William Henry Bury (1865–1939) 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 full back. He was born in Darwen and played 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 ...

for

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

. Bury came to Turf Moor from local rivals Padiham in 1887, having built up a reputation as a hard-tackling defender with a number of local clubs. He immediately established a full-back partnership with

Sandy Lang Alexander Lang (1864 – 8 November 1901) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a full back. He came to Burnley from Padiham in 1885 and was one of the club's regular full-backs, operating on the left or right side, as well as bein ...

, who had also arrived at Turf Moor from Padiham and the two became stalwarts in the Burnley defence. William Bury appeared in twenty of Burnley's twenty-two League games in that historic first season of League football.

1888-1889

William Bury made his League debut on 8 September 1888, playing as a full–back, at Deepdale, the home of

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

. Preston North End won the match 5–2. William Bury appeared in 20 of the 22 League games played by Burnley in season 1888–89. As a full-back (20 appearances) he played in a Burnley defence that achieved four clean sheets and restricted the opposition to one-League-goal-in-a-match on three separate occasions. (registration & fee required)

References

* 1865 births 1939 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Burnley F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Darwen Padiham F.C. players {{England-footy-defender-1860s-stub