr, in 1889 in Crewe, Cheshire.
Bell died in 1930 in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, Warwickshire.
See also
*
List of Wales international footballers (alphabetical)
The Wales national football team has represented Wales in international association football since 1876, making it the third oldest international football team. They played their first official match on 25 March 1876, four years after England ...
References
1859 births
Welsh footballers
Association football defenders
Wales international footballers
Crewe Alexandra F.C. players
Place of birth missing
Date of death missing
Year of death missing
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